Editorial

Marina restaurant?

The time has come folks. The new Marina building is sparkling, the electric vehicle charging station is installed, the sailing school is planning for their move-in and the community space has a few last weeks before foot traffic starts.

A long tradition in Aylmer is to enjoy classic beach food by the docked sailboats. The view of the sunset beyond the moored sailboats and last swimmers is famous.

At the Bulletin, over the years, a few topics come back repeatedly. One of them is the Marina restaurant. The family who ran the Resto-Bar de la Marina for years had a dynamic offering for Aylmer. But the old restaurant had a generous space with plenty of room for different types of patrons. 

The restaurant was 10,000 square feet but is down to some 2,400 square feet. And the famous ample patio is down to 150 square feet from the former 400 square feet. A big draw was the Latin dancing nights that offered waterside dancing, a rare healthy activity that isn’t coming back.

However, with the grace of the new building and upstairs community space, there are plenty of options for making this a dynamic destination. For, as many residents there are in Aylmer, there are different ideas of what would be an ideal restaurant.

The city is entertaining proposals for a restaurant by restauranteurs with the capacity to run one at the new site. The contract is for ten years, so the terms are worthwhile to invest. The community space above the restaurant might possibly be complimentary to the restaurant for events and certainly the sailing community will add the wind-blown and sun-kissed vibe that Aylmerites seek when they head down to 1 Principale Street for that sunset meal.

Aylmer has seen plenty of change over the last two years. Yes, change can be done in a better way (few trees cutting, for example). But with the community moving forward with new infrastructure, what goes in there is next up for the Marina. The deadline for proposals is April 22 with a planned opening of the new restaurant for August 2020. By the end of the summer, the place should be hopping.

Readers, now is the time! Spread the word to your favourite restaurant owners that you’d support an additional location at the Marina. Will Aylmer ever have a restaurant by the water that could equal the groove of the old Marina Restaurant? The memories are there for everyone, to be replaced soon enough with new ones, in a location for the new generation.