In the 1880’s, one of the leading bartenders of the era, Harry Johnson, owned a bar in lower Manhattan named Little Jumbo.
In the 1910’s a local Asheville grocer named John H. Jenkins Jr. sold his shop, located near where the famed restaurant Curate is now located. He soon became bored and decided to build a two-story building at 241 Broadway, which was completed in 1920 and operated as a grocery for many years after that.
241 Broadway made it through a fire in the 1980’s, at one point hosted underground punk shows and later became an office. In 2017 we renovated the space into a bar, and opened Little Jumbo.
We’re proud to have become a local hub for the Montford and Five Points neighborhoods. From day one our focus has been on being a welcoming, comfortable haven that happens to have great cocktails.
A few years ago we were honored to be named one of the Best Cocktail Bars in the South by Garden & Gun Magazine and recently to USA Today’s 2025 list of Best Bars in the USA. We’ve also received coverage in Southern Living, Food & Wine, Whisky Advocate, Monocle, among many others. Locally, we have received the award for Best Cocktails multiple times in the Mountain Xpress Best of WNC Awards, as well as numerous other categories.
Since 2018 we have presented live jazz, and we’re proud to be one of the nerve centers of Asheville’s jazz scene, with a rotating cast of world-class musicians playing every Monday & Tuesday from 7:00 - 10:00 pm each week, with no cover charge.
We open at 4:00 p.m. daily, and look forward to seeing you!