Published: 6/6/2020 2:30:52 PM
Modified: 6/6/2020 10:26:25 PM
LEBANON — The Lebanon Diner, which has fed Upper Valley residents, tourists and campaigning politicians on the Lebanon Mall for almost a decade, is closing permanently, its owners said Saturday.
“We are sad to announce that the Diner will not survive the COVID-19 shutdown. We join the ranks of other restaurants in the Upper Valley who also will not be reopening,” Andy Hill and Karen Liot Hill wrote in a Facebook post on Saturday.
“Eight years for a restaurant is a long life, and we are proud to have been part of the downtown Lebanon community for almost a decade. The best part of the Lebanon Diner is the connections we have made with all of you.”
The diner suspended operations indefinitely in mid-March because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Andy Hill, a Lebanon native, ran the diner full time, and Karen Liot Hill, a longtime city councilor, had gone to part-time status there in recent years after also helping launch it. The couple separated three years ago but continued running the diner as a team, and their daughters, Marina Liot and Zoe Hill, also worked there.
It was a regular stop on the presidential campaign trail. U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., lunched on blueberry pancakes there in November 2015 after participating in a Veterans Day observance in downtown Lebanon.
And U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.; U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y.; and former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld, a Republican, also visited last year.