02/07/2025
THE GEORGE HAMILTON RIP
Hi everyone. I'm sad to report that The George has closed its doors for the last time. It has been a very difficult few years to operate since the advent of COVID. Costs have risen signigicantly. It now costs 1.1 million a year to run the restaurant versus $800k before COVID. There have been no extra sales to cover this. When First Ontario Centre chased away The Bulldogs AHL team then closed for 2 years it has been further devastating.
Two bright lights that have continued to burn during this stressful time. The first being our loyal staff, who Dean and I have always been proud of. Mel has been there since the start, 13 years ago, always smiling, always professional; Lori as our first corporate customer the first day we were allowed to open - maybe a little before we were allowed to open, and recently as our GM; Allie cooking up a storm in the kitchen - always proud of her food. Lisa, Caitlin and Madison behind the bar always providing great service. There have been many others over the years that Dean and I are grateful for.
The second bright light was our wonderful landlord Milton. Sadly, he passed away last month. During the last few years he has postponed much of our rent as long as we paid it once First Ontario reopens. What a great man to help us out like this; 'Pay me what you can guys and we will straighten out later'. Milton's family ran The Regal Tavern for 80 years previous to The George branding. Unfortunately Milton's sister who has assumed the role as our landlord after Milton's passing, insisted that the arrears rent be paid immediately, which is impossible. There is no business until the arena reopens. If you're familiar with commercial vs residential rentals, then you know there is zero protection for commercial tenants. Even the landlord's lawyer was very sympathetic to our situation knowing the current economic climate. He was removed as council by this new landlord for being too sympathetic to us. He prepared a new lease for us, which we signewd yesterday, but the current landlord is not responding. We've never met Milton's sister, but she must be one tough 90 year old nut. Maybe her hope is that a national brand will come in and spend millions renovating and tens of thousands on monthly rent. Maybe. Time will tell.
We provided quite a bit of detail in this message to tell you the real story of what happened. The internet is a nasty place sometimes and mistruths and rumours can take on a life of their own.
We would like to offer a sincere thank you to all of you who have supported us over the 13 years.
Best wishes,
Michael Peters & Dean Pearson
PS: I would also like to thank my partner Dean. He came up with the branding for The George with its 1800's local history theme including all of the amazing beer labels. Our branding always made me proud. Love ya Dean. Its been my honour to be your partner.
