Gull Lake’s Jim Ecclestone recalls visits to the Rockcliffe when he was in his late teens and early 20s. His children, twin daughters, Laura and Jamie, and son, Matthew, also raised a glass or two at the iconic Minden tavern in the day.
Jim Ecclestone said seeing Minden’s downtown Rockcliffe in its current rundown state was bothering him.
A friend of The Rockcliffe – Moore Falls owners’ Mark and Lise Dracup, and Dan Gosselin and Kirsty Goodearle, they all got to talking one day.
The Dracups, Gosselin and Goodearle purchased the Minden Rockcliffe in 2021 – hoping to reinvigorate it as a small hotel, restaurant and tavern. However, their plans fell through and they announced in August 2023 they were looking to sell.
“I said, ‘I’ll take it off your hands’,” Ecclestone told the two couples. He said Laura, Jamie and Matthew technically own the property now, but he is helping out while the three work for the family business, Calstone, based out of Scarborough.
“They actually own it and dad’s doing all this early work on it,” he said during an interview with The Highlander Aug. 27.
County residents would have noticed work on the exterior of the building the last couple of weeks, including a new paint job and plants. Contractor Shane Gallagher is leading the charge.
Jim Ecclestone said, “we just wanted to fix it for the town – clean it up, plant some flowers, paint it, and make it look nice. This is only week two, and we’ve already done a lot. By the end of this week, we’ll probably be finished with what we’re going to do on the outside, temporarily, and then we move inside.”
With a dumpster slowly filling outside, Ecclestone said the inside of the building “is a disaster.”
He said they will be ripping up floors in certain areas to see if structurally, the building is worth saving.
Family wants to give back to community
“Because we don’t even know that yet. So, the worst case is it ends up looking better than it has forever… and somewhere down the line my kids will decide what they are going to do with it. If we can save it, then they’ll start to develop a business plan for it. We have no business plan for it right now.”
He said they would liaise with the Township of Minden Hills, and mayor Bob Carter, throughout the process.
Carter told The Highlander Ecclestone told him his family were fifth generation cottagers with a soft spot for Minden. He’s thrilled at the prospect of what might happen.
“They want to do something to make downtown Minden look nice and we encourage that as much as possible,” the mayor said. “In terms of business improvement and economic development, we’ll give them all the help that we can.”
Ecclestone said it would probably be a month before they know what they are dealing with. A crew of friends and professionals from the Gull Lake area is helping him out. He said Gallagher is committed to two-to-three years of work “if everything goes well.” For now, Gallagher said, “we’re going to assess the damage.”
Ecclestone said they are both excited about the project, and the prospect of saving the 130-year-old building. “We’re hopeful that we can save it.”
Ecclestone said people have been coming by as the work progresses, “and the smiles on their faces – that gives us inspiration, too…everyone is stopping and waving, excited about it.”
He added it is way too premature to say if it would even return as a tavern. If they do something with the existing property, it could be three years away.
Gallagher chimes in, “it will be a hundred times better than what it was… no matter what we do.”
Adds Ecclestone, “we’re very fortunate our company has done very well and we can give back to the community and make a difference. That’s what it’s all about.”
