The couple who brought new life to a beloved old burger joint in the small South Alabama town of Jackson have restored and reopened another classic burger-and-shake shop just up the highway in neighboring Grove Hill.

The husband-and-wife team of Justin and Julia Brooks, who bought Jackson’s 61-year-old Ed’s Drive-In in the summer of 2019, cut the ribbon Wednesday on their latest trip back in time, Ed’s Dairy Bar, on Main Street in downtown Grove Hill, the seat of Clarke County.

A Grove Hill institution that goes back to 1958, the tiny, old-school burger stand has had various names and owners over the years, but almost everybody in this town of about 1,700 people knows it as “the Dairy Bar,” Justin Brooks says.

“This place, it doesn’t matter what you name it, this town is going to call it the Dairy Bar,” Justin tells AL.com. “They’re going to call this building the Dairy Bar because that’s what it’s always been.”

The Brookses have respected that tradition but added Ed’s to the name to the tie the Dairy Bar in with their Ed’s Drive-In in Jackson.

“This is like a landmark for Grove Hill, just like Ed’s has always been (for Jackson),” Justin says. “If you don’t know Jackson and you just pass through, you remember Ed’s. It’s not many old places like that left.

“Grove Hill feels the same way about this place,” he adds. “They’ve got a lot of pride in their Dairy Bar.”

The Grove Hill menu is almost identical to the one in Jackson, with burgers, hot dogs, milkshakes, soft-serve ice cream and Ed’s famous steak sandwich, which is featured on AL.com’s list of 68 must-try Alabama dishes.

Bringing back old memories

Julia Brooks, who grew up in both Jackson and Grove Hill, remembers going to the Dairy Bar for hand-pattied hamburgers when longtime owners Gene and Ellen Parker ran it before they retired in 2015.

Restoring the Dairy Bar has given Julia that same nostalgic rush she felt when she and Justin, a Thomasville native, bought Ed’s Drive-In six years ago.

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“I grew up eating at both the Dairy Bar and at Ed’s in Jackson, and they’re both landmarks in each town,” she says. “I had that same feeling about the Dairy Bar as I did Ed’s.

“And when I saw that building needing work, . . . I really wanted to remodel it so we could get that same feeling in Grove Hill that we gave to Jackson. I had a vision for it when I saw it.”

A year-and-a-half project

The Brookses closed on the Grove Hill property in December 2023, Julia says, and they spent nearly a year and a half giving it a major overhaul – including gutting and refurbishing the interior, installing new kitchen equipment, adding a new roof, painting the exterior and building a patio with outdoor seating and a fireplace.

“It’s just been something we’ve done out of pocket,” Justin says. “We didn’t take out any loans. It’s taken a long time.”

Adding the patio with tables, umbrellas, stringed lights and an outdoor fireplace was Julia’s inspiration.

“You can tell I take pride in it,” she says. “There’s no outdoor seating anywhere in Grove Hill, so I wanted something like that for the patio.”

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The Brookses live in Jackson, but Julia, who is also a real-estate agent, has an office in Grove Hill, just a few doors down from the Dairy Bar. She and Justin’s two girls, Emma and Delta, also attend Clarke Preparatory School in Grove Hill.

“We were already driving to Grove Hill every day, and it gave us more purpose to come here,” Justin says of opening the Dairy Bar. “Now, when we get to Grove Hill, we have more reason to be here.”

Ed’s Dairy Bar is at 116 Main St. in Grove Hill, Ala. The phone is 251-275-3100. For more information, go here.