Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar and Grill in Patriot Place Just Closed
Owners are blaming it on "greed."
Screenshot via Google Maps
Looks like you’ll have to fill up your red Solo cups elsewhere.
Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar & Grill, Foxboro’s giant country music venue with a bar shaped like a huge guitar, has abruptly closed.
The Patriot Place staple had a flyer posted to its front door this morning announcing the news. “It is with our deepest regret that Toby Keith’s doors will remain closed. To our many regular guests we are very grateful for the support you have given us over the past eight years,” it reads, concluding, “From our staff to our management we thank you again, as always proceed to party!”
The owners appear to be incredibly sore about this turn of events and, in a statement to the Boston Globe, say the closure comes amid ever-rising rents thanks to its “greedy” landlords. Patriot Place, the shopping and dining plaza adjacent to Gillette Stadium, is owned by the Kraft Group.
Patriot Place didn’t return fire. “We would like to thank CRGE Foxborough, LLC for the service and hospitality they provided to our guests over the years,” a spokesman said in a statement to media. “We greatly appreciate Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar & Grill’s many contributions to the success and popularity of Patriot Place and wish them well in their future endeavors.”
It was one of five outposts of a chain that gets its name from Toby Keith, the country singer and Trump inauguration performer, and one of his most famous songs. The Patriot Place location opened its doors in 2011, and has been slinging southern favorites like fried chicken and barbecue, and hosting live bands, ever since. Toby Keith’s once had 20 locations in several cities, from Folsom, California to Orlando, Florida, but most closed several years ago. Three can now be found in Oklahoma, and there is another one in Las Vegas.
Foxboro’s Toby Keith’s had an unfortunate record: A 2016 study found that more people arrested for drunk driving in Massachusetts reported having their last drink at the bar than at any other venue in the state.
Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar & Grill in Foxboro has closed down unexpectedly. A band set to play Friday night tells me they got a call last night that the gig is cancelled. The location has been taken off the @PatriotPlace directory. @ABC6 pic.twitter.com/Yzo6rYAXyH
— Amanda Pitts (@APittsABC6) January 30, 2019
