Red Onion Pub to reopen to public in February - here's what's been done

When the Otter River Hotel – known popularly as the Red Onion Pub – suffered a devastating fire back in September, there were those in town wondering about the future of the business.

The owners were a little more optimistic: a post on the establishment’s Facebook page thanked the pub’s staff and the firefighters who responded to the blaze. The note concluded, “This is not goodbye, it’s see you soon.”

The pub, which was the main occupant in the big brick building, was hosting a songwriting contest on Sept. 27 when flames broke out about 10 p.m. Although patrons and staff managed to get out of the pub unharmed, the building itself was gutted.

Matt P. Black, who had purchased and reopened the pub about a year prior, immediately wanted to determine if the building at 29 Main. St., which was built in 1818, could be salvaged. A group of town officials and private structural engineers agreed that it could, so Black began the process of reopening the Red Onion bar portion of the building.

“We are open,” Black said, adding that the establishment had been hosting private events only for the past few weeks. “Officially, we’ve been open for a couple of weeks, we have all of our licensing and signs-off from the town and everything back in place.”

Red Onion to reopen to the public on Feb. 5

The Red Onion has been open for private events, such as welcoming the establishment’s pool and dart league teams inside, but Black said the pub would not open with its regular hours to the general public until Monday, Feb. 5.

“That’s just to give us enough time to make sure that all of our equipment’s in order, get our staff back up to speed, and get everything completely cleaned up outside,” Black said.

Black admitted that in the immediate aftermath of the fire, which saw fire personnel from 10 surrounding communities respond to battle the five-alarm blaze, he was unsure what could be done with a building that had been ruled a complete loss. An investigation determined that the fire had been accidental.

“We brought in a structural engineer immediately after the fire, and he said with enough determination and money, it could be done,” Black recalled, adding that any hesitation he might have had about abandoning the plan to rebuild was erased by the overwhelmingly positive feedback he received from patrons and residents. “The community was already rallying around saving this building, so there was obviously a demand for it. People have developed an emotional attachment to this place over the last five decades.”

More: Fire guts pub at old Otter River Hotel in Templeton

Renovation project cost around $600K

Thus began a renovation project that Black estimated cost around $600,000.

Working with just about every local contractor who was available, Black and his team set about literally rebuilding the structure from the roof on down, he said. Over the past several months, crews worked on framing projects, electrical rewiring, kitchen installation, debris removal, and demolition to prepare the building for its reopening. The building’s fire system was completely replaced, Black said.

“We really just tried to structure (the project) so that everybody could work in parallel to make this happen as quickly as possible, because otherwise it would’ve been a four-year project,” Black said.

Black said he was grateful to his customers and the public for their support, especially in the immediate aftermath of the blaze that destroyed the historic building.

More: Local bands to play benefit concert at PACC for Templeton pub destroyed by fire

“There was an energetic and emotional uplift right after the fire – it was because of that that we even considered reopening,” Black said. “It was always a question of ‘could we’ and ‘should we’ (reopen), and the answer to both questions ended up being ‘yes’ because of the pubic outpouring.”

Black noted several planned musical events at the Red Onion had be moved to other venues following the fire.

“They weren’t just done elsewhere so they could happen, they were done elsewhere as a way to help us out and raise money for us,” he said. “Also, there were a lot of local businesses and private people that insisted on helping us out with private donations and things like that. It was just amazing.”

This article originally appeared on Gardner News: Red Onion Pub in Templeton to reopen in February after major fire