PRINCESS ANNE — The Washington Hotel and Sugar Water Restaurant continue toward opening under new ownership May 15 as the Somerset County Board of License Commissioners showed is support approving a Class B beer, wine and liquor license.
There were over a dozen wellwishers at the April 17 public hearing as Dana Zucker on behalf of Queen Bee Enterprises received applause and hugs including from her husband David after the board’s decision.
“She’s off to a good start already,” said board member Frank Lusk, looking at the support in the audience, and he like board member Van Muir reminded her of the seriousness of selling alcohol to minors.
“You will be checked,” Mr. Muir said, encouraging Mrs. Zucker to follow through on her plan to have servers take a certification course. She said she takes that “very seriously” and that it will not be operating as a bar, which follows the conditions of the businesses’ insurance.
Board Chair Robert Murphey — whose family owned the hotel and restaurant for nearly 90 years before it was sold to a public-private partnership in 2012 — said “You’re in business” after the unanimous vote.
The historic building was renovated and reopened as the Washington Inn & Tavern in 2016 but that business closed at the end of 2022 and the town offered it for sale. For a year the town leased the restaurant only to the owners of Squeaky’s Café but the town notified them in January the arrangement would end March 25.
On March 7 a proposal by Mrs. Zucker to buy the property for $200,000 was accepted 4-1 by the Town Commissioners at a special meeting and she committed to a percentage of pre-tax revenue shared with the town starting next year.
Mrs. Zucker is owner-operator of Sugar Water Manor in Westover, a bed and breakfast and agritourism destination on the banks of the Manokin River anchored by the historic Clifton Mansion. While she said she has no personal experience as the holder of a liquor license she has experience as a bartender and family in Ohio operated a bed and breakfast which allowed wine.
She sees the restaurant at the Washington Hotel as a farm/fish-to-table operation so local products can be featured, as well as reopening the 10 guest rooms. Sugar Water carries the overall brand name for her businesses, with “Zucker” meaning “sugar” in German and “and water is ever changing,” she said.
Restaurant and hotel positions are still open, and job fair sessions are set for Tuesday, April 23 from 5 to 8 p.m., Saturday, April 27 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. and Wednesday, May 1, from 7 a.m. to noon. Applicants can start here for more information.
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