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The new owner of the old Shaughnessy's Cove in Summerland has some big plans up his sleeves

Pub making a comeback

Summerland’s beloved Shaughnessy Cove restaurant will be making a comeback, thanks to Score Pub Group founder Jesse Ritchie.

He made the announcement via Facebook this week, and is now providing insight into what the new pub will be like.

“It will be called Shaughnessy’s Cove again, and it will be in the same location. We’re doing a complete renovation,” Ritchie confirmed. “It was so great for so long, and we’re the group that can bring it back to its glory days.”

Shaughnessy’s Cove operated for over a decade before closing its doors. The same site then housed the Local pub, before that too closed more than a year ago.

Ritchie, who recently purchased the Gunbarrel Saloon at Apex Mountain Resort, is aiming to open his new restaurant during the May long weekend after receiving the former Shaughnessy’s Cove Waterfront Pub and Restaurant owner's family’s blessing.

Ritchie said he spoke to Terry Manders on the phone Thursday evening.

“Him (Manders) and his buddies opened it in the ’80s,” he explained, adding he was good friends with Manders’ child while growing up in the South Okanagan. “I used to have sleepovers there. There’s a lot of history.

(Manders) said, ‘This is great. It’s cool and it feels really good that what we built, you guys want to bring back, the glory of it all.’”

Ritchie said he has some fond memories of his friendship with the Manders and being at the restaurant when he was young.

The building, located at 12817 Lakeshore Dr. S, was recently put up for sale after the former Local on Lakeshore restaurant shuttered its doors. Ritchie said the owners of the building have agreed to keep the location and lease it to Ritchie.

While Ritchie will be renovating the inside of the restaurant to give it a West Coast feel to match the menu, he did say he will be incorporating some former Shaughnessy’s Cove heirlooms. The restaurant will be designed and built to abide by COVID-19 social distancing protocols.

But unlike the original Shaughnessy’s Cove, said Ritchie, the restaurant will not be fine dining, nor pub food like the Gunbarrel.

“It’s going to be fresh, West Coast, California beach bar restaurant-inspired food,” he explained. “It’s not stuffy. There’ll be a little bit of everything for everybody, with fresh seafood and mussels, and we’re going to do an oyster bar right out in front. We’re going to bring back and revamp some of the old menu items, some of those ones that were the favourites.”

There will be access and parking for those who arrive by boat in the summer months, and take-out options as the world continues to grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ritchie has put out a call out for employment opportunities, and says opening a second restaurant will help his new and current talented employees who are working at the Gunbarrel Saloon during the pandemic.

As for the Gunbarrel Saloon, Ritchie said running the restaurant has been “nothing but support from the local community, and it’s going as well as we had hoped and better than we had expected in a few different ways.”

“We’re not going to go anywhere,” he added.

And with that in mind, Ritchie added the opening of Shaughnessy’s Cove will not be the end for his newly established company, Mackenzie Hospitality Group, which will be taking over the Gunbarrel Saloon from Score Pub Group and running Shaugnessy’s Cove.

“We’re not just stopping at the Gunbarrel and Shaugnessy’s Cove,” he said. “We have some pretty big plans in the future in the Okanagan. I’d love to talk to people who would love to talk about expansion in the coming years and how we can help them out, and bring what we’ve done to the Gunbarrel and our other restaurants … around the Okanagan.”



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