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\nPhoto: Aric Becker | Local Profile <\/p>\n
Opened in 2020 just outside of Anna, the Gar Hole keeps its 1974 college-born name and small-town pace near Highway 121<\/p>\n
Raveling North on State Highway 121 in Collin County, suburbia sprawls, just as it has throughout the rest of North Texas. Rolling farms and ranchlands are now cut and stripped and peppered with subdivisions, restaurants and developments meant to entertain the masses moving in. Small-town schools have grown into 5A megacampuses, with state-of-the-art football stadiums and training facilities that you\u2019d expect in college or the NFL. It\u2019s clear that growth is inevitable, until you take the exit north of Anna into the tiny community of Westminster, where a small-town beer joint seems to keep time standing still.<\/p>\n
\nPhoto: Aric Becker | Local Profile
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Disincorporated in 2005, Westminster is a blip on the map. You won\u2019t find much in town, but occupying a strip of four buildings on one side of the square is the Gar Hole, a roadhouse that stands as a vestige of what this part of Collin County once was. Here, you won\u2019t find a fancy cocktail menu or a lengthy wine list, but instead, a beer joint slinging good burgers, cold beers, live music and a bit of history involving famous bank robbers Bonnie and Clyde.<\/p>\n
One of the buildings the Gar Hole occupies is a former bank, dating to around 1900. Lots of locals say that Bonnie and Clyde robbed the bank, but Claude \u201cSpider\u201d Webb, the Gar Hole\u2019s owner and operator, says he never found any record of this occurring. Webb was skeptical that the robbery really occurred until one day, a Gar Hole customer changed his mind. The customer, in his 90s, told Webb he had grown up in a house behind the bank building, and he elaborated on how the robbery took place.<\/p>\n
The bank lobby had a long hallway that went to the back door, which is where the vault was, and still is, located. During the summer, the bank would open the back door to get a breeze through the hallway, and one day, Bonnie and Clyde noticed the open door and took advantage. They walked through the back door, noticed the open vault, took some cash, and bailed. People in town recognized their car and said, \u201cGo lock up the bank! Bonnie and Clyde are in town!\u201d But it was too late. Bank employees agreed to band together and come up with the $82 that Bonnie and Clyde had stolen, and they never reported the robbery since they\u2019d been the ones to leave the back door and the vault open. \u201cThat\u2019s why I couldn\u2019t find anything about the robbery,\u201d Webb laughs. \u201cThey never reported it.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\nPhoto: Aric Becker | Local Profile
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Today, lots of people come to the Gar Hole to see the place based on the bank robbery, but they stay for the laid-back vibes and good company. Although the Gar Hole doesn\u2019t identify as a roadhouse, it definitely exudes roadhouse vibes, as it\u2019s right off a major highway in a sleepy area, bringing food, drinks and entertainment to travelers needing a respite and the few locals who live nearby. While the Gar Hole was established here in 2020, a sign on the door will tell you that it was established in 1974, and in some ways, that\u2019s also true.<\/p>\n
In 1974, Webb was attending Austin College in Sherman, Texas. The dorm rooms were giant, so Webb had the idea to put his and his friends\u2019 beds all in one room, and make his room the party room, aka the Gar Hole. \u201cWe put WD-40 on all the windows so girls could climb in and out without making noise,\u201d he notes as he describes his frat boy oasis. Over the years, wherever he lived, his man cave was always called the Gar Hole, so when it came time for him and a group of friends to name the bar, the Gar Hole was a natural fit.<\/p>\n
![\"editorial-garhole-aricbecker-29\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/editorial-garhole-aricbecker-29.jpg;w=960.jpeg\"\/)
\nPhoto: Aric Becker | Local Profile
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The athletic director and girls\u2019 basketball coach at Melissa ISD for 20 years, Webb, 70, always had a promise with a college friend to open a beer joint after they retired. They started looking for a building about 10 years ago, and in February of 2020, they bought the buildings that are now the Gar Hole. Of course, the pandemic shut the world down a month later, meaning the newly opened Gar Hole struggled at the start. After things settled down and people began frequenting the spot, construction hit Westminster, and roads were torn up around the bar, giving Webb and his team another hurdle. Five years in, though, the Gar Hole is standing strong, attracting an array of customers and musicians to what Webb refers to as a \u201cfrontier Cheers.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI call the regulars \u2018Gar Hooligans,\u2019\u201d says Webb. \u201cThey live within 10 minutes of the Gar Hole, and I know their names and something about all of them.\u201d It\u2019s a diverse group of folks that come in, from educators and doctors to cowboys, bikers, hippies and firefighters. There\u2019s even a guy down the street who rides his lawn mower to the Gar Hole. \u201cWe\u2019ve told him, you can still get a DUI on a lawn mower,\u201d Webb chuckles. The Gar Hole crowd is a friendly bunch, so don\u2019t be surprised if one of them brings your burger to your table if the bartenders are busy.<\/p>\n
Gar Hooligans and others come to the Gar Hole for the bar\u2019s live music scene, too. With an outdoor beer garden and stage, plus an indoor stage, the Gar Hole has live music every night they\u2019re open. Wednesday nights are the pickin\u2019 circle, where musicians come together for an informal pickin\u2019 party. Thursdays are when local singers and songwriters do a song swap and showcase their original music. Fridays and Saturdays are for regional artists, and Sundays are Webb\u2019s favorite, when a ticketed concert takes place to bring in larger acts from Austin, Nashville and other music hot spots. \u201cThat\u2019s the time where everyone sits quietly and listens to great artists tell their stories and sing their songs,\u201d says Webb.<\/p>\n
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\nPhoto: Aric Becker | Local Profile
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Inspired by Gruene Hall and Luckenbach, Webb wanted the Gar Hole to mimic that Central Texas music scene, where there\u2019s always someone playing a guitar and there are plenty of places to sit and have a beer. Of course, Luckenbach and Gruene Hall are larger, but the Gar Hole has its own mini-Luckenbach vibe, with performers such as Two Tons of Steel, Zac Wilkerson, Bri Bagwell, Walt Wilkins, Jason Eady and Mike McClure taking the stage.<\/p>\n
And just like Gruene Hall and Luckenbach, the Gar Hole continues to fight surrounding growth and has even bought an acre next to the bar to use for parking and as a buffer against encroaching builders. \u201cWe\u2019re trying our best to keep it like it is,\u201d says Webb, who notes that soon, the Gar Hole will fully be surrounded by half-a-million- and million-dollar homes. \u201cBuild all your fancy stuff, but keep the square as it is.\u201d<\/p>\n
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This article was previously published in Local Profile Magazine. Read more\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n