Locke Street’s Mattson & Co. restaurant closes; another takes its place

One restaurant leaves Hamilton's lower city and another takes its place.

The cycle of rejuvenation hit Locke Street South this month after the announcement that Mattson & Co. was closed permanently."

Owner Ronn Mattai posted a farewell note to the restaurant's website and social media pages June 8 and noted that another family business, Ye Olde Squire, was moving in.

Mattai, who opened Mattson & Co. in 2016, and years before that ran the Junction Cafe on King William Street, wrote that the life-changing decision" to close was made after a re-evaluation of my journey thus far and recognizing I have so much more to experience in my life path."

Locke Street businesses have seen bitter years, even before the pandemic.

The street reopened in November 2019, just months before pandemic lockdown, after being closed to traffic for road reconstruction from March of that year and through the 2019 patio season.

Mattai thanked his supporters and customers and hoped the new business would be welcomed with open arms."

He thanked Ye Olde Squire's kind generosity of accepting all outstanding Mattson gift certificates."

Locke Street will be the fourth location of the British pub-style chain. The others are on Plains Road West in Aldershot, on Fennell Avenue East near Upper Wentworth and on Upper James Street between Rymal and Stone Church.

According to a Facebook post from the Upper James location, the chain will be coming to the lower city as the Squire Pub on Locke and they are now hiring.

For more information on the restaurant's opening, the June 10 Facebook post says stay tuned."

Jeremy Kemeny is a Hamilton-based web editor at The Spectator. Reach him via email: jkemeny@thespec.com