The White Elephant Saloon

The White Elephant Saloon
Fort Worth, Texas, USA - 2024

"What is our favourite cowboy bar in America?"

It’s a tough one, as there are so many contenders in Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and Texas. From a filming perspective, we are drawn to bars with depth and then it helps if the walls and ceilings are elaborately embroidered with authentic props that emphatically play to a western vibe. They need to have history and a lore.

But these are not really demanding qualification rules, and we need some stronger filters. For a start, we think that the saloon must have hard liquor available at breakfast and the bar staff should greet early customers with a smile that suggests a sense of partnership throughout the day.

The door policy should be accommodating to men with no cultural refinement and women with no moral compass and allow cowboy capitalists to mingle freely with outlaws, cattle wranglers and enthusiastic pole dancers. The only real restriction, is that entry is conditional on wearing a decent and well worn cowboy hat.

I think, however, the best cowboy bars must be in towns that are fabled cattle towns. If there is not a hint of manure in the air, at the very least, there should be some steers within a rope’s throw of the entrance. It would also help these days if Taylor Sheridan is a regular.

These new criteria materially narrow down the candidates and all roads now lead to Fort Worth, Texas. Our favourite cowboy bar is, of course, The White Elephant in the heart of the famous old stock yards.

We want to thank Tim Love and his excellent team for partnering with us on this project, and we look forward to visiting next time as customers. My team will all pass the door policy.
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