Troubled B.B. King restaurant, club to shut down at Mirage

The B.B. King's Blues Restaurant & Club at The Mirage will shut Nov. 18, say employees who asked not to be identified.

In U.S. Bankruptcy Court papers, S. Tommy Peters, manager of club owner of Beale Street Blues Company Las Vegas LLC, said a September ruling in the company's Chapter 11 case had severely crimped revenues. The Mirage was allowed to keep the charges that patrons put on their room tabs, called recoupment, to pay down unpaid bills that predate the bankruptcy. "Now that the Mirage is withholding all of the room charges, it has destroyed (B.B. King's) cash flow," Peters said.

But according to Mirage attorneys, B.B. King's ran up at least $114,000 in unpaid union obligations and $223,000 in sales and taxes during the summer, even though it was supposed to stay current. "(B.B. King's) recent defaults of its various payment obligations far exceed the amount that the Mirage has recouped," wrote attorney Nile Leathampay down unpaid bills that predate the bankruptcy. "Now that the Mirage is withholding all of the room charges, it has destroyed (B.B. King's) cash flow," Peters said.

As a result, the Memphis-based parent company is no longer willing to put money into the local club.