Fire Chief Raul Ortiz and a few of his team members stopped by for the grand opening and ribbon cutting for downtown’s newest eatery.

“We are grateful that you decided to invest here in our city; you are adding to another layer of excitement and activity in our downtown area,” New Britain Mayor Erin Stewart said. “The downtown area is becoming quite the place to be with lots of new options for dining and The Hook & Ladder is going to be a great addition to that.”

The New Britain Fire Department being in attendance was fitting as the restaurant has a firehouse theme, and first responder customers are given discounts on orders.

“My dad was a cop so I’m always honoring the EMS and employees,” said Matt Butler, co-owner. “These guys and gals literally rush into the mess while we’re all running away, so they deserve a little something.”

Butler owns The Hook & Ladder Bar and Restaurant in North Haven and teamed up with Dave Etter and Jeremy Sykes (owner of Unknown Clothing) to open this location on the first floor of the Andrews Building.

“Downtown has changed a lot in the last five years and we’re excited about that,” Butler said.

Sykes rented an apartment from Butler when he was 17 and stayed there for eight years and both stayed in touch.

“He’s been watching me and Unknown grow around the community and he thought it would be a great way to cross-brand seeing how we’re in the same area of downtown, and I thought that was a great idea,” Sykes said. “Unknown does a lot of charity events, and we like to give back to our community, and it just adds another additional space for us to send our customers too and vice versa. I never owned a restaurant, but I figure if I was going to own one why not start right here in my hometown in the city that I love?”

The trio signed the lease for the two-level space on August 15. The business received the final signoff last Friday at 3 o’clock and had a soft opening at 4:30 p.m.

“We didn’t tell anybody – it was just people walking by popping in. It was really training for our staff,” Butler said. “It went really well.”

The Hook & Ladder’s upper level is now open and ready for business with a full kitchen with lunch and dinner service and a full bar.

“We have 21 employees,” Butler said. “Some of the ladies are local; some of the cooks are local. We’re trying to get more local people.”

The business is looking to add another 15 or so employees.

“This is exciting. It’s a great location number one. Number two the layout of the facility really lends itself well to a great time,” Chamber President Bill Moore said. “You’ve got great food just from the samples out on the tables right now. It’s a really nice addition to downtown. It’s going to be really successful. You can tell by the attitude of the staff that has been helping out and people have been enjoying themselves. This is going to be a home run.”

Sykes said the business wants to have the lower level completed and running right after the New Year. A bar was added to the space, and they are working on putting in a sound system.

“We intend on making it for that younger crowd to really capture some of those college kids from Central that visit Elmer’s and some of those career oriented younger guys,” he said. “There might be a few tables down here, but most of this will be an open dance floor. We’ll be bringing most of the people down through the side entrance.”

The business offers a 25% discount to all fire departments and 15% to all police, military, first responders and nurses.

“I have high hopes for them and we’re really excited,” Mayor Erin Stewart said.

The Hook and Ladder Bar and Restaurant is open Monday-Friday from 11 a.m.-11 p.m. and until 2 a.m. on the weekends, depending on the flow of traffic. They can be found at thehookandladder.com/index.php.