Bradley's on 7th entering Chapter 11, sister bar Utopia Road sold

TAMPA | Owner Bradley Nelson announced Oct. 22 that Bradley’s on 7th will seek Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection and that he has sold Utopia Road Bar & Courtyard, the LGBTQ+ venue’s sister site.

“I have always tried to be as transparent as possible in running my bars,” he announced via social media. “This way, at least the gossip is CORRECT! Nothing worse than gossip that doesn’t state all the facts correctly.”

Utopia Road, just before the three-year mark of Nelson’s purchase, was sold effective today. He said the venue “was not supporting itself” and that it “never took off the way it needed to.”

“Bradley’s could no longer support Utopia, and 3 years was enough time to know it was never going to be what it needed to be,” he said. The bar will now operate under new ownership under the name Ybor City’s First Chance, Last Chance.

“While not a gay bar, everyone is welcome, and the new owners are extremely nice,” Nelson noted. Employees will all receive two weeks severance.

“Utopia Road has been sold. WE ARE CLOSED,” the venue posted Oct. 22 with the image below. “Coming soon Ybor City’s First Chance, Last Chance Bar.”

Nelson also noted that Nov. 8 will mark one year since the fatal crash outside of Bradley’s, which remained open in the aftermath. He noted that while possible, doing so made some customers “reasonably uncomfortable coming back,” impacting sales by 86% in November and 64% in December.

“We were not prepared for such dramatic drop in sales. But completely understood people needed time to adjust,” Nelson shared. “The start of 2026 was not much better, but we could see that it was at that point being the economy in general. The price of everything (gas, food, insurance, rent) was all climbing and people had less money to spend on entertainment. But Bradley’s kept marching forward.”

Having suffered “such huge losses,” Nelson — who noted no staff or entertainment was let go — said it was “impossible to just take a chunk of income out unexpectedly and be able to make up for it.” He said sales are down $500,000 so far this year from the year prior.

“We understand that it is not just Bradley’s hurting,” he added. “Our fellow friends in the hospitality business are hurting and of course our customers.”

Nelson explained that filing Chapter 11, which he said should be made public in 2-3 weeks, will discontinue “unwarranted lawsuits” related to the crash and allow the venue “to keep operating as normal” while helping manage last year’s losses.

“I want to make it clear that this is the best thing for Bradley’s…as the lawsuits will go away and we will be operating as normal,” Nelson noted. “Daily operations will stay the same. We will still be here to service all our customers, and keep our almost 16 years of being open, going for many more years in the future.”

Nelson reiterated that he wanted the information to be public “so the rumor mill gets it right.”

“We will be staying open, and working hard to increase the income flow,” he shared. “Also keeping all our employees and entertainers employed.”

Read Nelson’s message in full below: