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Hughie's Restaurant Closes Forever

Owner Hughie Devlin said farewell to customers on Hughie's Restaurant's last
night in business Sunday.


New London - No longer will you be able to smell garlic from three blocks
away.  On Sunday night, Hughie's, an institution here for 39 years, served
its last meal.  As they have for the past several weeks, patrons packed the
Howard Street restaurant and bar to have their last Love Salad, garlic bread
and shrimp scampi. Two women even showed up at 10 a.m., telling a surprised
Hughie Devlin, 69, in that they wanted to be sure they got in.  Sunday's
menus had been photocopied on paper as customers had taken the restaurant's
trademark laminated red boxing-glove menus over the past week.  Devlin posed
for photographs with customers, autographed menus and accepted a steady
stream of hugs, kisses and presents from his loyal customers. Among the
crowd were many city politicians as well as owners and employees of area
restaurants.  "This is very sad. I can't believe they're going to tear this
place down. There'll never be another place like this again," said one woman
at the bar who declined to give her name. " I just feel sorry for Hughie
because his life is here."  

As customers ate, drank and laughed, customer Bob McCredie said Sunday night's last gathering was like an "old-time Irish wake."  Devlin is shutting down his business to make room for a road into the Fort Trumbull area and Pfizer Inc.'s new $270 million research facility.  The New London Development Corp. claimed the property by eminent domain and then negotiated a price of $1.1 million, $312,000 more than its original offer. Although the NLDC offered to move the restaurant, Devlin decided it was time to retire. The NLDC's decision to take the restaurant angered many in the city who hated to see one of the city's landmarks bulldozed in the name of progress.  Although some in the restaurant Sunday said they were still a little bitter about the city's decision, Devlin
wasn't.  "I really want to stress that the NLDC was very fair in their negotiations. They had guidelines they had to go by. New London will be booming because of the NLDC and Pfizer."  Sipping a glass of scotch, Devlin sat at one of his tables and talked about life without his restaurant.  "This is a tough day. I never dreamed this would come to an end. I knew that someday
I'd have to retire, but it's come so early," he said.  Devlin said he has been surprised by people's reaction to his closing.  "They spend money here over the years and now they're bringing me gifts. There's got to be something wrong with that," he joked. "It's been overwhelming. I'm a very
lucky guy."  Devlin said he hopes people remember his restaurant as a place
that always tried to do the right thing and make customers happy.  "It's
been like a big family here and I've had the greatest help.  They've always
put out 1,000 percent," he said.  

Closing the door of the restaurant behind him Sunday night was going to be difficult.  Stopping to think about doing that in a few hours, Devlin's face reddened and his eyes welled up with
tears. He needed a few seconds to fight back the emotions.  "I love this place," he said, his voiced quavering.  Menus gone ... with the menus gone and just a few ashtrays left, many in the crowd wondered what would happen to the huge collection of sports photos and memorabilia, including posters of his father as a professional boxer, that adorn the walls. Devlin said he would return items to the people who gave them to him and keep those that are his. The equipment and furniture will be auctioned.  He said people have also been asking him for his secret garlic recipes.  "They have more of a chance of getting atomic secrets," Devlin quipped.  But he said he would give the recipes to his cooks in hopes they help them in their future jobs. Patrons sat around the bar eating, drinking, reminiscing and wondering where they will go now.  "This is sad because it's one of the last of its types. The neighborhood bar where you can bring your parents, wife and kids and
they all would fit in. 

It's a dying breed," said Bill Beccaro of Essex, who said he has been coming
to Hughie's for 25 years.  He said having Pfizer come to the city is great
but it's a tragedy that it comes at the expense of a place like Hughie's.
"These are the kinds of places that make a community unique," he said.
Becarro said he is not enough of a local to know the people up and down the
bar and is not even a big sports fan or drinker.  "But I always make a point
of sitting in the bar because I feel like family here," he said. Former
Mayor Wayne Vendetto said Hughie's is a place where people from all walks of
life could go and keep abreast of what was happening in the city. Like the
other people in the restaurant Sunday night, he used the word family to
describe the relationship Devlin, his employees and customers have with each
other.  "You can't find a better guy than Hughie. He's done so much for the
people in this city. It's sad he's closing," he said. Vendetto said the
regulars who gather to watch games in the smoky bar and eat dinner together
were wondering Sunday where they would go now.   "No one knows," he said.

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