(keep reading to learn what happened)
Season: 3 | View All Season 3 Episodes
Original Episode Air Date: March 3, 2013
The Bar's Original Name Was: The Brixton
The Brixton Address: 1412 E 6th St Austin, TX 78702
Episode Recap
The Brixton, briefly renamed to Rocket Room 6, was an Austin, Texas bar that was featured on Season 3 of Bar Rescue.
Though the Brixton Bar Rescue episode aired in March 2013, the actual filming and visit from Jon Taffer took place before that.
It was Season 3 Episode 4 and the episode name was “Tears for Beers”.
The Brixton is an Austin, Texas bar that was featured on Season 3 of Bar Rescue.
It was a punk themed bar on Austin’s famed Sixth Street that newlyweds Tim and Sara Lupa purchased to save the bar from being closed.
The new owners didn’t feel the need to change much about the bar and they mainly kept things as they were.
However, Sixth Street is competitive in Austin and the 50+ other bars in the nearby area were pulling away patrons from The Brixton.
That left Tim and Sara with few options other than calling in the big guns, AKA Jon Taffer from Bar Rescue.
The Brixton Bar Rescue episode starts off with Jon Taffer and Peter O’Connor observing the bar from the outside.
Immediately, they notice the rather drab and uninviting exterior.
To see if things got any better inside, Jon sent in a trio to observe.
Tim was bartending and was, let’s say…not very pleasant.
Tim drove away some customers for talking loudly before Sara stepped in and made some cocktails.
For further testing, Jon did one of his patented stress tests.
It didn’t go well – the bartenders were overwhelmed and Tim couldn’t handle the work, which led to a clash with Sara.
The fight created such an awkward situation that many customers started to leave.
After the stress test, Peter O’Connor spent the next day teaching the bartenders a set of new signature cocktails.
Jon also decided to rename the bar to Rocket Room 6 to get rid of the bar’s negative reputation.
Sara and the employees were ok with the name change, but Tim didn’t want to change the name from
The Brixton because he was attached to it.
However, Sara eventually convinced Tim to go along with the name change to Rocket Room 6.
Once Jon Taffer completed the rebranding and renovation into Rocket Room 6, Tim went to the local radio station to boost the bar’s reputation.
On the reopening night, there were hundreds of attendees looking to go to Rocket Room 6 and things seemed to be going well with a happy Tim and Sara.
However, let’s see what happened next after The Brixton Bar Rescue episode aired and if this Austin TX bar is still open in 2024.
The Brixton Update - What Happened Next?
Now that we’ve recapped the Rocket Room 6 Bar Rescue episode, let’s talk about what happened to the bar after Jon Taffer and his crew left Austin Texas.
First off, it wasn’t known as Rocket Room 6 for long.
During the episode, it was clear that Tim did not like the idea of rebranding the bar to Rocket Room 6.
Once Jon Taffer left the scene, Tim quickly changed the bar’s name back to The Brixton, though he kept Jon’s other changes to the bar.
However, despite shrugging off some of Jon’s changes, The Brixton seemed to be doing fairly well.
It managed to stay open for years and the reviews were generally more positive than before.
Jon Taffer also revisited The Brixton in a Back to the Bar episode from Season 5.
You can see a clip from the Brixton Jon Taffer re-visit in this YouTube video:
Here’s another video that shows a segment from the Back to the Bar episode where Jon Taffer inteviews Tim in the studio:
However, The Brixton’s good news couldn’t last forever…
Is The Brixton still open after Bar Rescue?
The Brixton closed in March 2020. That means the bar had a solid run of around seven years after the Bar Rescue episode, even though they didn’t keep the name from Jon Taffer.
Why did The Brixton close?
Tim and Sara sold their shares to some of the bar’s other part owners and those new owners used the location to open a new bar called The Low Down Lounge.
As of 2023, The Low Down Lounge still operates at the old The Brixton Austin TX location.
You can see it in this Google Maps street view shot from January 2022:
The Brixton reviews after Bar Rescue
At the time that The Brixton closed, it had a 4 star rating on over 170 Yelp reviews, which is pretty good for a bar that was featured on Bar Rescue.
Here’s a sampling of reviews that were written after the visit from Jon Taffer…
5 star Yelp review from November 2013:
Went here last weekend with a couple of girlfriends and it was GREAT.
I’m a huge Bar Rescue fan and really wanted to check it out.
It was a lot of fun.
The owner waited on us (recognized him from Bar Rescue) and he was kind and friendly (props to him for taking what Taffer said to heart, because our customer service was great)..
He invited us back later in the night.
We already had plans but I thought this was a very personable gesture.
Our drinks were great and well priced (excellent happy hour specials) and the patio was fantastic on a lovely day.
Can’t wait to try it again
5 star Yelp review November 2019:
Went into the Brixton because we saw it on Bar Rescue and we were not disappointed!
