Hudson’s iconic Willow Inn has new owners who plan to reopen it for business by the end of this year.
The new owners are David Ades and Patricia Wenzel, two Montrealers who have raised their three children in the Town of Mount Royal (TMR).
The project is a labour of love for the 60-year-old businessman and his 58-year-old wife, who is a volunteer guide at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.
READ MORE: Hudson’s Willow Inn closes its doors Nov. 1
“You only go around once,” Wenzel told Global News.
“So, you have to do what you love.”
Wenzel and her husband are longtime clients of the Willow Inn, and she said they were devastated to hear it was closing.
“It happened so quickly,” she told Global News.
“We went out there for Thanksgiving – we had been going there since 1980 – and my husband said ‘why don’t we make an offer?’ and our offer was accepted.”
The couple has just finalized the deal with former owner Michel Poirier, who had closed the Hudson landmark on Main Road on Nov. 1.
READ MORE: Hudson landmark Willow Inn set to close
Wenzel admitted she and Ades have no experience running an auberge, but she said they are “working with some interesting people and hoping it will all come together.”
The Willow Inn has been a landmark in the Hudson community for four decades.
Many residents expressed sorrow when the closure was announced last fall.
Wenzel assured Global News that she and her husband intend to continue running The Willow as an auberge.
She could not confirm exactly when it will re-open.
“I hope we can get it done by the summer. It needs a lot of TLC and when you start a project like this, you never know how long it will take,” she said.
“We have to evaluate it properly and do it right, so I don’t want to make any statements right now about when we will re-open.”