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New owner — and new direction — at Harley's Hard Rock Saloon

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Just months after Harley’s Hard Rock Saloon moved locations with ambitious plans to feature diner-style food and adult entertainment under the same roof, the storied strip club is under new ownership — and a new direction. 

Scott Yuill took charge of the club from ex-owner Sara Murphy a few months ago, officially becoming the owner on July 1. 

Yuill “took over everything,” including the previous owner’s debt, he told Yellowknifer. 

Scott Yuill took over ownership of Yellowknife's only strip club, Harley's Hard Rock Saloon on July 1. Brendan Burke/NNSL photo
Scott Yuill took over ownership of Yellowknife's only strip club, Harley's Hard Rock Saloon on July 1. Brendan Burke/NNSL photo

“I didn’t want to see Harley’s die,” said Yuill, who called the strip club an iconic fixture of Yellowknife’s downtown.

While Yuill said the takeover is a done deal, Murphy - who said she has no intention of staying on board as owner - disputes his statement, telling Yellowknifer it hasn't yet been finalized.

Yuill countered by stating "everything is in my name."

Harley’s called Franklin Avenue home for years before moving into the former KFC building, located on 48 Street, late last year. The new location opened its doors soon after with big plans to serve up all-day breakfast alongside adult entertainment. 

The expansion plans — part of then-owner Murphy’s plans grow her “empire,” she told Yellowknifer after the establishment received its liquor licence — may have moved a little too fast, said Yuill. 

“I saw it was going down ... and I saw an opportunity,” he said, adding a lot of factors played a role in the business’ decline before the takeover. 

Harley’s tattoo and piercing parlour, along with the adjoined Shirt Shack clothing store — fixtures of the former location — are still up and running. But Yuill has scrapped any plans of pursue the ex-owner’s diner dreams. 

“We’re going to be a straight up strip right now. Family dining is not going to work,” said Yuill.

Following its relocation, previous ownership announced Harley’s would be teaming up with Twin Pine Diner chef Robin Wasicuna to provide patrons with menu favourites from the former Franklin Avenue restaurant — a once popular breakfast spot that has since shuttered its doors.

The partnership ended abruptly in April when Wasicuna announced publicly he’d severed ties with the strip club and its former owner. 

Inherited debt has made the transition a “struggle,”  but the club is “slowly getting there,” said Yuill. 

While righting the ship financially is Yuill’s main focus at this time, he plans on making the location “better and bigger.”

He aims to renovate the building to add more room for private parties, pool tables and darts boards. 

It’s a strategy meant to “stick with tradition,” and bring Harley’s back to its roots, said manager Darin Woodbury.

“We’re trying to continue with the legacy that was built a long time ago,” said Woodbury. “We’re merely expanding on old ideas — because they work.” 

While Yuill is doing away with diner plans, he’s sticking with the idea of eventually housing a cannabis dispensary inside Harley’s — a plan outlined previously by the former owner. 

If he had his way, Yuill said, the pot shop would be up and running today, but bureaucratic red tape has stalled the process. 

Expansion plans, said manager Woodbury, are nothing new. 

“The ambitions were in place to begin with. It’s merely a matter of changing course on how to get those ambitious completed,” he said. 

Woodbury said new ownership is “doing things the right way while trying to solidify ourselves as part of this community once again,” in order to overturn a “slightly tarnished reputation.” 

In a bid to give back to the community, Harley’s will host a NWT SPCA fundraiser later this month.