Iconic barbecue restaurant Clyde Cooper’s says it will leave downtown Raleigh
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One of North Carolina’s oldest barbecue restaurants will move out of its longtime home in downtown Raleigh, its owners say.
Clyde Cooper’s Barbecue, which has been in business for nearly a century, will soon move out of its downtown Raleigh location. Its owners, mother and daughter Debbie and Ashley Holt, cite crime and a lack of foot traffic on downtown streets as the reasons for the move.
“It’s just something we’ve been thinking about with everything happening in downtown Raleigh and everything not happening,” Ashley Holt told The News & Observer in a phone interview on Monday. “Ever since the pandemic things haven’t gotten back to where they were. We’ve been patiently waiting for foot traffic down our way and it’s just not happening.”
Debbie Holt said that she has felt uneasy in downtown Raleigh since the May 2020 riots, but has entertained the thought of moving Clyde Cooper’s for years.
“I would always flush (the idea of moving) out of my head, but this is the first time in my life it feels right,” Debbie Holt said. “Clyde Cooper’s was born and bred in Raleigh — it almost breaks my heart to do it. But it feels like the right thing to do.”
There is no timetable for moving Clyde Cooper’s, Debbie Holt said, noting she is now scouting locations in the Triangle for the restaurant.
“It won’t happen today and it won’t happen tomorrow,” Debbie Holt said.
The moving plans were first reported by the Triangle Business Journal.
City doesn’t ‘give a rat’s butt’ about bbq joint, says owner
Clyde Cooper’s is one of North Carolina’s most historic restaurant names, first opening its doors and smoking its brand of whole hog barbecue in 1938.
Debbie Holt first started working at Clyde Cooper’s in 1989, according to a 2011 interview with the Southern Foodways Alliance, getting the original recipes for Brunswick Stew and other dishes from the original Clyde Cooper.
She and her late husband Randy Holt bought the restaurant in 2008.
This will be Clyde Cooper’s second move in a decade, as the restaurant left its original downtown Raleigh location in 2014, moving about a block away to its current location on Wilmington Street.
Debbie Holt owns the Clyde Cooper’s building space and said she plans to lease it out once the restaurant has moved.
Clyde Cooper’s will remain open indefinitely as the Holts look for a new location. Though nothing has been finalized, Debbie Holt said she’s confident the restaurant’s days in downtown Raleigh are numbered.
“It’s going to have to be a pretty wonderful place for me to relocate Clyde Cooper’s but I think I will find it out there,” Debbie Holt said.
Among the biggest headaches for Clyde Cooper’s diners, Debbie Holt said, has been parking. While the restaurant is located in the ground floor of a parking garage, she said that parking isn’t available on the weekends.
“I hear it mainly about the parking,” Debbie Holt said. “Parking is not easy, it’s a pain in a rat’s behind....We’ve been fighting for parking for a long time.”
At 88 years old, Clyde Cooper’s is one of the state’s oldest barbecue restaurants, cooking in the Eastern North Carolina, vinegar sauce and whole hog style. While a barbecue icon, Holt said she doesn’t feel like the restaurant is appropriately appreciated by the city.
“I think Clyde Cooper’s is a staple of Downtown Raleigh, but I don’t think the City of Raleigh gives a rat’s butt about it,” Holt said. “We’re drawing people from all over the world to eat with us. They don’t appreciate what makes people want to come downtown.”
This story was originally published November 13, 2023 at 5:03 PM.
