It’s a new restaurant in a familiar location.
The Local Social House celebrated its grand opening on Friday with members of the public and government officials in attendance.
The new restaurant is at the site of the former Red Lion Pub, which was bought by a group of investors led by Tim McKinney.
“It’s just amazing,” McKinney tells media members.
“It’s been a long, long road through COVID-19 and through a massive renovation project. It feels awesome.”
Located at 211 Coleman St, McKinney described the process to bring a group of investors together to purchase the property.
“I sell real estate and I had this for sale and I had number of people look at it to buy but they couldn’t get their financing together,” McKinney explained.
“I was here one day, and I called my friend at (Quinte Conservation) and I said, can we build over top of the river? Can we build a deck? He said, as long as you don’t go in the river and you can lever it into the building, you can build out on the river because it’s not a navigable river.”
McKinney says that info gave him the green light to purchase the property and get a group of investors together to make the deal.
Co-owner of The Local Social House, Tim McKinney, leading the grand opening ceremony April 14, 2023. (Photo: Zach McGibbon/Quinte News)
Among those in the owners’ group of the restaurant are Wade Williams, Kelly Henderson, Eric and Liz Lehtinen, Andrew & Christine Letersky, Mark & Rachel Runions, John & Denise Enright, Kyle & Christine Denouden, Derek & Kailee Smith and Tim & Judi McKinney.
McKinney says the area itself was also something that enticed him and the group to purchase the property.
“This area is in transition and I feel that this is just the start of this whole area getting developed more,” McKinney said.
“We’ve actually purchased some homes around here and fixed them up and we rent them out. This whole area is going to change in the next few years.”
One part of the project that is still being worked on is the deck outside the restaurant.
McKinney says there are big plans for the deck use once those upgrades are finished which he says should come in the next couple of weeks.
“(There will be) an outdoor kitchen, a nice patio area, an area to just lounge,” McKinney says.
“We’re also going to do live music. We’re doing live music Fridays inside but once we get outside, our future plans are actually to have a stage and we’ll have live music on the patio. So it’d be the place to be in Belleville in my mind.”
Mayor Neil Ellis and councillors Lisa Anne Chatten, Barbara Enright-Miller, Garnett Thompson and Chris Malette posing with co-owner Tim McKinney for grand opening of The Local Social House, April 14, 2023. (Photo: Zach McGibbon/Quinte News)
Among those in attendance were some members of Belleville City Council including Mayor Neil Ellis and councillors Lisa Anne Chatten, Barbara Enright-Miller, Garnett Thompson and Chris Malette.
Also in attendance were Bay of Quinte MP Ryan Williams and Bay of Quinte MPP Todd Smith.
