McCartney Times

The J.J. Hapgood General Store & Eatery in Peru had royalty from the music world drop by for dinner Sunday afternoon.

After spending a day on the slopes at nearby Bromley Mountain, famed musician Paul McCartney and five other people spent about an hour in the dining room enjoying a quiet meal that included margherita pizza and organic kale salad.

Restaurant owner Juliette Britton said she didn’t want any hoopla to disrupt the legendary Beatle’s visit, so she didn’t even notify her coworkers that McCartney was a guest in their presence. Britton said McCartney was joined by his wife, Nancy Shevell, and two other couples.

“He came in around 4:30 and had a meal on their way out of town,” Britton told the Burlington Free Press. “It was a very relaxed atmosphere and it worked out really well. I didn’t even let my staff know at the time he was there. It was a really great experience for him, and he was able to take it all in.”

Britton said that as McCartney was getting set to leave, she asked to get her picture taken with him, along with her husband (and store co-owner) Tim. McCartney gladly obliged, and the J.J. Hapgood store account later tweeted out the photo.

J.J. Hapgood General Store & Eatery, which first opened in 1827, was the longest continuously-run general store in Vermont until closing in disrepair in 2009, said Juliette Britton. The Brittons then purchased the store from previous ownership and refurbished it, before reopening it 2013.

Source: Paul McCartney dines at Vermont general store