‘It’s always been my home’: After 46 years behind the bar, Duke of Wellington owners hope to pass the pint to the right person One of Waterloo’s longest-running pubs is looking for a new owner, but the woman who has spent nearly five decades behind the bar says she’s determined to ensure its story doesn’t end. The Duke of Wellington, a British-style pub on King Street South in Uptown Waterloo, has been listed for sale for $599,900. Owners Desi and Billy Fatkin decided it was time to step back because of ongoing health issues. Desi has spent nearly her entire working life at the Duke. “I started there as a server in 1980, and then went on to be the manager, left for a little bit, came back a couple of times, and then I was given the opportunity, 22 years ago, to buy the Duke and jumped at it because this is my home,” she said. “You know, it’s always been my home. I basically grew up here.” A neighbourhood institution The Duke first opened in 1980 and very quickly started attracting many newcomers from the United Kingdom looking for a familiar place to gather. “In the very beginning, the early days, there were a lot of Brits. It was their home away from home,” Desi said. “They would come to the Duke and feel like they were right back in their neighbourhood.” While the clientele has evolved over the decades, Desi said one thing has remained unchanged. “We’ve developed such a great, loyal, regular clientele over the years. It’s incredible. It is like a family.” She said the relationships built inside the pub go far beyond serving food and drinks. “Our customers are our family,” she said. “We have Christmas dinner with a lot of our customers. You get to know them. They’re not just people coming in and having lunch or dinner.” General manager Terry Meyer, who has worked at the Duke for a decade, echoed that sentiment. “It’s the people. It’s a family. Everybody coming together,” Meyer said. “It’s not even like coming to work. It’s not a job. It’s a social event. You just come here and hang out with your friends.” Starting over after a move The Duke relocated about five years ago after developers purchased its longtime home at the Atrium complex in Uptown Waterloo. “We were forced to move,” Desi said. “The developers purchased the Atrium... and their plan was to build a high-rise condominium.” Desi said moving just a couple of blocks away allowed many longtime customers to follow. “Most of our customers have found us. Again, loyalty — they just come back and support us.” She said recreating the atmosphere of the original location was a priority. “It’s a little bit different vibe. It’s newer and brighter, but we tried to keep it as much a pub as we possibly can,” she said. ‘A good time to sell’ Desi said health challenges affecting both her and her husband ultimately led to the difficult decision to sell. “We’re getting older, and my husband and I both have health conditions, and it’s a struggle to do the job that we used to do,” she explained. “So we thought now is probably a good time to sell.” Despite the listing, she stresses the pub is not closing. “There’s been a lot of misconceptions. We were getting phone calls saying, ‘So when are you closing? We want to get in there one last time,’” Desi said. “People think just because we’re selling that the pub is going to close, and that’s not our intention.” Instead, she hopes someone passionate about the business will carry it forward. “We’re not looking for someone to come buy the pub and completely change it,” she said. “We are hoping to find someone that loves the Duke as much as we do and is going to continue on with the legacy.” She added that she wants the Duke to remain the kind of neighbourhood gathering place it has always been. “We aren’t looking for anyone to come in and change what we’ve got. We want it to stay the Duke.” A place full of memories Over the decades, the pub has welcomed countless regulars along with several high-profile visitors. “We’ve had a lot of celebrities like Justin Bieber… ZZ Top… the Trailer Park Boys,” Desi said. “We’ve had so many interesting people come through these doors.” But it’s the everyday customers she says she’ll remember most. “It’s always fun walking into the pub. You never know what you’re going to get.” For regular customer Ali Nuri, the atmosphere is what keeps people coming back. “The people. Everybody’s like family here,” Nuri said. “It feels like a family.” Meyer hopes whoever takes over recognizes what makes the Duke unique. “It’s been around for so many years,” he said. “Let’s keep it going. We don’t want to lose it.” Ontario contractor says his cheques were stolen from a community mailbox, altered and deposited An electrical contractor in Cambridge, Ont. says multiple business cheques worth hundreds of thousands of dollars were intercepted, altered and fraudulently deposited before reaching their intended recipients, prompting investigations by both the Waterloo Regional Police Service and Canada Post. Dan Howard, the president of Live Electric, said the issue started in late 2025 when payments from his clients failed to arrive. “We had cheques mailed out, but we didn’t receive them,” he recalled. At first, Howard believed the missing payments were an isolated incident. Then he followed up with clients and realized there was a bigger problem. “I think we’re up to maybe six or seven cheques,” Howard said. “They’re substantial. Some of them are close to a quarter million [dollars].” The company also discovered the issue extended beyond incoming payments. Cheques that Live Electric mailed to other businesses failed to reach their destination, leaving tens of thousands of dollars unaccounted for. According to Howard, some of the missing cheques had been altered before they were deposited. “You can see how they’ve changed the payable to another contracting name, but it’s very visible,” he said. “It’s pretty obvious to a regular person that the handwriting didn’t match.” Howard believes the cheques were intercepted after they were deposited at a community mailbox. He said neighbouring businesses experienced similar problems and they warned him not to use the mailbox. “They were the first ones to be like, ‘Oh yeah, don’t use the mail. That’s dangerous,’” Howard said. Canada Post confirmed to CTV News that the locks had been tampered with on the community mailbox. “Once