David Ede, 22, graduate business administration student, and Dave Mosbacher, 24, senior ceramics major, attempt to tear down the old air conditioner on the first floor of the bar. Even after Ede hung from the air conditioner doing pull-ups it wouldn’t co

Credit: Steve Schirra

After being shut down for 13 months, the Robin Hood is reopening its doors at the end of the summer as The Robin Hood Bar and Grille.

Under new ownership, The Robin Hood Bar and Grille will still offer two stories of bars and live music, but a new kitchen will serve food until 4 a.m., co-owner Jim Aman said.

“We are first and foremost a bar,” he said. “But our kitchen will offer a Greek flavor along with bar food like wings, burgers and fries.”

Greek options will include gyros with meat from a spit and souvlaki. Food will be ordered and picked up by the customer in a fashion similar to at Buffalo Wild Wings, Aman said.

Aman, a former Canton resident, said he is excited to have come full circle.

“I lived in and went to school in Kent from ’73 to ’80,” said Aman, who owned a small turquoise shop that sold American Indian jewelry from a small section of the Robin Hood in 1976.

While he was here, Aman said he learned how to put on live concerts working for the All Campus Programming Board and later for Belkin Productions. After working with bands like the Eagles and Pink Floyd, Aman became the stage manager for the Smirnoff Music Center, Dallas’s equivalent of Blossom Music Center.

“The local live scene is not what it used to be when I was here,” Aman said. “We hope to have a resurgence of local bands and bring in up-and-coming national bands that need exposure.”

The re-introduction of the kitchen and focus on live shows are not Aman and co-owner Bill Jordan’s only selling points.

A renovated dining area downstairs will be complemented by a fresh look in the bathrooms that Aman said will make them more comfortable by bucking the trend of typical, dingy bar restrooms.

The sports-themed second floor will sport a new paint scheme on the walls, and the refinished wood flooring will hold two pool tables.

The upstairs will also feature a beer discount club where a membership fee will get members a 16-ounce beer at a 12-ounce price.

Each member will be given his or her own salt-glazed beer mug made by Kent State senior ceramics major Dave Mosbacher. Mosbacher said that each mug will be unique for each member but cohesive as a group.

In the past, the Robin Hood has been a bar that has allowed an 18-and-over crowd, Aman said. However, this will no longer be the policy -ÿlike the majority of Kent bars, the new Robin Hood will only allow patrons who are 21 and older.

“We want to establish a good relationship with the university and the city,” Aman said. “We may have an 18-and-over night on Sunday, but we will be a 21-and-over bar.”

Contact off campus and public affairs reporter Andrew Bergman at [email protected].