The Bay Horse Cafe, a downtown Cincinnati bar whose history stretches back more than two centuries, will close Sunday, Oct. 18, and transition to new ownership. The bar currently sits at 625 Main St.
The closure was reported Tuesday by cincinnati.com, which confirmed the Sunday closing date and the Main Street address. The closure will bring a transition to new ownership.
Bay Horse stakeholders trace the bar's lineage all the way to 1817, when it operated out of a Water Street location that, according to Cincinnati Magazine, suffered frequent flooding. The bar eventually moved to Fifth Street, where it got its current name in 1878 after a horse broke free from a pen across the street and wandered inside, per local accounts documented by the magazine. Historical research from Digging Cincinnati places the original Bay Horse at what is now 216 E. Fifth Street before its later relocation.
A Disputed Move to Main Street
The Bay Horse moved from Fifth Street to its current Main Street address in 1962, according to CityBeat's historical account.
The more recent chapters of the Bay Horse's story are easier to pin down. Fred Berger and his fiancée, Lori Meeker, bought the property and renovated it, reopening the bar that same year in 2017, according to CityBeat. The bar closed again in 2022 after Meeker died, the outlet reported.
Kyle Smith's Time-Travel Revival
The Bay Horse reopened in downtown Cincinnati after that closure, with Kyle Smith, described by local12.com as a Cincinnati bar industry veteran with 15 years of experience, taking the helm. Smith reworked the concept while retaining the Bay Horse name, telling Cincinnati Magazine, “The sign has to stay on the front. I don't want you to change the name.”
Smith leaned into the bar's long history by branding it the Bay Horse Cafe Time Travel Bar, per CityBeat's report on the relaunch. “Going forward, the Bay Horse will be a time-travel bar,” Smith told Cincinnati Magazine, describing plans for a cocktail menu.
A New Chapter for the Bay Horse
The Bay Horse's latest closure comes amid steady turnover in Greater Cincinnati's bar and restaurant scene. A mid-year accounting from fox19.com counted at least 59 new restaurants, bars and coffee shops opening across the region in the first half of 2026, while a separate local12.com tally found the region said goodbye to 41 bars and restaurants in 2025.
The cafe had been slated to open in March 2024 and is now set to transition to new ownership.
