MOUNT VERNON — The Pirates Cove will soon be back in business.
The Pirates Cove restaurant, a popular hangout spot and pizza restaurant in Gambier, will be reopened in the former W.g. Grinders space on Coshocton Avenue. The restaurant closed in 2002, and the Gambier Grille opened in its place.
“Ever since we closed, everybody talked about wanting us to reopen,” said Tom Corrigan of Mount Vernon, son of former Pirates Cove owners Will and Marilyn Corrigan. “We couldn’t go anywhere without running into someone who missed the food or missed having a place to gather with their friends.”
He said he and his sister, Kathi Lore, plan to reopen on or around July 21. Corrigan said his sister worked in the original restaurant for 21 years and, although he also worked there, Tom has been in the banking industry for 12 years.
“We make a good blend,” he said. “It’s something we have both wanted to do.”
Corrigan said his parents started the Pirates Cove in Gambier in 1978 with three other partners, who later dropped out. It was named after the mascot of the old Gambier High School. The Corrigans sold the property to Kenyon College in 2002, and it later became the home of the Gambier Grille. He said the new Pirates Cove will match the original as much as possible — it will have the same recipes, the same toned-down lighting, and even the old pictures of famous guests like Johnathon Winters and Marcel Marceau that used to hang from the wall.
Unlike the original, Corrigan added, the new restaurant will serve lunch. In addition to the main items, pizza and subs, there will also be a variety of other items, including sandwiches and smoothies. The old Pirates Cove had a bar, but the new one will not, he said, although he hopes to be able to serve wine and beer with meals at some point in the future.
Corrigan said the restaurant will have about 60 employees, and that he plans to make deliveries throughout the Mount Vernon area.
W.g. Grinders, a local sandwich shop, closed on Feb. 10 for economic reasons, shortly after winning the local Chamber of Commerce’s Best Small Business of the Year award.
In the city’s downtown, a new hardwood flooring business opened Thursday. Garry Cooper Jr. of Mount Vernon set up shop at 14 W. Vine St. Cooper said he worked at Volgemeyer in Newark for nine years.
He said the opportunity to start the business arose, and he decided to take it.
Cooper said he sands, refinishes and installs hardwood flooring but also specializes in carpet and laminate flooring. He said he strives to offer competitive prices.
In other local business news:
•McDonald’s restaurants in Mount Vernon will be one of the first central Ohio McDonald’s restaurants to offer a new line of specialty coffees, which include caramel, hazelnut, vanilla, premium roast coffee and hot chocolate. The restaurants at 111 Newark Road and 1059 Coshocton Ave. are now selling these products. The location at 674 N. Sandusky St. will be offering the specialty coffees in July. The Central Ohio Co-op of McDonald’s has 126 restaurants in 22 counties.
