CJ's Pub & Grill

What happened after

Show renamed it "Smithton Station Classic Kitchen & Cocktails"; the bar then closed under that ownership on 2024-09-15 and reopened the very next day (2024-09-16) under new owners Terra & Dave as "The Roost Bar & Grill." Confirmed via a direct Facebook post from the prior owners' own page announcing the sale.

Closure date on record: 2024-09

What happened on the show

CJ's Pub and Grill in Smithton, Illinois, came in for the show's standard intervention, with Taffer running the recon alongside former hockey enforcers Reed Low and Cam Janssen. The room went through Bar Rescue's usual arc of scrutiny, confrontation, a stress test and a renovation aimed at giving the struggling pub a stronger footing. Taffer's team reopened the venue as Smithton Station Classic Kitchen and Cocktails, a rebrand meant to reposition the room, betting that a sharper concept and a disciplined operation could steady the business. The reveal handed the owners a new identity, with the familiar test of whether they could sustain it, a test that would be overtaken by a change of ownership. A Smithton pub in a small Illinois market, it had a loyal base, though its post-rescue path would be defined by a change of ownership rather than the makeover alone.

After the cameras left

CJ's Pub, rebranded Smithton Station, changed hands almost immediately. The bar closed under its rescued ownership on September 15, 2024, and reopened the very next day, September 16, under new owners Terra and Dave as The Roost Bar and Grill, confirmed via a direct Facebook post from the prior owners announcing the sale, which puts the status at high confidence as sold. The Smithton room did not carry forward under the rescue's owners or name, but it continued under fresh hands at 102 North Main Street, landing this one among the venues that survived a change of ownership.