Stouffville 'not a great town to do business in': former Earl owner

George Bigelow denies taking $10K worth of goods from pub

Yorkregion.com
August 7, 2018
Simon Martin

The Earl of Whitchurch Pub doors have been shuttered for more than a month. According to legal notices on the pub’s door, the tenant, George Bigelow, allegedly failed to pay $17,500 to the owner, Michael Larkin.

During the abandonment of the property, the tenant allegedly removed items from the facility valued at $10,000 without the landlord’s consent, according to the legal notice.

Bigelow was at a loss as to what the $10,000 of things he took from the pub could be. “We didn’t take anything that wasn’t ours,” he said.

Closing the pub was a difficult decision, but Bigelow said there weren’t any other good options.

Stouffville's Earl of Whitchurch closes after operator allegedly misses rent payments
“Rents are way too high. It’s comparable to what you pay in downtown Toronto,” he said. “It’s not worth working every day all the time. It doesn’t make any money. There is nothing left for the owners at the end of the day.”

On top of struggling to make ends meet, the pub was hit by a flood in May, a day before a wind storm Bigelow said. The subsequent insurance delay made things untenable.

When contacted, Larkin said the legal notices on the door speak for themselves and he didn’t want to get into details on the matter.

Bigelow opened the pub in 2013, but it never quite took off. The longest concert in the world in 2017 was a brief moment of respite, but, even then, Bigelow said the pub wasn’t making much money.

Bigelow said the Town of Whitchurch-Stouffville is a nightmare to do business with.

“The town is very poorly run,” he said. “It’s not a great town to do business in as you can see by all the places that close down.”

The town spends more time promoting events that take away from its Main Street business, such as Food Truck Frenzy and Ribfest, than helping its restaurants thrive, he said. “Some of the biggest employers in town are the restaurants. It seems very adrift in the town.”

The lack of a plan on Main Street was frustrating to deal with for Bigelow as was the glacial pace at which the new Pace condo building across the road was being built.

The final weekend for the pub was the final straw as it was a complete disaster for business. “We poured everything we had into. Now we will essentially get nothing out of it,” he said.

The hope is for the building to remain a pub, Larkin said. He’s already been contacted by a few people who have an interest in the property.

The property is significant for Larkin because, when he first got the property in the 70s, he tore down the original home and reconstructed it with the original brick and windows. The newer version of the Earl is taller and longer than the original but many of the historical touches are the same, Larkin said.

The pub first opened in 1989.