Award-winning can now be added to world-famous.
The Buckingham Blues Bar, formally known as the World Famous Buckingham Blues Bar, was recently named one of the 10 best dive bars in Florida by the USA TODAY Network Florida Dining & Entertainment team.
And for good reason.
Here are five things to know about this Fort Myers gem.
A rough start
Tommy Lee Cook bought what was a biker bar at the time on Aug. 1, 2002.
“It was voted worst (expletive) hole in five counties in Southwest Florida by a biker group,” he said. “I still have the list (of bars). Women wouldn’t go there. It deserved to be No. 1.”
Good thing Cook was a builder by trade.
The Buckingham Blues Bar was named one of the top 10 dive bars in the state by the USA TODAY Network Florida Dining & Entertainment team.
“I gutted it, redid it all,” he said. “It was such a mess. Nothing worked.”
Three months later, on Nov. 22, 2002, Cook reopened the venue.
“I remember it was a Thursday,” he said. “I created it all from scratch and turned it into a music venue.”
Before we get to the music, let’s look inside …
An ordinary dive bar at first glance
Tommy Lee Cook opened The World Famous Buckingham Blues Bar on Nov. 14, 2002.
If you like dive bars, Buckingham Blues Bar is for you.
“It’s a little old one-story building on the side of the road,” Cook said of his bar on Buckingham Road in what he calls “downtown Buckingham.”
With rows of opaque, blind-backed windows and two doors touting Bud Light and Budweiser, the nondescript building is easy to overlook.
Once inside, it’ll take a minute for your eyes to adjust to the dark. And when they do, you’ll find a large bar, high-top square and low-top round tables and chairs, a few strings of Christmas lights, a pool table and a stage.
The World Famous Buckingham Blues Bar in Fort Myers looks like an ordinary dive bar — until the music starts.
Old photos and neon signs fill the paneled walls and a heaping ice-filled tub of beers is a focal point. A few of the seats have small plaques on them with the names of longtime customers.
“It’s locals and regulars,” Cook said. “A meeting place. We have beer, wine. We do a simple lunch. Maybe chili, finger food.”
Smoking is allowed inside with limited hours — specifically, not during performances or within an hour leading up to them.
And, oh, when those performances begin, everything changes.
Tommy Lee Cook & The Buckingham Blues Band play and patrons hit the dance floor on a Sunday afternoon in Buckingham.
Original blues music, and lots of it
Music is the heart of Buckingham Blues Bar.
And not just any music.
“This is a place for live original blues music,” Cook said. “Blues is the combination of happy, sad, fast, slow — every part of rhythm and tempo. The mama and daddy of all music. We cater to original musicians and original touring blues acts who go all over the world. When people find out what’s going on here, they’re agog.”
Tommy Lee Cook & The Buckingham Blues Band take the stage at The Buckingham Blues Bar on Wednesday nights and Sunday afternoons.
JJ Grey & Mofro, Delbert McClinton and Leroy Parnell have all played there. Bobby Capps of 38 Special is pretty much considered a regular.
Cook, whose own music has “made blues charts around the world,” plays there with his house band, Tommy Lee Cook & The Buckingham Blues Band.
“I’ve owned (the bar) for 24 years,” Cook said, “and we’ve had more than 4,000 shows. High-caliber shows. This is not a cover band bar. The music and the people will move you.”
There’s plenty of covered seating in The Buckingham Blues Bar’s spacious backyard.
Lately, he’s been booking younger acts, too.
“Yates McKendree was just here,” he said. “He had the No. 1 (classic) blues CD (with “Need to Know”). He’s just 21 years old.”
They play on that large indoor stage to about 80 or 100 people.
“An hour before each show, there’s pretty much no seats left,” he said. “When people start coming up to play, it’s pure magic inside. It’s like being in a recording studio.”
You’ll find a large stage, two main bars and a smaller third one, a huge firepit and covered seating areas in the back of The Buckingham Blues Bar.
From October to May, outdoor blues festivals are held in the impressive backyard.
There you’ll find a large stage, two main bars and a smaller third one, a huge firepit, covered seating areas, lots of space to plop down folding chairs and blankets, and burgers, hot dogs and chicken on the grill.
And let’s not forget Bucky
Bucky the Beer Drinkin’ Mule hangs out in a barn behind The Buckingham Blues Bar in Fort Myers.
While you’re outside, pop around back to say hi to Bucky, the Beer Drinkin’ Mule.
He’s the bar’s mascot, and his sunglass-wearing, ear-pierced and smoking image can be found on the house band’s bass drum.
When he’s not “running with the neighbor’s cattle,” he can be found happily chomping his hay in his private barn or hanging out in the back of the property.
“He was a year old when I got him in the first year here,” Cook said. “He’s been here this whole time, right in the pasture behind the bar. People bring him carrots and whatever, but he prefers Amber Boch.”
From the outside, it’s hard to tell what The Buckingham Blues Bar is all about.
If you go
The bar, at 5641 Buckingham Road in Fort Myers, opens at 11 a.m. daily.
If you want to catch Cook, he and his band get the open stage started at 8 p.m. on Wednesdays and 3 p.m. on Sundays.
While that’s free to attend, headliners and blues fests aren’t.
The beer is always cold at The Buckingham Blues Bar in Fort Myers.
“We charge 15 to 25 bucks for (those),” Cook said. “It helps those guys out when they travel all over the world.”
Between 200 and 300 people attend most of the shows, but they’ve had up to 1,000 turn up before.
“It can get really busy,” Cook said. “The smart ones come early. Tourists and people who love live music flock to the place. It’s astonishing what we built. It’s the best blues bar in Florida.”
On-site parking is also free and plentiful.
Go to buckinghambar.com or follow on Facebook for an updated list of events. You can also follow World Famous Buckingham Blues Bar on YouTube. Call (239) 693-7111 for more.
This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: 5 things to know about Fort Myers’ World Famous Buckingham Blues Bar
