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By far the biggest bee symbol in New Britain is the Main Street bridge over Route 72. As part of a $7.4 million reconstruction two years ago, the span got prominent metal bee statues along with huge, translucent gold-and-yellow honeycomb-patterned panels along the sides.
“For those of us from New Britain, the beehive is our home,” said Mayor Erin Stewart, who has been promoting the beehive symbol since taking office in 2013.
“It’s from the city motto ‘Industry fills the hive and enjoys the honey.’ I think it’s great to see the attention being paid to this. It’s part of what makes New Britain unique and who we are,” she said Friday.
New Britain adopted the motto at a time when it was an industrial mega-center with thousands of residents working at massive hardware factories.
“I’ve been telling the story of what the beehive means for so long, I like to see people are listening, especially people my age and younger who maybe didn’t know the history,” she said.
The Desais, who own two Subway outlets in New Britain, said the spirit of revival in the city is what convinced them to start their new business there.
“I want to see the city keep getting better. The mayor has done a lot, and New Britain is really coming up again. This is where our businesses are. I know New Britain. I know CCSU — I went to school there,” Amisha Desai said.
In 2017, they bought the old French Model Council Club, a once-popular but dated social club. They remodeled the building extensively and reopened it as the Grand Alure banquet hall, with plans to open a bar afterward.
Ujjval and Amisha Desai opened the Hive Bar & Restaurant as an addition to their banquet hall, the Grand Alure. Photo by Brad Horrigan | [email protected] (Brad Horrigan / Hartford Courant)
But the timing was problematic: The Grand Alure had operated only a year when the coronavirus and its health restrictions hit. Parties and big wedding receptions came to a halt.
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