More Details on Saxon Pub’s Impending Move

South Austin institution Saxon Pub is relocating further south to join the new mixed-use development Saint Elmo Public Market on Congress Avenue. Saxon owner Joe Ables spoke to Austin Business Journal about his plans for both the new venture and the original bar.

The reborn Saxon Pub will open in 2017 before the rest of the St. Elmo development, including the public market in the following year. The new spot will have both a restaurant/bar and listening room which will serve as the music space. Ables wants the restaurant to look almost exactly like the first one, which will hopefully include the giant knight.

When the new Saxon Pub opens, Ables plans on reinventing the South Lamar with a new name and slightly different music lineups. There are five years left on the lease, which he wants to renew. That could prove difficult though, as he explained to the publication:

With the rents going the way they are on Lamar, it’s going to get tougher to stay there, though my hope is we can keep something going.

To commemorate Saxon Pub’s live musical history, Jeff Sandmann and Lisa Kay Pfannenstiel launched a Kickstarter to raise funds to film a documentary about the bar called The Saxon.