Tiger Town Tavern
Tiger Town Tavern’s downtown Clemson façade, with its iconic awning declaring “Established 1977.” Tiger Town Tavern (often called “Triple T’s” or simply “Triple”) is a legendary Clemson bar that first opened its doors in the late 1970s. It was founded in 1977 by four local partners – J.C. Cook III, Bobby Cook, Lester Moore, and John Cartee – who established the tavern in a historic building on College Avenuetigertowntavern.com. The location had previously been the Red Carpet Lounge, a 1960s-70s era bar that shut down in 1977 after a notorious shooting incident tarnished its reputationclemsonwiki.com. Seizing the opportunity, the Tiger Town Tavern founders remodeled the space and officially opened for business by the fall of 1978, bringing a new energy to Clemson’s downtown nightlifeclemsonwiki.com. From the beginning, Tiger Town Tavern aimed to be a friendly watering hole for Clemson students and locals alike, offering a laid-back atmosphere and cold beer just steps from campus.
Over the next few years, Tiger Town Tavern grew in both size and popularity. In the summer of 1980, the owners expanded the tavern into the adjacent building, knocking through a wall to create a larger two-room venueclemsonwiki.com. This expansion gave the bar its distinctive “old side” and “new side” layout – a bit of local lore that Clemson students of the early 1980s still remember when referring to different sections of the tavernclemsonwiki.com. The expansion also connected the tavern to a two-story structure next door, though initially only the ground floor was used for the bar. (The upstairs of that structure had historically housed a Pizza Hut and a photography studio in the 1970sclemsonwiki.comclemsonwiki.com.) By combining the buildings, Tiger Town Tavern became one of the largest hangouts in town, complete with multiple pool tables, plenty of booth seating, and a rustic pub décor. It even offered food in its early years, though by the mid-1970s under Red Carpet the kitchen focus had waned in favor of beer serviceclemsonwiki.com. The newly expanded tavern of the 1980s continued the Clemson tradition of convivial nights out, often packed on weekends and especially busy on football game days (where it became a popular pre-game gathering spot)clemsonwiki.com.
One notable feature of Tiger Town Tavern is its upstairs section, which has its own storied history. For years the upper floor was occupied by various businesses and even a pool hall known informally as “Dewey’s Tap Room,” run by a longtime employee (Dwayne “Dewey” Brown)clemsonwiki.com. In 1995, the tavern’s management converted the upstairs into the “Top of the Tavern,” a private club-style extension of Tiger Town Tavernclemsonwiki.com. This upstairs club, accessible by the side staircase next to the main entrance, offered a more relaxed lounge with additional pool tables, game machines, and even a golf simulator in later yearsthetigercu.com. Members pay a nominal one-time fee (historically around $10) for lifetime access, allowing them and their guests to enjoy a quieter bar space above the lively main tavernthetigercu.com. The creation of Top of the Tavern added a new dimension to the establishment, giving older students and alumni a place to escape the crowd while still soaking in the Clemson bar atmosphere.
Throughout the 1980s and beyond, Tiger Town Tavern became deeply embedded in Clemson’s social scene and faced both challenges and triumphs. In 1988, for example, the City of Clemson attempted an “abortive” effort to take control of the tavern’s property by blocking the renewal of its lease (the building was then owned by an absentee landlord)clemsonwiki.com. The move was met with fierce backlash from loyal patrons – a letter-writing campaign by Tavern regulars inundated City Hall in support of “Triple T’s” – and the city quietly dropped the ideaclemsonwiki.comclemsonwiki.com. A few years later, in 1991, Tiger Town Tavern’s management was able to purchase the building outright, securing the bar’s future on College Avenueclemsonwiki.com. They undertook renovations, replacing the old wooden façade with glass blocks and a stained-glass tiger logo, and upgrading the climate control systemsclemsonwiki.com. These improvements modernized the historic space while preserving its classic charm. Another big change in the late ’80s was South Carolina’s incremental raise of the legal drinking age – from 18 to 19, then 20, and eventually 21 by 1987 – which hit college bars hard. Tiger Town Tavern adapted by expanding its menu into a full sports bar grill (adding a kitchen was a common survival move among Clemson bars)clemsonwiki.com. To this day, the tavern serves pub fare with Clemson-themed item names, ensuring it remains a go-to spot for food as well as drinks.
The cultural impact of Tiger Town Tavern on Clemson is difficult to overstate. It has been a rite of passage for generations of Clemson students – perhaps most famously through its tradition of handing out free T-shirts on one’s 21st birthday. Earning a Tiger Town Tavern 21st-birthday shirt, emblazoned with the tavern’s “drunken tiger” logo (a cartoon tiger lounging in a mug of beer), is considered a milestone for Clemson undergradsclemsonwiki.comthetigercu.com. Alumni often treasure these shirts as nostalgic souvenirs of their college days. The tavern’s logo and name adorn countless hats, stickers, and magnets around town, fostering a sense of community among those who’ve shared memories therethetigercu.com. Thanks to affordable specials – notably the famously cheap $2 Pabst Blue Ribbon beers – Tiger Town Tavern even became one of the top sellers of PBR in the world during the 2000sthetigercu.com, a testament to the volume of loyal patrons. The bar has consistently been voted “Best Bar” in Clemson by local surveys, reflecting its enduring popularitythetigercu.com. Even as Clemson’s downtown evolves, Tiger Town Tavern remains “home” for the Clemson family: walk in on any given night and you’ll find a mix of students shooting pool, alumni swapping stories, and Tigers fans gearing up for the next gamethetigercu.com. With over four decades of history, the tavern has weathered changes while maintaining its welcoming, no-cover-charge policy and warm atmosphere. Under the stewardship of second-generation owners like Cameron Farish (son of one of the original founders) and his partners, TTT continues to thrive into the 2020sthetigercu.com, carrying forward the legacy of one of Clemson’s most iconic bars.
