The Dickson Bar Rescue Update (Wanted Saloon) – Still Open in 2024?

Is The Dickson still open today?

Status: >> CLOSED <<
(keep reading to learn what happened)

Season: 6 | View All Season 6 Episodes
Original Episode Air Date: August 5, 2018
The Bar's Original Name Was: The Wanted Saloon
The Dickson Address: 2840 Hwy 70 E Dickson, TN 37055

The Dickson Bar Rescue Update

Episode Recap

The Wanted Saloon, later renamed to The Dickson, was a Dickson, Tennessee bar that was featured on Season 6 of Bar Rescue.

Though the Dickson Bar Rescue episode aired in March 2018, the actual filming and visit from Jon Taffer took place before that.

It was Season 6 Episode 21 and the episode name was “The Unwanted Saloon”.

The Wanted Saloon is in Dickson, TN (not to be confused as Dixon, TN).

Dickson is a small town that’s in the Nashville metropolitan area, so it’s got a rich music community (which will be important for this episode).

It takes around 50 minutes to drive from Dickson to downtown Nashville.

Ashley Warewicz and JD Deforr own the bar.

They are a couple, so they’re in it together.

Wanted Saloon owner on Bar Rescue Ashley

The couple has had to give up starting a family and owning a home due to the bar.

JD performed at the bar, and he and Ashley bought it, thinking it would be easy and fun. 

However, things have started going downhill, which is why the Wanted Saloon Bar Rescue episode exists.

Jon Taffer can’t find The Wanted Saloon as it is located in an isolated, rural area.

The bar doesn’t serve liquor due to lack of a license, just beer.

The Wanted Saloon is finally found, but it is not surrounded by any stores or gas stations.

Ashley is called to the SUV by Jon so they can watch the hidden camera footage of the bar. 

The draft system doesn’t work, and Jon Taffer says that is an easy fix that should’ve been done already.

Jon also observes residential kitchen appliances in the kitchen, which is a violation.

Tammy is a bartender, a cook, and a mother hen figure to the staff.

Lexie is a server as well.

Crockett is there, too; he is not an employee but a friend who helps out at The Wanted Saloon. 

The Wanted Saloon doesn’t bring in any profits, and Ashley has to use her income from her job as an Air Force pilot for the bar.

Wanted Saloon owner on Bar Rescue JD

JD doesn’t help and sleeps in late while Ashley gets up for work.

Jon meets with JD and tells him he is there to help them gain stability as Ashley is ready for a family. 

Ashley tells JD how he has disappointed her after trying to make excuses for his behavior.

Jon calls him a failure and makes Ashley tell her husband she agrees with him.

He tells Ashley to take accountability as well because she enables her husband. 

You can see this dramatic moment in the Wanted Saloon Bar Rescue sneak peak video:

Kevin Bludso, a BBQ expert, and Shawn Ford, an expert in craft beers, help Jon Taffer rescue the bar.

Jon asks for their help fixing a bar with no liquor license and no kitchen.

The Wanted Saloon is given a new smoker who has to be put outside because the kitchen is too small.

The employees are shown how to make a smoked sausage sandwich.

Shawn trains the bartenders on pouring, and Lexie struggles. 

Before the stress test, Crockett is made to leave as he is paid to do nothing.

Jon hangs a guitar up on the wall and tells JD that every time something goes wrong during the stress test, he will cut a guitar string.

Once all six strings are cut, the test will be shut down. 

As soon as the test begins, Jon cuts two strings as the bartenders mix cold and warm beer in the cooler.

With one string left, Jon Taffer shuts down the test.

Jon tells the experts he contacted a local brewery and hopes to make a specialty brew for the bar.

Kevin shows the staff how to make a chicken dish that can be prepped in advance. 

While that’s happening, Jon Taffer and his crew also get to work on renovating The Wanted Saloon.

As part of the changes, Jon renames the bar to The Dickson.

