CLOSURE: The oldest pub and brewery in Hamilton just suddenly closed

A pub and brewery that’s one of the oldest in Hamilton just abruptly closed down.

The George Hamilton was located in a 160-year-old building on King Street West in Hamilton, and served craft beer along with pub food like fish and chips, wings, and burgers.

The business said a sudden goodbye to the community with a lengthy message posted to Facebook signed by Michael Peters and Dean Pearson. It details multiple reasons why they had to close, and also some of the reasons they had been able to stay open up until now.

“Hi everyone. I’m sad to report that The George has closed its doors for the last time,” reads the post.

“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.”

The post has over 200 reactions on Facebook and dozens of comments from many people saying how sorry they were to hear the news.

Some of the reasons cited for the closure were rising costs due to COVID, the temporary closure of a local arena and a change in landlords. The post says The George Hamilton’s “two bright lights” were their loyal staff and their old landlord who postponed much of their rent.

“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,” reads the post. “He prepared a new lease for us, which we signed yesterday, but the current landlord is not responding.”

As of Feb. 6 The George Hamilton has not posted any other new updates to their Facebook page.