Hamilton’s Hutch’s on the Beach celebrates 80 years on beach strip

A “Hamilton institution” has been a staple at Van Wagner’s Beach for 80 years.

Despite making very few changes in that time, for Hutch’s on the Beach “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

John Robertson comes to the restaurant about once a week, sometimes more.

“Since it was a trailer in Confederation Park, so going back a long time now,” said Robertson.

He says he always gets the fish and chips.

“The quality’s that good — people keep coming back, and you don’t get rid of people if the quality is good,” said Robertson.

Fred Simon has been ordering the same thing for 45 years.

“All of the fish and chips, well certainly always the fish and chips,” said Simon. “I have a brother from out west and every time he comes here, he comes here to eat two or three times a week — the fish and chips are so good,” said Simon. “Oh double fish and an extra fish for the wife and share the chips.”

It’s this loyalty that has helped Hutch’s on the Beach celebrate 80 years in business.

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“I think the biggest draw here is that we’ve kept things as simple and classic as it has been the entire time,” said Fallon Beck, the manager of Hutch’s on the Beach. “We don’t change very much, only the little things to kind of keep with the times.”

Beck started at Hutch’s on the Beach 27 years ago.

“I was cleaning tables,” said Beck. “Then I moved on to scooping ice cream and then out front, and then was asked to stick on as management.”

She’s not the only member of her family to work at this staple of Hamilton’s beach strip.

“I care about what happens here, my mother also has worked here 47 years so I grew up down here,” said Beck. “I would be outside hanging out while she was waiting to get off work.”

Megan Hutchinson-Creechan’s grandparents started the restaurant way back in May of 1946. She started working in the family business as a kid 27 years ago.

“Yeah, I started at thirteen, sanding picnic tables and painting,” said Hutchinson-Creechan who is now the General Manager.

It’s the fish and chips that keeps customers coming back, but a point of pride for the owners is the generations of families who continue to work here.

“We have kitchen staff that have been here for 35 years,” said Hutchinson-Creechan. “Their kids are now working here in different parts. Beck also has her son already starting here as well cleaning tables, and hopefully next year my daughter will be starting here.”

A perfect recipe for another 80 years.

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