After decades of being owned by Charlie Maultsby, the Wrightsville Beach bar Red Dogs has a new owner.
 
The transfer took place a couple of weeks ago, said new owner Jimmy Gilleece.
 
Gilleece owns the space below Red Dogs at 5 N. Lumina Ave. – called Jimmy’s at Red Dogs. He bought that portion more than two years ago, also from Maultsby.
 
Red Dogs opened in the beach town in 1975. By the time Gilleece took over the first-floor space, Maultsby was basically using it as an overflow area a couple of times a year. Sharing the same building with similar business uses could be a challenging situation, but Gilleece said the two have a good relationship. So it made sense when Maultsby was ready to give up the reins to Red Dogs to Gilleece.
 
“I’ll update the inside some. I’m going to keep it the same for now,” Gilleece said. “Downstairs [at Jimmy’s] is an older crowd, live music, so I don’t see changing that. Upstairs is more of a dance club.”

Jimmy's is open daily, while Red Dogs is open Thursday-Saturday nights.