The Hub still sits empty in Stratford as former owner faces fraud charges
Monday was a routine court date for Kevin Larson, a former Stratford restaurant owner facing a total of 17 fraud-related charges.
The charges span from 2015 to 2023 and now involve seven victims. They include nine counts of using of a forged document or a document with a forged signature, while the other charges are for filing tax returns in a victim’s name as the director of a business.
One of the charges alleges Larson defrauded an investor of $138,000 by using the money without their knowledge or permission.
Larson was the owner of the ‘The Hub,’ a chain of restaurants in Stratford, Mitchell, Lucan, Seaforth and Bayfield. All are now closed.
The Stratford establishment, located prominently in Market Square, is now in a court ordered receivership.
Many in the local business community are hopeful the location gets a new life soon.
“Any time we have any type of vacancy its always detrimental to the overall ambiance of our downtown. But when you have a large space like that, it does hurt,” said Jamie Pritchard with the Downtown Stratford BIA.
With a large capacity, central location and a rooftop patio, the former Hub building is unique in Stratford.
“Market Square is the epicenter of downtown and it’s a lot better when everything is full … people are attracted to that area and it’s better when it’s fully occupied,” Pritchard explained.
She said the best thing for downtown businesses would be to have it operational again.
“It's been a food and beverage place for quite some time. It would be nice to have something back in there similar to give visitors a place to eat and drink.”
Larson will be back in court on June 1.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Large numbers of New York City police officers begin entering Columbia University campus
Large numbers of New York City police officers began entering the Columbia University late Tuesday as dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters remained on the campus.
Poilievre kicked out of Commons after calling Prime Minister Justin Trudeau 'wacko'
Testy exchanges between the prime minister and his chief opponent ended with the Opposition leader and one of his MPs being ejected from the House of Commons on Tuesday -- and the rest of Conservative caucus walking out of the chamber in protest.
Baby, grandparents among 4 people killed in wrong-way police chase on Ontario's Hwy. 401
A police chase which started with a liquor store robbery in Bowmanville Monday night ended in tragedy some 20 minutes later when a suspect fleeing police entered Highway 401 in the wrong direction and caused a pileup which killed an infant and the child's grandparents, as well as the suspect, investigators say.
Freeland leaves capital gains tax change out of coming budget implementation bill, here's why
Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland will be tabling yet another omnibus bill to pass a sweeping range of measures promised in her April 16 federal budget, though left out of the legislation will be the government's proposed capital gains tax change.
Sword-wielding man attacks passersby in London, killing a 14-year-old boy and injuring 4 others
A man wielding a sword attacked members of the public and police officers in a northeast London suburb Tuesday, killing a 14-year-old boy and injuring four other people, British authorities said.
Man dies after suffering cardiac arrest while waiting in ER, widow wants investigation
When an ambulance took David Lippert to the hospital in March of 2023, the 68-year-old Kitchener, Ont., executive was hoping to find out why he was feeling weak and unable to walk. Some 24 hours later, he was found unresponsive in the ER.
CSE says it shared information on Chinese hacking of parliamentarians in 2022
While several MPs and senators say they were only recently made aware of China-backed hackers targeting them, the Communications Security Establishment, one of Canada's intelligence agencies, says it shared information about the incident with parliamentary officials in June of 2022.
WATCH Arnold Schwarzenegger spotted filming in Elora, Ont.
The name of the project has not been officially released although it’s widely believed to be the Netflix series FUBAR.
Eviction for landlord's use was legitimate, despite owners' partial move, B.C. court rules
A B.C. judge has upheld the eviction of a family from their North Vancouver townhouse, finding that the landlords did not take an unreasonable amount of time to move into the home after the tenants vacated it.