Knoxville institution named one of best bars in the US. Everything to know before you go

Preservation Pub, an entertaining multistory dive, this week made national news: The Knoxville, Tennessee, favorite is one of 27 bars that made the 2024 USA TODAY Bars of the Year list . The list was created by USA TODAY Network food writers across the country and includes everything from humble dives to high-end cocktail bars.

While co-owner Scott West jokingly said he would think highly of himself without the honor, his wife and business partner, Bernadette West, said it feels like "all our work has been appreciated."

"We've always made places that we would like to hang out in," she said.

What makes Preservation Pub stand out

You sometimes hear Preservation Pub before you see it. The mighty musical dive gives artists a place to play each night while also giving the city's fun-loving party crowd somewhere to socialize over cheap drinks.

Scott considers his family-owned bar the "heart of the heart" — that is, the pulse that makes the Market Square pedestrian plaza come alive as one of the most-visited parts of the Scruffy City.

The multistory bar — known simply as "The Pub" or "Pres" — has grown a lot since opening in 2002, back when you were more likely to spot tumbleweeds rolling through Market Square than college students hopping between bars. The Pub stayed in business despite Scott and Bernadette going to prison for a marijuana-based money laundering operation that invested illegal money into the building.

This investment in Market Square is where "preservation" comes from, and they still have no regrets.

See the nationwide list: USA TODAY's Bars of the Year 2024

Scott and Bernadette left the bar with family members while they were away and, upon returning, the couple went bigger and better by adding more space to what's one of the biggest downtown bars by size.

"As a bar you take a hit. You're not going to do enough business to justify paying the band," Scott said about nightly music, especially during the week. "Our reasoning was everyone knows every night we're open to 3 a.m. Every night there's live music. ... Every night you get a Pubby Buddy for five bucks."

That's one shot of whiskey and a PBR — a signature, along with pub pizzas. Want a fancy cocktail? Go next door to Bernadette's Crystal Gardens, another West-family bar connected by the Preservation Pub roof.

Smoking is allowed on the first floor, where a small stage once welcomed Chris Stapleton and other artists before they made it big, while more dancing and socializing is encouraged on the second floor amid thumping party music.

The roof is defined by its faux "beer tree" with built-in taps, Scott's "shot shack" bar made from a metallic trailer, large crystals, green plants and colorful lights. This leads to another lounge built on top of the roof.

More: How the list of best bars was decided

Nearly every artistic touch was personally added by Bernadette, who decided never to substantially change the first floor. It's cozy and somewhere all types of people, from eclectic regulars to single women, feel comfortable, she said.

"We think of ourselves as a happy hippie place always, from the day we opened," Scott said.

Details: 28 Market Square, Knoxville, Tenn.; 865-524-2224; scruffycity.com/preservation-pub

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Knoxville institution named one of best bars in the US. Everything to know before you go