The Jaffrey Lab ‘N Lager pub is set to shut down after last call Saturday, and though owner Doni Ash said he’s calling it a “temporary” closure, it’s likely for good if the state carries forward a plan to construct a roundabout at the pub’s intersection.
The Lab ‘N Lager sits on one corner of a five-way intersection in the heart of downtown Jaffrey. A long-in-the-works New Hampshire Department of Transportation traffic calming plan would construct a roundabout at that intersection, which would necessitate the state acquiring the Lab ‘N Lager property via eminent domain. Though the plan hasn’t yet been officially approved by the state’s Executive Council, a subcommittee appointed by the council voted on July 16 that the project was necessary for traffic calming in the area.
The project consists of constructing two new roundabouts – one at the five-way intersection of Route 202, Route 124, Main Street, Blake Street and Stratton Road, where the Lab ‘N Lager is located, and a second at River Street and Route 202. The two would be connected by a bridge over the Contoocook River.
Ash said the drawn-out planning process, which has been going on the better part of five years, and knowing his business is potentially on the chopping block has made it “impossible” to hire and keep employees.
“They just don’t know if their job is going to be here in two weeks, two months, two years, and they’re all leaving to look at other opportunities, rightly so, and it’s impossible to hire new employees,” Ash said in an interview Friday, after announcing this is the last week the pub will be open.
Ash said the business – a second location of the Keene-based pub – has been in downtown Jaffrey for eight years now, and each year has done better business than the one before.
“It’s an A+ location. Everyone stops at that light and sees the business,” Ash said. “It was extremely profitable, and it wasn’t ever our intention to shut down.”
Ash said both his managers put in their notices, and his 10-employee staff was down to five as of his closing announcement. Even with hours reduced by COVID-19, Ash said he was struggling to put together schedules with the reduced workforce.
While Ash referred to the closure as a “temporary shutdown” on the Lab ‘N Lager Facebook page, he said as long as the threat of the business being acquired by the state remains, the location’s not likely to reopen.
The uncertainty was the biggest frustration, for both him and his employees, Ash said. He said while the state has communicated with him via email about public hearings and committee meetings on the project, he’s not been able to speak to anyone about the potential purchase of his property or negotiate an offer, as the design and official approval process has carried on over months and into years.
“It’s hard to put 100 percent into a business when you don’t know whether it’s going to be there next month, and you go to bed every night thinking about that,” Ash said. “And it’s hard for the employees. They’re not communicating with me at all. I’m just closing up shop.”
Ash said he can now turn his full attention to his other businesses, the Shattuck golf course and attached Dublin Road Taproom.
Ashley Saari can be reached at 924-7172 ext. 244 or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on Twitter @AshleySaariMLT.