NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. (WKBN) – The Tavern on the Square in New Wilmington operated as a restaurant for 90 years, but for the last two and a half, it has been closed. In July, we told you how a couple had bought the building and planned to reopen it. Now, they hope to have it up and running before the end of the year.
Matt Noble is from California. His wife Maggie is from the Pittsburgh area. They met in a culinary school and after moving to New Wilmington, noticed the Tavern on the Square was for sale.
“Every once in a while I’d tell my wife, you know, gosh, that building’s just sitting there, just sitting there dying. Somebody’s got to do something about it. Then one day I said, ‘Let’s do it,’” Matt said.
The Nobles bought it, and 10 months later have settled on a plan to renovate and reopen. To the main room, where the popular mural will stay, a bar will be added with booths along the windows. Outside, they’re getting rid of the side entrance and building a new entrance out front.
“You’ll walk into this space. It’ll be sort of like a vestibule effect. You’ll walk in here, you’ll be greeted. We’ll potentially have a coat check, we’ll see about that. We’ll cut an opening here to get you to the enclosed area to the back of the other building where we’ll build accessible bathrooms, a stair tower and an elevator,” Matt said.
The building next door, which was the doctor’s office for the original owner, will become a mercantile store.
All the historical aspects will stay, like the original fireplace in the main room that dates back 175 years.
“This is spectacular, in my opinion, this piece of stone. It’s just massive. It’s definitely original and a really cool feature,” Matt said.
As far as the food, it’ll be as farm-to-table as possible.
“There’s just so many great farmers and so many great ranchers up here that aren’t being recognized the way they think they should,” Matt said.
Tavern on the Square was always known for its sticky buns. Matt says they have the recipe and when it reopens, the sticky buns will be on the menu.