Henry O's to become site of new restaurant/bar

GAINESVILLE - The Gainesville "place where everybody knows your name" is getting a re-birth, of sorts.

A condominium project having fallen through, a new restaurant and bar is planned at the site of the old Henry O's in Gainesville. The man who owned the downtown landmark watering hole for about 30 years, Henry O. Ward, confirms he has leased the site and that the tenant hopes to open by summer.

"Oh, I'm very excited about it and excited about the people who have leased it," Ward said last week.

Ward said he has leased the site to A.J. Cope, an entertainer who is also in the catering business.

"It's just good to have someone that I (know) to go in there and do a good job and do something nice with a business (that was a part of my life for) 30 years."

Ward says the new place will not have exactly the same atmosphere as Henry O's did. He said Cope is completely redoing the inside of the Spring Street building most of which was dimly lit, with a rustic touch - nothing fancy, as more than one person described it. But, a favorite place for a meat-and-three lunch, a steak dinner or just to unwind after work or watch the big game while sipping a cold one at the bar.

Often compared to the Cheers bar of ABC-TV fame, the original "place where everybody knows your name," Henry O's closed last fall.

Ward had planned a high-rise condominium complex on the site.