The kitchen is bigger and renovated.

The bar is given a custom beer, The Swinging Dickson…lol

JD does much better than the stress test, although Ashley moves slowly still.

Jon leaves the one-string guitar hanging on the wall because the bar was hanging on by a strong when he got there.

He signs the guitar and leaves. 

So was The Wanted Saloon Bar Rescue episode a long-term success? Keep reading to learn what happened next and if this Dickson, TN bar is still open in 2024.

The Dickson Update - What Happened Next?

Now that we’ve recapped the Dickson Bar Rescue visit, let’s talk about what happened after Jon Taffer and his crew left Dickson, TN.

Things seemed to start off well for The Dickson.

At the six-week check in with the Bar Rescue producers, we learn that sales at the bar have doubled.

Ashley and JD have opted to keep The Dickson name, adding a funny slogan – “The Dickson – Home of the Big One”.

Tammy is also working as the manager so that JD can focus on his music.

Is The Dickson from Bar Rescue still open?

The Dickson closed in August 2018, which is the same month that the Dickson Bar Rescue episode aired on TV and around nine months after the actual visit from Jon Taffer and his crew.

The Dickson owners posted the following message on the Dickson Facebook page to announce the closure:

Y’all come out this Friday and Celebrate with us One Last Time!!!

We are selling and closing this weekend!!

We have decided to focus on the new family member 💙 joining us in 5 short weeks!!!

Thank you all Soo Soo very much for 6 YEARS in business!!!!

so come out and party with us and see

Jessica Meuse throw down with Jd Outlaw for the final show EVER!!!

at The Wanted Saloon/ The Dickson!!!

The Last Honky Tonk

As part of the message, they also announced that they would be taking offers on the bar:

Also we are taking offers on the business until Thursday latest Friday this week, so if you’re interested in owning a place with one hell of a story shoot us a line!

Serious inquires only please,

Here’s a screenshot in case the post gets deleted:

The Dickson closed after Bar Rescue

It seems like they were able to find an owner, as the bar was still operated as The Wanted Saloon for a time after the closure.

Someone posted the following TripAdvisor review in August 2019, a year after the original closure:

We stopped by after seeing a “Bar Rescue” segment on TV.

The owners had sold the saloon and It was dark and smelled like beer, but some may be fine with that cause it fit the’ saloon,’ local bar joint image.

I was surprised that early Friday eve, they were out of several menu” bar food’ items.

We will not return.

Additionally, Google Maps street view showed that the bar was still open and operating as The Wanted Saloon as recently as March 2021, which is the last update on Google Maps.

In the Street View image, you can see the lit up sign that says “Open”, as well as some cars in the parking lot:

The Wanted Saloon Bar Rescue

However, as of March 2022, the Wanted Saloon is marked as closed on both Yelp and Google, so I’m not sure if it’s still open.

It does seem like a restaurant named Sir Pizza of Dickson is planning to open up at the old The Wanted Saloon Dickson, TN location, but I’m not sure if that has happened yet.

You can see a February 2022 Facebook post announcing this – it looks to be the same building.

Either way, I’m still marking The Dickson as closed because the original owners are no longer involved with the bar.

Update – As of late 2022, Sir Pizza of Dickson has officially moved into the old Wanted Saloon Dickson TN location, so The Dickson is officially closed for good.

Here’s a Google Maps street view embed, which already shows the new business:

If you have any information about what’s happening with The Wanted Saloon, please let me know in the comments.

That wraps up my update!

If you want to see some other Tennessee Bar Rescue episodes, you can check out my updates for Gaddy Shack / Crossroads Grille in Antioch, The Legacy / Game Time in Arlington, and MT Bottles and Cans in Murfreesboro.

Thanks for reading!


More Information

https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-wanted-saloon-dickson
https://www.facebook.com/TheWantedSaloon/


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Last updated: 2023-02-14 06:33

20 thoughts on “The Dickson Bar Rescue Update (Wanted Saloon) – Still Open in 2024?”

