YORKTOWN — The Yorktown Pub plans to expand to make it easier for beachgoers to enjoy food and drinks while keeping the iconic restaurant’s appeal.
Owners Rick Tanner and Dean Tsamouras emphasized there are no plans to change the pub, located in historic Yorktown. Instead, they will enhance the area around it with an outdoor covered dining deck between the pub and the closed Larry’s Lemonade restaurant. The deck replaces a tent used for outdoor dining since the pandemic.
“It will be a place where you can walk up sandy and in your bathing suit to have a drink and a bite to eat,” said Greg Granger, owner of G-Square Inc., which owns the property.
The property owner also plans to add another restaurant on the other side of the pub on top of the hill with a view of the York River mouth where it hits the Chesapeake Bay.
“It will be a one-of-a-kind view,” Tsamouras said.
Construction will be in two phases, starting with the deck, which is expected to finish this year, Granger said. It will have two beverage stations and tables with menu QR codes for patrons to order from either existing restaurant site.
Plans for the Larry’s restaurant menu and interior are not yet complete, Tsamouras said.
Parking, unloading areas and sidewalks will be improved with help from York County. It’s part of the Water Street improvement project, said Darren Williams, deputy director of Economic and Tourism Development.
“The area around there and Riverwalk down the road lack continuity. There will be landscape improvements. Pedestrian access will be improved and shower towers will be installed. We are excited to bring this to the waterfront,” Williams said.
Tanner and Tsamouras have owned the pub since 2000 and have a long-time lease with Granger’s company. Originally called Gus’s, it was built in 1951 and renamed Yorktown Pub in 1987.
The trio worked with the development department, county development authority and the Historic Yorktown Design Committee on the enhancement plans. They also worked with nearby residents and the over 300-year-old Grace Church to ensure their comfort with the addition.
“We listened and engaged with village residents,” Granger said.
Tsamouras said the group presented three different choices during the approval process.
“It took at least four months to get the conception design approved by everyone,” Tsamouras added.
Granger’s father, the late Gil Granger, who started G-Square Inc., purchased the property in 1965. Granger bought the company from his father about 20 years ago, he said.
He said this is not the first attempt to make improvements to the area. Each time, the late Granger ran into obstacles, his son said. This time, Granger made an effort to talk with then County Administrator Neil Morgan about the roadblocks his father encountered and asked for help with the project.
“He said, ‘We want to work with you all.’ This opened great lines of communication. They say it takes a village to raise a child. Well, it takes a village to enhance a village,” he added.
This is another recent improvement to Yorktown’s Water Street.
Last year, Yorktown native Matt Bowry purchased the former Duke of York Hotel, made significant exterior and interior improvements and renamed it the Yorktown Beach Hotel.