we became aware of the issue, we immediately cleared the affected mailbox and replaced the locks on all five modules at the site as a precautionary measure. Since then, no further incidents have been reported,” a statement from the Crown corporation said, in part. Police are also investigating. “Waterloo Regional Police continue to see an increase in frauds targeting businesses across Waterloo Region, often involving sophisticated tactics designed to manipulate employees and exploit financial processes,” they wrote, in part, in a statement to CTV News. Howard said the financial impact extends beyond his own company and could eventually drive up costs for other businesses. “If they can’t get the money returned to the contractors or the developers or the subtrades, then they’re going to work it into their overhead costs,” he explained. Until investigators determine who intercepted the cheques and how they were altered, Live Electric has stopped sending out payments in the mail. Instead, the company is hand-delivering and hand-collecting every cheque from customers and job sites. Driver facing three charges after refusing to stop for emergency vehicle A driver from Cambridge was caught driving without a licence after they didn’t pull over for an emergency vehicle. The Wellington County Ontario Provincial Police stopped the driver on Wellington Road 32 near Puslinch on Monday around 6:30 p.m. The 35-year-old was charged with failure to stop on right for emergency vehicle, owner operating a motor vehicle without a licence and driving a vehicle without a licence. 16-year-old charged in fatal crash involving riding lawn mower in North Dumfries A 16-year-old girl from Cambridge is facing several charges, including speeding at 191 km/h in a 50 km/h zone, following the death of a North Dumfries man. The Waterloo Regional Police Service updated their investigation into the Clyde Road crash on Wednesday. The teen was behind the wheel of a BMW that hit a man on a riding lawn mower on June 15. He was identified by neighbours as 51-year-old Nathan Smith. Smith died at the scene. Police said the girl has now been charged with dangerous operation causing death, speeding and two counts of stunt driving. Three other teens who were in the vehicle at the time of the crash were also arrested. A 15-year-old, a 16-year-old and a 17-year-old, all from Cambridge, were charged with two counts of failure to comply with a release order. Days after the crash, and following pleas from frustrated residents of Clyde who said speeding had long been a problem in the area, councillors for North Dumfries Township approved a motion to hire an external consultant to do a road safety study. Councillors and staff also discussed a plan to put temporary speed humps on Clyde Road and nearby Gore Road. North Dumfries Mayor Sue Foxton told CTV News that the speed humps and associated signage would be installed in a matter of weeks. That has not yet happened. David Brodhagen, who lives on Clyde Road, believes those deterrents are an essential next step in road safety throughout community. He also said drivers continue to speed along Clyde Road. “They’re still passing on the hills, and I don’t think the double lines are going to do it. They need the speed humps. And we need them fast,” Brodhagen said. CTV News asked the township for an update on installation plans for the speed bumps. The township’s lawyer said they had no comment at this time. Residents have started posting their own signs, imploring drivers to slow down, as they await and continue to push for more permanent traffic calming measures. “This is not just a one off where you can push it aside,” Brodhagen told CTV News. “We’re not going to give up.” Elora, Ont. family raising awareness and funds for toddler with rare genetic disorder An Elora family is turning a devastating diagnosis into a mission to raise awareness and hope for other families living with rare diseases. Two-year-old Lily Kalinowski was recently diagnosed with a mutation of the CASK gene, an ultra-rare neurological disorder that affects brain development. Fewer than 600 families worldwide are known to be living with the condition. “There’s only a few hundred cases globally of this CASK mutation, so really it was quite scary,” said Lily’s father, Paul Kalinowski. “There was not a lot of information available. Most doctors and medical professionals will never have encountered this.” The diagnosis came after months of testing and appointments with specialists. Doctors warned the family Lily may never walk or talk. Amy Clifford, Lily’s mother, said while the uncertainty is difficult, the family chooses to focus on their daughter’s progress. “We try our best to focus on how amazing she is. She is such a ray of sunshine,” Clifford said. “But the fear, the devastation of the diagnosis, it never goes away.” Lily already faces hearing and balance challenges, and because CASK can be progressive, her family said she could also develop seizures later in life. To give Lily the best chance to reach developmental milestones, she undergoes intensive physiotherapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy. Those treatments, however, come at a significant cost. “With the type of therapy that we’ve been working through, it has been north of $100,000 per year,” Kalinowski said. The family said many of the specialized therapies required for children with CASK are not publicly funded because of the condition’s rarity, forcing them to rely on community support. In May, friends, neighbours and local businesses rallied behind the family during a fundraising event in Elora. They have also launched an online fundraiser called Help Lily Bloom, which supports Lily’s therapy while also contributing to research into potential treatments and a future cure for CASK. The fundraiser has raised more than $105,000 toward its $500,000 goal. “We’ve got a purpose and a path forward that can give the best life for our girl,” Kalinowski said. “We’re enjoying every day and every hour and every minute that we get with Lily.” While doctors initially marked Lily’s future by the challenges she may face, her parents say they’re choosing to measure it by the possibilities ahead, celebrating every new milestone and hoping their daughter’s story helps shed some light on a condition few people have ever heard of.
