Stubbornness: A Quality of The Stoneleigh P Owners

Stubbornness is one of the most notable qualities of the owners of The Stoneleigh P, a 51-year-old Dallas bar.

But, sometimes, things change.

Like this: After serving the Dallas “fringe” community for 50 years, the Stoneleigh P lost its lease in Uptown. It moved from Maple Avenue to Lemmon Avenue in Dallas, against founder Tom Garrison’s wishes.

History of The Stoneleigh P

He’d dug his heels in on plenty of other things since the bar opened in 1973, though. Ketchup would never be served with the P’s famous burgers, he once said.

Tom Garrison co-founded the Stoneleigh P, which has become one of Dallas’ most legendary bars. Old habits die hard here.

“What are you, a Yankee?” he’d bark at anybody asking for the red stuff. Then he’d grin like a Cheshire cat.

Changes Over Time

Well, ketchup was added years later, after his daughter Laura Garrison suggested the bar add french fries to the menu. Fries need ketchup, she said.

Tom allowed it. Begrudgingly.

Besides, they still had the no-Coors thing.

“If there’s one thing he won’t do, it’s add Coors,” Laura told The Dallas Morning News in 2023. The P had always been proudly anti-conformity, and Tom thought selling Coors was like joining a popularity contest.

The Coors Conundrum

For the bar’s 52nd birthday month — April — Laura is adding Coors Banquet and Coors Light to the menu. She’s even bringing in “obnoxious” Coors signs so nobody misses the memo.

Customer Grant Dougherty plays pool at the relocated pool table, once on Maple Avenue, now on Lemmon Avenue, at the Stoneleigh P.

But why?

“There’s not one day that goes by when we’re not asked for Coors,” Laura said. “If people keep asking for it, why don’t we just do it?”

The Challenge

Laura challenges customers that if more than 2,000 Coors beers are sold between April 1 and May 1, 2025, it’ll stay on the menu for good.

Her dad’s mad, but he isn’t fighting her on it.

“He sees the signs and snarls,” she said.

Laura Garrison’s dad started the Stoneleigh P in 1973. She runs it now. Slowly things have changed: the condiments, the neighborhood and now the beer list.

What’s Next?

It may not seem like a major move, but for Stoneleigh P loyalists, this is record-scratch stuff. Tom proudly left Coors off the menu for decades. Except for that one time, when a beer rep told Tom decades ago he’d win a trip to Hawaii if he sold Coors to the Stoneleigh P. Tom bought a small amount — the non-alcoholic version,