Canterbury Ales Co-Founder Remembers Its Start

A co-founder of Canterbury Ales expressed sadness on learning that the restaurant had suddenly closed.

On Monday, owner Billy Hoest announced the closing with an email to customers but gave little explanation, "... I will say that the past few years due to the economic slowdown and a multitude of other factors, it was time to stop," he wrote.

 On Tuesday, he told Newsday that unpaid state taxes of $100,000 were behind the shutdown.

Dody Riggs, who now lives in Vermont, recalled how the founders, John and Allison Byers, she and her husband, Dana Riggs, and Jack and Barbara Spoering, started the restaurant and gave it its name.

"At the time we had no idea what a marvel we were creating--Dana had fallen in love with a pub near Stonehenge that we visited in England the first year of our marriage, and he set his sights on creating a replica. He and John and Jack put in all that dark paneling and built the booths themselves, and some of my dishes are still up on the plate rails.

"I made a rare visit this June, and now am so happy that I did. I clearly remember way back in 1976, sitting with our chef to plan the menu and trying to figure out what to name the pub...I think it took only a few minutes, and if my memory is correct, John came up with the final version, Canterbury Ales.

"I'm obviously sad to see Canterbury's close, even though I left the scene shortly after it opened. It's been so much fun to come back from time to time over the years and see it thriving, to meet people while traveling in various countries who told me it was their favorite hangout. My newest neighbors here in Vermont just moved up from Huntington and were fans of Canterbury's--they delivered the sad news this (Tuesday) morning."

Riggs, whose husband, Dana, died in 2007, said, "I'm grateful to Billy for making our nice public house into a Huntington Institution and a family favorite. I am so very sorry he is going through this loss, and hope the community can help to comfort him."

A message on the restaurant's phone seemed to indicate a chance it could reopen. "Canterbury's has closed down. Hopefully it's temporary but restaurant has closed down." A sign Hoest posted on the door said it had closed and thanked "the Canterbury faithful for all of our support through the past 36 1/2 years!!"

But Hoest told Newsday, ""Right now it's definite that it won't open again."