Amy Smith and her mom Linda Smith behind the refinished 168-year-old bar at The Mog Bar and Grill on re-opening on Wednesday.
At the end of last year, Amy’s mom, Linda, decided to retire and close The Mog after almost 45 years. After several discussions with her husband Dave Scroger, the couple decided to reopen The Mog after a few renovations.
“We renovated the kitchen, and we did all new painting in the dining room, the walls and the floor. We stripped down the 168-year-old bar, and we refinished it, and we polished the brass,’ says Amy.
The Mog Bar and Grill in an undated photo showing the Apple Grove where you could rent a canoe for the Tonawanda Creek to the south of the property at 8100 N. Pembroke Road.
“The original mill (pictured below) is right there in the corner of the Tonawanda Creek. Right now, it’s just being used for storage, but yeah, back in the day, the farmers would bring their corn and grain there to get milled, and they would stay upstairs and have drinks downstairs,” says Amy.
The Mog has served as an important fixture in the area for 168 years. It has served as a hotel and bar where farmers would stay while their grain was being milled before the introduction of motor vehicles. The mill across the street still stands. You can still see the remains of a dam where a water wheel was also located that powered the grain milling process for many years.
“This is the heart of our community. People come in just as customers, but they become friends, and then they become like family. So, when my mom was talking about retiring, it took Dave and I, like, a lot of contemplation as to whether we want to continue. And I was like, it’s been part of my family because my mom raised us here, because we lived here and grew up here because there’s an apartment in the building where my mom lives, and that’s where she raised all three of us children. So, it was very difficult, after like, 49 years of being here, to give it up to somebody else, we just couldn’t,” says Amy.
A lot of the community was devastated when Linda decided to retire and close.
“Even though my husband and I have full time jobs, we couldn’t say no to this.”
(Provided photo) Amy Smith and Dave Scroger re-open The Mog Bar and Grill at 8100 North Pembroke Road
Amy and Dave are continuing to work their full-time jobs. Mom will be helping out too along with Amy’s niece Hannah. There is also a new cook on board, Courtney Gibson. Look for Momma’s special on Friday nights along with Fish Fry.
Link to The Mog Facebook page for hours and specials: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61571695195537
Bar hours: Sunday/Monday/Tuesday: Closed, Wednesday: 12:00-9:00, Thursday:1:00-8:00, Friday: 12:00-9:00, Saturday 1:00-?
Kitchen hours-Wednesday & Friday-12-8:00p.m., Thursday & Saturday 1-7p.m.
Cash only
“We are still doing other jobs. I’m a teacher, and I’ve been teaching for 22 years now, and my husband is a car hauler full time. So, we still have family working for us. We’ve never had anyone but family working for us. But we had to step outside of the box a little bit, so we hired a new cook, and so far, she’s doing wonderful,” says Amy
At 77, Linda’s favorite thing about The Mog is chatting with customers. “I like the people. You always hear a lot of stuff. People tell you a lot,” says Linda. She bought the business when she was 32, and raised all three of her children there.
“This was always a working man’s bar, says Linda, and Amy was fine when I bought the place, so she grew up here, you know. So, you can see why she didn’t want to let this go. Plus, she built a house here.”
For a time, the location was also known as the North Pembroke Hotel. The location came into Linda’s family through her father in-law’s family who purchased it in 1970.