It’s entirely possible that the Ford family was just being ironic when they came up with the idea for their new neighbourhood establishment, but you have to give them credit for it nevertheless – it works.
The new Work Pub & Eatery at 75 Wellington Street in Stratford has the potential to be a lot of things, and the catch phrase ‘get to Work’ will take on a whole new meaning among its soon-to-be regulars. And that’s just fine with Jacob Ford.
“It was my dad’s idea to call it Work Pub – he’s been in this business for the last 30 years, and he’s just basically getting to work putting in a full shift every day,” he said of the pub’s moniker. “It just stuck with him and he just wanted to do it, and I thought it was awesome.”
According to Ford, the goal with Work Pub & Eatery is to provide a family atmosphere similar to what regulars found over at The Boar’s Head Pub for years. It helps that some of the staff migrated to Work Pub after it closed down, and Ford said the goal is to simply make people feel welcome.
“We want people to come in here and feel like they’re at home, like they can take their shoes off, stay a while and have some drinks and some food,” he said. “That’s the vibe we’re looking for. And yeah, when we knew this was happening I contacted a few people (from The Boar’s Head) and let them know to see if they were interested in joining us. We’ve got an awesome group here and so far, we’re just killing it.”
To be clear, Ford said they’re not trying to re-create The Boar’s Head itself but rather the feeling of family that existed there. In the short time Work Pub has been open, Ford and the staff have seen a lot of familiar faces, but he’s hoping some new ones will pop in and try them on for size. He knows exactly what makes a pub successful: community. They’ve been feeling the love since opening their doors, from both customers and some neighbours as well.
“We just opened last week and everybody that comes in has been so supportive,” he said. “I’ve seen a lot of people that I haven’t seen in a while and they’ve been here a few times and they think it’s pretty wicked. But we’re meeting lots of new people from around the neighbourhood as well and they’ve helped make it feel like a big party for the town.”
As far as fare goes, Ford is pretty excited about their menu even if it’s on the smaller side right now. That’s by design, as they’re testing out a few things to see what will work before they set something for the winter months and then again come summer. But for those looking for suggestions, Ford suggests the pork belly sandwich.
“I definitely like that – my brother (Ben) makes killer homemade barbecue sauce,” he said. “He’s doing all kinds of stuff back there, and my dad (Jay) does a lot of overnight stuff like smoking and getting the behind the scenes stuff going. We all just try to support each other as much as we can.”
Even as a work in progress, Ford is hoping that people make Work Pub & Eatery their new neighbourhood hangout.
“We just hope everyone who comes here has a good time,” he said. “It feels good to know the neighbourhood bar is back and we’re fitting in with our neighbours and our community.”
