Cowboy Bills Honky Tonk Saloon, Key West, Fl Management Team

Cowboy Bill's is a fun, relaxed, extension of your living room where the staff and customers are treated like family, one big happy dysfunctional family, but family none the less. Pull up a stool, kick back with your favorite beverage, catch up with your old friends or make new ones. At Cowboy Bill’s everyone is welcome (Even those of you we’ve thrown out. Come back tomorrow.)

Cowboy Bill’s started out as an idea bounced back and forth between two good friends. “What Key West needs is a good old fashion shit kickin’ country bar.” What began as idle bar chatter became reality after Hurricane Wilma rolled through Key West in October of 2005. A small Restaurant/ Bar on Duval closed due to damage to their kitchen. Cowboy Bill was asked to give a quote on the demolition, and when he discovered that the demo wouldn’t take place for 8 months, asked “What will happen to the property in the meantime?” Its vacancy provided an opportunity. Bill called Irene and in 7 days the two became owners of a tiny, nine stool, tin roofed, falling down bar. After batting back and forth a list of 50 names, they decided to go with simple. Cowboy Bill’s Honky Tonk Saloon opened serving beer and wine on Nov 10, 2005.

The Saloon was a success! Not willing to stand on their laurels, and faced with the eminent demolition of their happy little bar, the two began a search for a new home for Cowboy Bill’s. After months of fruitless searching, another failing restaurant proved to be salvation. An uneasy partnership was formed and the new Cowboy Bill’s opened just a block down the street from the old location on May 12 th 2006. Now serving full liquor, the bar was an immediate hit! Life was good but all good things….

Success ground to a screeching halt at 7:15 pm on June 13 th when agents of the Florida Department of Alcohol, Beverage and Tobacco rolled up and conducted the largest seizure of alcohol in Monroe County history. The uneasy partnership dissolved when the liquor license proved to be invalid!

Lesser or more knowledgeable individuals would have thrown in the towel but Irene and Bill decided to test their fortitude and their bank accounts. They gave the partner the boot and charted a course on their own. Against almost insurmountable odds and to the disbelief of their critics, the bar reopened with much fanfare on October 4, 2006.

A labor of love, you can find Bill and Irene at the Bar seven days a week. Bill will give you the ride of your life on the Mechanical Bull or pop open a frigid brew. Irene will serve you up a stiff “Crazy Irene” or a witty retort. The two of them continue to be the heart and soul of Cowboy Bill’s and make their bar stand out from the rest.