Missing bridge sinks NS pub: ‘There is no more light for us at the end of the tunnel’

It will be the last visit to the Bayport Pub this weekend, with the owners blaming the closure on the lack of a bridge connecting them to Nova Scotia’s lighthouse route.

The county had the Indian Path Bridge on Highway 332 removed in late 2021 because it could no longer handle heavy traffic, with a promise that a new one would be built by the fall of 2022. But the replacement is still not complete, and the pub owners say they can no longer keep their heads above water.

“We’ve got four days left,” Jeffery Pelkey ​​said Tuesday.

“So we’re open Thursday through Sunday this week, and at the end of our day on Sunday, we’re no longer open.”

With the calls and messages pouring in, Pelkey ​​suspects it will be a full house during the last shifts in the pub with 50 seats inside and another 50 on the terrace.

“We look forward to seeing everyone again and reminiscing about the good times,” he said. “We wish it didn’t end, but we have no other choice at the moment. There is no light at the end of the tunnel for us.”

‘It really is a gem’

He bought the pub with his partner, Colton, in 2019, having worked in the establishment for Rebecca South, the previous owner, who still owns the building and put it up for sale.

“We really hope whoever buys the property is interested in having and continuing the pub there as it really is a gem. There isn’t one person who stepped in there and didn’t instantly fall in love with the place. It has such character,” Pelkey ​​said, noting that South had only put the building on the market after they told her the pub was no longer viable without the bridge.

“After four years of struggling, unfortunately we just got knocked out.”

He hopes to sell the pub’s equipment and name to someone who can keep it running.

“The problem is that we don’t own the building, so the building has to be sold. And if the person buying the building doesn’t want a restaurant in it, the business won’t really be sold.”

‘It was a trifecta’

The couple’s original plan was to rent from South until they could buy the house.

“But after year two, COVID happened, so we couldn’t actually buy the building. And then COVID went on, and prices skyrocketed, and the bridge went out. It was a trifecta.”

Dexter Construction is building the new $6.5 million bridge. Last January, the county said it would open to traffic in August.

“Last I heard it was going to be October,” Pelkey ​​said.

“When the bridge is ready, they have to make the entrances and exits.”

Work has been done on the replacement of the bridge, but it is not yet finished.

‘Crews were pulled’

“It is my understanding that the crews have pulled out because there is a deadline for merging Highway 103, which Dexter’s is doing,” Pelkey ​​said.

“You could probably jump on the structure, walk over it and jump off, but there’s no real bridge yet. Exactly what will soon become a bridge.”

Pelkey ​​has no hope that he will be able to recoup what he put into the pub.

“If it had just been two years of COVID and everything was back to normal and the bridge was there, we could have gotten out.”

He and his partner took jobs cooking at a retirement home and daycare during the pandemic to stay afloat.

“My partner and I got jobs outside the pub to keep our employees paid.”

They have unpaid HST debt and a $40,000 emergency loan from the federal government. “We’re so deep in debt we can’t get out,” Pelkey ​​said.

Silver lining

There is a bit of a silver lining to this story. Last year, the owners of The Bayport Pub purchased Rebecca’s Restaurant in South Mahone Bay, with whom they both worked for several years.

“It’s going well,” Pelkey ​​said, noting that their ice cream stand and Edgewater Eats, a pop-up sandwich shop, all operate out of the same complex.

About 40 people work at these three locations.

“It’s 35 minutes from the Bayport Pub and it’s in a town and it’s right off the highway. It’s an ideal situation and we’re happy to be here. But it’s a completely separate business – it’s a completely separate entity from the Bayport Pub.

Some of the nine people who work at the pub continue to work for them in Mahone Bay, others have found work elsewhere.

“No one is out of a job, which is so great,” Pelkey ​​said. “Anyone who didn’t come with us to Mahone Bay – the community businesses picked them up right away.”

‘We have forgotten’

An eight-mile detour on the Indian Path Road killed much of the traffic that used to flow from Lunenburg past the door of the Bayport Pub to Hirtle’s Beach and Kingsburg.

“There are so many people in the Lunenburg area and beyond that are coming off the highway and would love to come, but they just don’t make the trip. It is part of the Lighthouse Route and it is closed. So people are completely distracted.”

Pelkey ​​said he has unsuccessfully asked his neighbor, Economic Development Secretary Susan Corkum-Greek, for help.

“We’ve been forgotten,” he said.

Corkum-Greek, who was recovering from a bout of COVID on Tuesday, said she hopes the Indian Path Bridge will be replaced before the end of the summer.

“It’s super frustrating,” she said.

“As a neighbor, as an MLA, as a minister of economic development, I am always saddened when I hear of a business being shut down, because whatever the circumstances, it reflects a difficult decision.”

‘Comedy of Mistakes’

Replacing the bridge took “way too long,” she said. “The phrase comedy of errors comes to mind, but there’s nothing funny about the delays that have occurred.”

Dexter moved their bridge crew to a different location this spring for two weeks, Corkum-Greek said.

“Barring a major disruption that would somehow suspend work, it should definitely be (done) by October.”

She blamed “an extremely tight job market” for the delays. “Was that made me happy? Absolutely not. This project…I would reasonably call it one of the biggest thorns in my side in my short time since being elected.

‘Stuck on a Dead End’

Meanwhile, Pelkey ​​and his partner still have a $40,000 COVID loan that they haven’t been able to pay back “because we’re still doing COVID numbers,” he said.

“The loan expires at the end of this year and we are stuck with that. If the Ministry of Transport and the government had stood on top of this bridge and repaired it in a timely manner, we could have refunded this money. But here we are, stuck on a cul-de-sac with no through traffic and we are still expected to pay this bill.”

The pub has a lot of potential once the Indian Path Bridge is replaced, he said.

“Our ultimate hope is that someone goes through with it and can come in with a new bank account,” Pelkey ​​said. “Because as soon as that bridge opens, it will be great again.”