So happy that they are open and doing well.
Went in and grabbed a quick drink and they had fresh lime(yesssss) for my drink.
Everyone was so nice and my boyfriend and I loved the music too.
Great outdoor patio with heaters.
Visiting from the Bay Area and so glad we made the stop in.
3 star Yelp review from March 2016:
Strolling down sixth I looked up and saw the sign for the Brixton and asked my Austinite friend if it was the one from Bar Rescue.
Honestly, I didn’t really remember the episode, but I remember really liking the name of the bar.
I insisted we check it out.
Unfortunately it was pretty dead, but it was a Thursday night so maybe that’s not their jam.
My drink was fine and the place looked like a good spot to hang out.
We didn’t stick around long, but I could see myself stopping in again if I was in the area.
4 star Yelp review from July 2013:
Disclaimer: I saw it on Bar Rescue.
Truth: Tim is not the d-bag that the TV makes him out to be.
Tim did change a lot of things back (name, drinks, etc.).
It’s still a cool place to hang.
The drinks are good, the crowd is gregarious and it’s just a neat place to be – especially if you’ve seen the show.
Not gonna lie though, I was slightly bummed that the vodka infused beer drinks weren’t being served.
You can order food here from the sushi food truck across the street.
PS – it goes a long way if you treat Tim like a human you’ve never met and not like the guy you know from the show.
What happened to Tim and Sara from The Brixton?
Since selling their stakes in the bar, Tim and Sara have opened a new Austin bar named Little Drinks Lounge.
Reviews for their new bar seem good as it has a 4.6 star rating on its Yelp page.
As of 2023, it’s still open.
As far as I can tell, Little Drinks Lounge is located on the ground level of a small apartment building.
Here’s what the Little Drinks Lounge Austin Texas location looks like in the most recent picture from Google Maps street view:
Overall, The Brixton did manage to survive for seven years after the Bar Rescue episode aired, so this one definitely wasn’t a total failure.
Nonetheless, The Brixton has officially earned its place on our list of Bar Rescue closures.
If you want to see some another Austin Bar Rescue episode, you can check out my Headhunters / Metal and Lace update.
Other nearby Texas Bar Rescue episodes include The Morgue / Kiva Lounge in San Marcos, Madame Dalia’s Country Bar in San Antonio, and The Base Line / Recovery Room in San Antonio.
You can also check out my full list of all 15+ Bar Rescue episodes in Texas as of 2024.
Thanks for reading!
I also have video version of this update if you prefer that medium.
More Information
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Last updated: 2023-03-29 06:00
Honestly she should have left him. The guy was so against change every step of the way. He didn’t deserve the help.
Tim wasa douche wheel. I’d never hang out at a bar where
the bartender wore a tank top. It’s unhealthy and unsanitary.
Tim looks like he had lice. One of the female bartenders had a bullsring in her septum, another enormous turnoff and another reason for never going there.
I applaud Jon Taffer for his gumption to keep up with people of the owners’ ilk. I’d have walked out on the 3nd meeting & not turned back. Some humans leave a bad taste in one’s mouth! Ptui!🤢🤮
Can’t believe this IDIOT married sush a Beautiful lady!!! From what I saw she’s Beautiful inside( very important) and out! Just goes to show love is blind Glad to hear they lasted 7 yrs and started a new bar. Hopefully Jon Taffer woke this IDIOT up and helped turn him into the kind of man Sara deserves!
Y’all some thirsty mfers in this comment section
When Jon Taffer kicks in your bar’s front door
How are you gonna come?
With your hands on your head
Or on the trigger of a gun?
Hard to believe that this guy was in marketing!
He has a beautiful wife who he didn’t deserve if you ask me.
I don’t know if the show overplayed him as being a complete jerk or if he really is, but that aside, I get the attachment to the name. What I don’t get is the owners fighting to keep a place the way it is, fighting to keep their bar’s name, when in a few months, weeks, whatever, they’d have to close it up anyways and the name would be lost either way. This guy apparently got lucky and made it work after, but as we’ve seen, most don’t.
That being said, I do have to admit the name Rocket Room 6 wasn’t one of Taffer’s best creations. Just had a rather childish and cheap feel to it. The building renovations looked fantastic though.
The show dies use lots of psychological and sociological techniques, verbal judo.. but the human behavior is real, they do it, the filth is real, the recon and stress test people are coached and others just show up. But worth it for an owner getting publicity, avg $100,000 remodel.. bar rescue is actually 100% success as promised, look into bars that closed, and not a single one was because bar rescue lol. I really didn’t think this place would last as long as did.
Some women think the can “fix” a guy.
Don’t know if he was “acting” for TV or he’s that much of a jackass in real life, she deserves better if he’s really is that childish.
Also, why would you mark this as a failure if they lasted 7 years and sold it for another bar? That sounds successful to me.