A sports bar serving traditional pub food in Downtown Andover is nearing its opening date.
The Andover Health Division conducted its pre-opening inspection of the Autograph Tavern, which will occupy the former location of Smythe & Dove/Dakota Bar space at 89 Main Street, on Sept. 22, and the restaurant held a hiring fair last month. The select board approved Autograph’s liquor license on Aug. 15.
A representative for Autograph could not immediately be reached for comment Thursday.
The Autograph is the latest restaurant by Larosa’s owners Paul LaRosa and Michael Cammarata Cammarata will manage The Autograph, according to the liquor license application (see page 5). The new restaurant will employ 40 people.
Smythe & Dove said it would be closed for two weeks for a deep cleaning on Jan. 1. By the end of the month, the signs had come off the 140-seat steak house, and its Website and Facebook page were also taken down in January.
Smythe & Dove opened in the spring of 2019 — on the heels of the 2018 Merrimack Valley gas explosions and a year before the coronavirus pandemic brought the restaurant industry to a halt. The restaurant demolished the site of the former Andover Bookstore, which moved to 74 Main Street in August 2017, to build the current space.
File photo.