Tick Tock Tavern changing hands after 39 years, new owners plan to keep operations as is

LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Originally opening in 1947 as a cigar shop and grocery store, the Tick Tock Tavern has been a Lafayette institutions for decades. Come April 1, the bar and restaurant will undergo new ownership to see it through into a new era.

Jason Conley, outgoing owner of the Tick Tock Tavern, said the North 9th Street institution has been in his family for the past 39 years, and while the decision to sell the bar was bittersweet, it's the right time for new owners to come in and give the business the care it deserves.

Looking back on the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Conley said that time period made him reconsider much of his life and his career. As he began venturing into other business sectors and investments, Conley said he has spread himself too thin.

"I'm not giving the restaurant the right focus and attention it needs, and that's not what my employees or my customers deserve," Conley explained. "This decision was something where I had to take stock in what makes the most sense, and I had to take stock in what I was going to do moving forward."

Since purchasing the bar in 1985, the Conley family has owned the establishment longest among several other owners in the bar's history. Seeing it through transitions over the years, Conley oversaw the change of the bar becoming a non-smoking establishment, while his father, Tom Conley, managed the reconstruction of the bar after it was pushed back 100 yards west during the North 9th Street corridor improvements.

Among new business ventures, too, Conley said his family life has become his main focus after he and his wife recently welcomed a new baby boy, while his other three children begin to get involved with sports and other activities. Knowing how physically demanding the restaurant business is, he knew the business would run better under owners who could be more physically present.

When Conley heard Corey Spurgeon and Jerome Gee, owners of Big League Sports Bar and Grill, were looking to purchase another bar, he felt the pair were the right choice for what the Tick Tock Tavern needed.

"(The Tick Tock Tavern) is a piece of history — it's important that it continues on. I want to see it continue to be successful, and I think we have the right people in the driver's seat," Conley said. "Their work is a testament to itself. They started a bar and restaurant just as COVID came, and it has thrived, while a lot of restaurants around the country that were established closed."

Spurgeon said the duo plans to keep all of the food and drinks it's known for, praising the loyal, long-time staff that has made the bar and restaurant an institution.

"It's why people come here," Spurgeon said. "Why would I want to change and shock everybody? Obviously we plan on trying to spruce up little things here and there to make it better, but we want to maintain the current business, too."

Gee's excitement around their new ownership stems from Conley's trust in the pair taking over the family-run business.

Conley said he knows his decision to sell will come as a shock to many, knowing he himself assumed this would be his career for the rest of his life, but like all things in life, change is constant.

"I think this will be for the best, which is hard for me to admit as a type-A guy who thinks he can always do it better," Conley said. "After my own 37 years on this beautiful planet, I've been humbled a few times. I have come to learn that if people can do it better than you, you should probably let them."

Jillian Ellison is a reporter for the Journal & Courier. She can be reached by email at jellison@gannett.com. Follow her on X at @ellison_writes.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: After 39 years, Tick Tock Tavern announces change in ownership