Pistons Bar & Grill Sold After Seven Years

After seven years, Jason English, owner of Pistons Bar & Grill, announced he has sold the popular spot. 

Pistons has been a go-to for crowds of people for several years. What was once Club Royal was purchased by Jason English seven years ago and turned into one of the most popular party stops on Franklin Street. However, after what appears to be the start of a bad reputation for the bar, English announced he had decided to close up shop and sell the bar.

In a lengthy Facebook post, English points blame toward the Evansville Police Department and the popular police scanner monitoring account EvansvilleWatch for Pistons tarnished reputation.

English wrote, "due to the relentless harassment of eville watch that have gave this beautiful bar and its amazing employees a bad reputation I have decided to sell and make sure that they and there families always have job security."

For years EvansvilleWatch has monitored the police scanners in Evansville and live-tweeted calls as they came in. It quickly gained a reputation for its hilarious commentary and descriptive nature of the posts. Friday and Saturday night in particular seemed to be E-Watch's prime time to showcase some of Evansville's most ridiculous occurrences. Often times, it seems Pistons came up on peoples' timelines during the wee hours of weekend mornings.

***Full disclosure - EvansvilleWatch simply tweets calls that come across the police scanner. I cannot confirm that the organization specifically targets Pistons. After doing some investigation, I saw plenty of tweets about other bars, including Sportsman's, TimeOut Lounge, Bud's Rockin' Country Bar, and Rick's Sports Bar, all within the last week.***

English's full statement reads:
"It is with heavy heart and great sadness to announce that Piston’s has been sold... 7 yrs ago I bought a small bar on franklin and I remodeled and rebuilt and added on and built a kitchen with a master chef who has become a part of my family and a true brother to me... Joey Tornatore was the foundation that started this great project and made it what it had become, but do to the relentless harassment of eville watch that have gave this beautiful bar and its amazing employees a bad reputation I have decided to sell and make sure that they and there families always have job security, I truly hope the new owner takes it to a new level and that the EPD and eville watch give him the respect to move forward... I always put everything I made back into this bar to keep it beautiful and try to add things that this city never saw before... I want to thank my loyal employees that have been with me for years and my die hard customers that never wavered and always showed up everyday “ I truly love and respect all of you, “ thankyou!” This past 7 yrs has been so fun and whether anyone wants to acknowledge it or not this bar made franklin street grow and change, “ just count all the balcony’s since the first one and new store front!” I have maybe 4 to 6 weeks left on the street so in closing I hope you stop in and let’s have one last one together, I will keep you posted for last night blow out before I leave the street.... greatest time of my life on this street, I will truly miss you so much franklin street! I love all my angels at the bar, you girls are the best !!!! Thankyou so much!"

English did not include the name of the new owners or if the bar would change in any way. According to Evansville 411 News, rumor has it that the new owner is a local restaurateur who has not been previously located on Franklin Street.