The owners of some of the downtown Salt Lake City bars and restaurants that were destroyed in a fire last August say they are getting close to welcoming patrons again.
What started as a small grease fire in London Belle Supper Club’s kitchen tore through a historic section of downtown’s nightlife district and also burned Whiskey Street, White Horse and Los Tapatios, and damaged the restaurant Eva.
Jason LeCates — managing partner of Bourbon Group, which owns White Horse and Whiskey Street — said Monday that he plans to reopen White Horse by the end of the month.
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Contractors prepare the White Horse on the Main Street for reopening on Monday, Jan. 5, 2026.
The original idea was to open to the public on Jan. 22, but due to an issue with the bar’s exhaust hoods, LeCates said that date is now “up in the air.”
The biggest setback in White Horse’s reopening has been replacing the storefront’s windows, which were damaged while fire crews were fighting the blaze, LeCates said.
The windows that LeCates ordered will slide open to give the front of the bar a patio feel, he said, but delivery has been delayed. In the meantime, he said workers will install temporary windows.
Overall, LeCates said the rebuild has gone well. “There [were] portions of it that turned out to be way less of a big deal, and parts that we didn’t think were going to be a big deal, turned out to be a big deal,” he said.
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Contractors prepare the White Horse on the Main Street for reopening on Monday, Jan. 5, 2026.
While the fire, as well as smoke and water, ruined the interior of White Horse as well as most of the roof, “the shell of the building is pretty much intact,” LeCates said.
Inside, workers have rebuilt the bar itself, as well as the upholstered booths. To patrons, White Horse will look the same, for the most part, “just brand-spanking new,” LeCates said.
The day after Christmas, White Horse posted a time-lapse video on Instagram of the bar’s sign going back up.
However, the process of rebuilding Whiskey Street hasn’t really started, LeCates said.
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Businesses affected by the Main Street fire over the summer, on Monday, Jan. 5, 2026.
First, things were on hold for months as LeCates waited for some insurance matters to wrap up. Then he found out that there was more structural damage to the north wall — which Whiskey Street shared with London Belle — than he was previously aware of. The floor also needs to be taken out, and workers will have to finish necessary demolition and perform structural and seismic upgrades.
“For sure we will [reopen],” LeCates said of Whiskey Street. “[It’s] just a matter of when.”
That “when” could be by the end of 2026, LeCates said. He said he’s even slowly replacing some of the bottles of whiskey that were lost in the fire.
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Businesses affected by the Main Street fire over the summer, on Monday, Jan. 5, 2026.
Up the street, Eva — which serves Mediterranean-style small plates and was mostly spared by the blaze — has nevertheless been closed since August.
General manager Clayton Wall said last week that “extensive” smoke and water damage had forced the owners to replace the restaurant’s ceiling, walls, roof and floors, and they also had to have its water, sewer and gas lines modified.
However, “we are making excellent progress and are planning to reopen in February,” Wall said.
A co-owner of Los Tapatios — which specializes in birria, served in various dishes — and a co-owner of London Belle, named for a famous Utah madam, did not respond to requests for comment.
In November, Frank Paulraj, one of the partners at London Belle, told commissioners with the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Services that “we have a pretty much total loss on our building.”
“We plan to rebuild,” Paulraj told the commission, with a likely opening in 2027.