All comments are the sole opinion of the commenter and are not endorsed by RealityTVUpdates.

    • Well, really, they got a redesign and then used the wife’s life plan to have a baby, which was due 5 weeks before the sale. Jon knew what was going on, I’m sure, she told him that in the initial SUV visit. There’s been owners who were much more blatant about that and less forthcoming to begin with.

      Reply
  1. She looked like the fresh-faced girl next door. He looked like the derelict down the alley. I cringed whenever she kissed him. The hair is just gross, left growing totally unkempt and unhealthy on his head and on his chin. Yuck. Grow up. Take a shower. See a barber. Comb your hair. Totally self-centered as well, because he has some ridiculous dream that he’s a rock musician. And, letting his wife leave for work at THEIR bar early in the morning while he lazes around in bed. Sad to think he’s some kid’s father now.

    Reply
    • First of all, the wife had a day job and wasn’t going to the bar at 7 a.m. to work. Second, the way someone looks had absolutely zero to do with the show. She obviously loves the guy so that’s all that really matters. You’re entitled to your opinion, however, trashing someone’s appearance is rude and classless. I’m sure you’re a real gem in person.

      Reply
      • Yes, the way someone or something looks has LOTS to do with the operation of a business. Sorry, but touchy, feely will not get the place going again. Jon ripped them all pretty good at the beginning. Sorry if you are offended by the truth.

        Reply
  2. They went along with Jon and used the remodel to sell the property —
    Sounds like dishonest bullshit; there’s gotta be some safeguards against that written into the contract before the bar owners opt in.

    Reply
  3. Is there not a safeguard in Bar Rescue that prevents the owner(s) from selling after they receive a free makeover? Just seems very shady and dishonest to accept a free makeover and then turn around and sell!

    Reply
  4. We, the “armchair quarterbacks” like to say that there should be a contract forbidding the bar owner from reverting to the old name, discarding the new menu, or to make them pay for the renovation if they sell out immediately after. Let’s, however, follow that to its logical conclusion. A contract only matters if it’s “enforced”. So, just imagine, billion dollar Spike TV media corporation suing, an already, on the brink of bankruptcy bar owner…just ruminate on that for a moment, and realize what a public relations nightmare that would be. And to what purpose? Even if they won, as a large media corporation, it would cost them “many” more times, in attorney and court expenses, than they would ever get out of it…which would most likely be “nothing”, because they would be suing someone who is already broke. It would also result in “instant death” for the entire Bar Rescue show. No, on the brink of bankruptcy, bar owner is going to sign a contract giving a billion dollar media corporation permission to sue them. Spike TV surely makes more on the show than they spend for the renovations, so in the end, for the most part, both sides get what they wanted, and it’s up to the owners to make success out of it…or atleast make sure that they can look at themselves in the mirror afterward.

    Reply
  5. Selling the business after a remodel is not something Bar Rescue cares about. Only the fans do. Think Celebrities bar… the thing was for sale already a few times when Jon went in there, they spoke about it on the show. And he got one other owner to sell right in the episode, I forgot the name of the place. So while they probably prefer that the owners give it a chance, I’m sure they don’t care if they sell after the remodel.

    And yeah, dude sleeping while his wife was working was crappy. Glad Jon embarrassed him on the show about it.

    Reply
  6. It’s 6 years after the Dickson closed what the he’ll are you still commenting about it for your all boring people get a life lol

    Reply
  7. I’m watching this episode now. Let’s not forget a lot of this show is scripted and somewhat fake..the dramatization and stuff.. but the core of the show is real. The show probably scouts out these places for sometime before they decide to go in there and rehab them. On this episode the wife openly stated they really didn’t want the bar, they just haphazardly fell into it. We used to visit the Royal Oaks in Youngstown regularly after the show aired. Not s bad drive in the country coming in from Cleveland.

    Reply

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