GOOD HOPE — The Good Hope City Council approved the alcohol license for the Stash House Monday night, putting the restaurant, bar and distillery one step closer toward a planned opening sometime next month in the location that formerly held the Cotton Gin restaurant.

After the council approved the license following a favorable recommendation from the city’s Alcohol Review Committee, Stash House co-owners Preston Prewett and Pat Watson shared some of their plans for their new business. 

Prewett said the Stash House will open in phases, with the restaurant and bar opening first and the planned brewery and distillery coming as soon as the equipment is purchased and installed.

Watson, who also owns Kat Daddy’s BBQ & Grill and Rooster’s Corner in Brushy Pond, said he and Prewett are looking for the restaurant to open sometime in May.

“I’m really excited to bring what I think is a much, much needed restaurant,” he said. 

He said the restaurant will offer a variety of different menu items, from steak to catfish, and will also feature blue plate lunch specials featuring a meat and vegetables and Saturday and Sunday brunch specials. 

Along with the lunch specials, the Stash House will also feature a separate dinner menu that will prove exciting for customers, Prewett said. 

“We’re going to kick it up a little bit with the dinner crowd,” he said. “So we’re going to be quite diverse with the menu.”

Watson said the Stash House also has the potential to be a popular entertainment venue for the city, and there are already plans to bring in bands once the restaurant opens. 

“We’re probably going to be hosting a concert once a month,” he said. 

For the distillery and brewery, Prewett said some of the equipment manufacturers are nine to 10 months behind due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so it could be months before those aspects of the business are able to get off the ground. 

Watson said he and Prewett are also in the market for used equipment that might be available sooner than the new equipment, so it’s possible that the distillery and brewery could be open sooner than expected. 

“We’re just going to try to get equipment as fast as we can,” he said. “We’ve got some ordered, but if we find some better, quicker, faster, that’s where we’ll go.”

The city council approved the lease of the restaurant property, located at 123 Lindsey Road, to Prewett and Watson last month, after purchasing the property for $500,000 in January with plans to sell or lease it to someone who was looking to open a restaurant in the city.