The owners of The Lion are opening Bexley Yard, a family-friendly outdoor gathering space where dogs are welcome and drinks from the bar can travel outside, at the southwest corner of Cassingham Road and Main Street in Bexley. The new spot held a soft opening last Saturday, September 5, and is set for its grand opening this Saturday, September 12, with musicians, rotating food trucks, and either cotton candy or face painting on hand for kids.
Co-owner Mike Davis said the idea grew directly out of customer demand at The Lion, the coffee-bar-by-day, cocktail-bar-by-night spot the Bexley Hospitality team opened at 2511 E. Main St. in 2024. According to NBC4 WCMH-TV, Davis said customers have been clamoring for more outdoor space, and he added that the opportunity to lease the empty lot came up and the owners took it. That lot, a grassy parcel half a block away from the original bar, is now Bexley Yard, described as a short walk from The Lion itself.
Access works simply: customers buy a coffee or cocktail inside The Lion, then carry it over to the yard, which includes picnic tables, room for kids to play outdoor games, and open space for dogs to run. Bexley Yard will also charge a small entrance fee to visitors who do not purchase a beverage, though that fee will not apply to children or to anyone simply bringing an animal along. Davis said the exact entrance fee will be announced this week, per the station's report.
Dogs, Drinks and a Little Bit of Everything
Dog owners visiting the yard are expected to pick up after their pets, and animals must behave around children and other dogs on-site, with yard managers on hand to monitor the space. The pet-friendly setup is possible thanks to Ohio House Bill 263, enacted in 2018 under Ohio Revised Code Chapter 3717, which allows food service establishments statewide to permit vaccinated dogs in outdoor dining areas as long as the business enforces a safety and sanitation policy, according to the Farm Office at The Ohio State University.
Alcohol can move outdoors, too, because Bexley introduced its Designated Outdoor Refreshment Area in 2021. Known as “The Bexley Patio,” the DORA stretches along Main Street from Alum Creek to Cassingham Road and requires open drinks carried outside to be served in designated 100 percent compostable cups paired with a DORA wristband, per the City of Bexley. The zone is enacted until 10 p.m. seven days a week. Bexley's DORA operates under Ohio Revised Code § 4301.82. According to the City of Bexley, City Council approved the application for an E. Main Street Designated Outdoor Refreshment Area at its April 27th meeting. City records show that Ordinance 10-21 created a Designated Outdoor Refreshment Area in a specified portion of Bexley's Main Street District.
Mornings on the Lawn, Nights With Food Trucks
By day, the plan is lattes on the lawn — an extension of The Lion's existing role as a coffee bar serving specialty lattes, drip coffee, and nitro cold brew made with fresh milk from regional Ohio suppliers such as FIEO Farms and Millersburg, per a report from Lemon8. At night, the yard shifts into rotating food trucks and acoustic music, with 614NOW reporting that Davis said the food truck lineup will place a special emphasis on Mexican cuisine to meet local demand. Davis also told the outlet that management is developing a delivery service allowing staff to bring sealed drinks directly from The Lion to patrons already settled in the yard.
Operating hours for Bexley Yard mirror those of The Lion: 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. to 11 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. to midnight Friday and Saturday, and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Sunday. The yard will feature local vendors for most of the year and is set to expand into a holiday market once winter arrives. Grand opening details and ongoing entertainment schedules are posted online at thelionbexley.com.
A Long-Awaited Nightlife Fix for Main Street
The Lion itself opened on September 6, 2024, founded by Bexley Hospitality managing partners Davis and Matt Eshelbrenner, who named the bar as a tribute to the Bexley High School mascot. Before opening, Davis had noted that Bexley lacked nightlife venues operating past 9 p.m., which pushed the team to model their concept on upscale cocktail spots like New York City's Death & Co. and Columbus's Antiques on High.
Bexley Yard's arrival adds a family- and pet-oriented outdoor layer to that same stretch of Main Street, a corridor with roots stretching back to the city's founding. Bexley was incorporated as a village in 1908 and became a city in 1932, developing along the old National Road from a merger of the historic Bullitt Park estate district and the Pleasant Ridge community surrounding Capital University, according to the City of Bexley. Today the suburb east of Columbus has an estimated population of about 13,114 residents, a median household income of $157,841, and a homeownership rate near 80 percent, per Data USA — a demographic profile that helps explain the strong local appetite for a new upscale, dog-friendly outdoor hangout just steps from home.
