Council’s Bradenton Recreation is for sale along with its historic building

BRADENTON — For generations of Manatee County residents, going to Council’s Bradenton Recreation was a family tradition.

Parents brought their children to the pool hall in downtown Bradenton for burgers and Cokes and perhaps to chuckle at the sign on the wall that reads, "We were making hamburgers when McDonald's was still a farm."

Council's also would serve as a rite of passage for many of the same Manatee residents.

Parent and adult children would enjoy burgers again, but this time with an ice-cold mug of Budweiser instead of Cokes before shooting pool.

But those Manatee County rituals, which rank right up there with watching the high school football team on Friday nights, has ended.

Council’s Bradenton Recreation officially closed this week after 90 years of business, 80 years owned and operated by the Smith family.

"I'm just to the point where I can't do it anymore," says a fit-looking Lawton Smith. "I'm 65 now."

Council Smith bought the pool hall in 1936 and ran it for 40 years before turning it over to his son, Lawton, who changed the name from Bradenton Recreation to Council's Bradenton Recreation in honor of his father and ran if for another 40 years.

Lawton says his dad told him the place got its name because, "In 1926, it was all the recreation Bradenton had."

During weekday lunches, lawyers would line the long counter, sometimes two or three deep, to eat the famed burgers served on napkins.

Some customers would opt for the homemade chili. Others might take a side of homemade potato salad.

Regulars knew better than to order fries.

No menus. Just a chalkboard. Cash only, thank you.

The burgers, which many consider the best in town, were cooked on a classic old Garland grill.

That helped with the flavor, sure, but the burgers wouldn't be the same without Lawton going to the butcher daily and hand-making each patty, cutting each fresh tomato slice, making sure not only the meat cooked properly but the onions were grilled to perfection and the bun toasting inside the grill didn't burn in the slightest.

Lawton was spotted on his phone outside Council's, which is at 536 12th Street West and faces the courthouse, Thursday evening. He was explaining to a longtime friend and customer why he had decided to close this week.

"If someone wants to carry on the tradition, step up to the plate, that would be great," Lawton says. "It's a sad thing."

Lawton unleashes one of his gruff laughs.

"I would love for someone to tell me in a year that so and so is doing a better job running Council's than I did," Lawton says.

For now, Lawton will be spending more time at home with his dog, Tuffy.

Lawton Smith owns the Council's building and Iron Block building next door that houses three law offices, and both are for sale.

"The whole thing is listed at $1.8 million," says Rae Hayo, Smith's Realtor with Wagner Realty.

The Iron Block building alone is listed at $1.2 million with the Council's building at $500,000 and the business at $100,000.

"I've been here for 18 years and used to shoot snooker in the back with the old timers," says Gary Johnson, owner of neighboring business Big Johnson Bail Bonds. "It's one of those places that was always here and we're all going to miss it."