After many trials and tribulations, Wood Tavern, the watering hole beloved by those hanging out in Wynwood since 2011, has closed down permanently.
Late Sunday evening, on May 5, Wood Tavern's owner, Cesar Morales, shared the news of the bar's permanent closure via an Instagram post on the bar's Instagram account.
"What started as a simple issue with the name of the licenses turned into a more complicated situation," reads the post, in part. "Obtaining a new license requires new paperwork, and from there, things snowball. It's a process that could easily take 1-2 months. We are not in a position to sustain that."
The post concludes, "Wood officially closes its doors and will not reopen ever again, not in Wynwood or anywhere else."
New Times called and texted Morales for comment but didn't receive a response.
On April 27, just a few days earlier, the bar announced via an Instagram post that it was forced to shut down on April 26 "by the city over the name on the licenses/permits." The post detailed how the bar could not open until the city of Miami "gave them the green light."
The news of the bar's permanent closure comes less than six months after New Times first reported the reopening of Wood Tavern. The bar, which closed during the COVID-19 pandemic, had then planned to reopen as a pop-up in Wynwood before making a move to a smaller location in Allapattah. In December of 2023, Morales told New Times, "Allapattah will be our permanent home. It worked out for everybody."
However, on January 31, Morales confirmed through an Instagram post that the Allapattah plan had come to an end, and the bar would continue in its Wynwood location at the former Shots bar.
Unfortunately for fans of the classic bar, both locations will cease to exist.
Miamians who came of legal drinking age in the 2010s are likely familiar — if hazily so — with Wood Tavern, whose sprawling complex at the bustling intersection of NW Second Avenue and 26th Street was a veritable bohemian oasis during the arts district's formative years. Wood Tavern was where countless hipsters (and New Times staffers) gathered for reasonably priced drinks in a decidedly no-judgment space.
So long, Wood Tavern.
