A&W Joins the Barton Village Family

A&W at 190 Barton Street East
is nearly ready to open its doors.

Barton Village residents are about to welcome another family to the neighbourhood: the Burger Family.

The newest franchise of A&W Restaurants will open their doors Wednesday July 11th in the north end of Hamilton. It's part of a continuing expansion for the chain which is always looking for new franchisees.

With the exception of a KFC location located a little under a kilometre away, there aren't any other fast food options available within walking distance in the neighbourhood.

"The site for our new A&W restaurant is located on Barton Street in the north end of the city," Sarah Hillifer, Real Estate Coordinator for A&W Food Services of Canada Inc. stated. "The restaurant will serve people in the immediate area, including the industrial area to the north, customers throughout the day along Barton street and staff and visitors of the Hospitals."

This is the second A&W location to open in lower Hamilton in just over a month. The downtown core welcomed the return of 'the Burger family' to 194 King Street West on June 23rd. The freestanding franchise opened up in the same location the chain once housed decades earlier, which was most recently a Harvest Burger.

The newest Barton street location is also a stand-alone restaurant and will include a full eat-in dining area as well as a drive thru.

"We've been planning this site for a while," Graham Cooke, A&W's Vice President of New Restaurant Expansion stated, "It takes about eighteen months from initial planning to opening the restaurat."

"I do love me a papa burger," stated local Hamiltonian Jim Felker, "so I'll go every now and then." Another resident burger lover Chelly echoed the sentiment. "Fave burger all time...Teen Burger!"

The company started with it's first restaurant in Winnipeg in 1956 and is now the # 2 burger chain in Canada. "A&W is Canada's first, and fastest growing, burger chain," touts the history section of the chain's website, "and has grown from 500 to 700 restaurants in last 5 years."

• Music: Listen to a jingle from the 1960s
• Gallery: More photos of A&W

One of the more memorable items on the menu is a good old fashioned A&W Root Beer, which is still served in a frosted mug to this day. If the recent heat wave that hit the area is any indication, the treat will be welcome when the next wave of heat rolls through.

"There are still plans to open more restaurants in Hamilton," Cooke also stated.

The newest A&W on Barton Street at 190 Barton Street East opens tomorrow.