While Rose (Rosie) Hubley was looking forward to her impending retirement after working for more than 30 years at the River Pub in Bridgewater, she admitted she would miss the interaction with her customers.
“You meet a lot of interesting people in this line of work,” Hubley said in an interview on Oct. 29, the eve of her retirement. “And after all those years, I’ve met a lot of great people and I’ll miss them.”
Hubley started her career when the River Pub opened about 32 years ago at 750 King St., and she has remained with the business through several ownership changes.
“I’ve worked for all the owners,” she said. “And they were all great. When you work in a place like this, you become like a family and I’ll miss everyone I’ve worked with.”
Through the years, she has served thousands of customers and has made some great friends. She met some interesting people, she said, but about 15 years ago, she waited on a couple from Switzerland who live part time in the Bridgewater area.
One thing led to another and eventually, Hubley and her husband Andy, became really close friends with the couple, even visiting them every year in Switzerland and then in Ireland, once the couple moved there.
“They are great people,” Hubley said. “And it’s a great friendship that started with me serving them at the pub.”
The River Pub has become a hot spot in downtown Bridgewater because of its location, its food and its service. Over the past three decades, Hubley said she has seen a lot of changes in the town, but one thing that has remained constant is the demand for good food.
“Good food and service keep people coming back,” she stressed, while observing that of all the food she had served in her more than 30 years, she believed the pub’s fish and chips was the most popular item on the menu.
“But the club (known as the Mariner Mouthful) has also been very popular,” she added. “And I can see why. It’s very good.”
Another popular menu item throughout that time has been the pub’s curly fries. “They are more popular than our regular fries, but they are very good too.”
Even though Hubley said she enjoyed her time at the pub, she felt it was time to hang up her apron and she looked forward to spending more time with her family, especially her two grandchildren. She said she wanted to do a bit more travelling, especially to visit her friends in Europe.
“And I want to clean my house from top to bottom,” she chuckled. “Seriously, though, it has been a slice, but it is time.”
Rob Keevill, owner/manager of the River Pub, said he and all the staff would miss having Hubley around.
“It will be hard to replace that kind of institutional knowledge that Rose built up over the years, but we wish her well in her retirement,” he said. “She had the respect of her customers and she was always fun to work with.”
He added, “She will be hard to replace.”
