Our First Article!

NEW WILMINGTON, Lawrence County-- Real estate agents have put the "sold" sign up outside New Wilmington's Tavern Restaurant which will now reopen in January 2009 under new management. New owners Joseph and Susan Hougelman tell TR News they're excited to see the community landmark reopen. They also say they welcome all suggestions for the future of the restaurant and they'll use the Internet to do that research. "We are putting up a website and we want it to be interactive where people tell us what they want the restaurant to be," Susan Hougelman told TR reporter Allyson King. "We want people to tell us what kind of food do they want it to have. What kind of baked goods are they interested in." The Tavern has sat dormant and up for sale for more than a year now after the previous owners hoped to add a liquor license. The former owners brought forth an election initiative that failed to repeal the borough's long standing "dry" status. The current law prohibits the sale of alcoholic beverages inside New Wilmington's town limits. However, having a working bar doesn't seem to be an issue for the Houglemans. The couple also owns and operates the Neshannock Creek Inn in nearby Volant. "We're going to put in a little bakery next to the restaurant and we hope to restore it to the way it was in the original days. We want it to have have good homemade cooking and homemade baked goods and other old fashioned comfort type foods."