Dover Soul offers spirited service

By Chris Outcalt

Published: Friday, February 4, 2005

Updated: Sunday, September 6, 2009

On a recent Sunday in downtown Dover, walkers were out for their morning coffee followed by churchgoers looking for an early lunch. Jay McSharry was hoping they would all find their way to Dover Soul. McSharry, who also runs three restaurants in Portsmouth, Dos Amigos Burritos, Jumpin Jay's Fish Café and Radici's, as well as the Red Door martini bar, has taken on his newest challenge by opening up a coffee shop, martini bar and restaurant on Central Avenue in Dover. "We saw this as an opportunity," said McSharry. "They've got a great thing going at Café on the Corner, but that's the only place like that in Dover. We think there's room for two." Dover has had a recent influx of businesses and restaurants that are enhancing the towns appeal to both future business owners and residents. "We've seen a pretty steady growth of the downtown area that began in about April or May," said Beth Thompson, who is the economic development director at the city hall in Dover. "It's not something we have to work for though, it stems from our demographics. Over 50 percent of Dover residents are from out of state, they drive the development." Dover Soul is McSharry's contribution to the newfound thriving industry in Dover. "Dover's becoming a happening place, almost like a new Portsmouth," said McSharry. Portsmouth already has an established downtown area with several places to turn to for a good cup of joe. "We wouldn't have been able to do this in Portsmouth. There are already, like, eight coffee shops," said McSharry. Thompson echoed McSharry's thoughts on the situation in Portsmouth. "Don't get me wrong, I love Portsmouth, but it's more convenient for people in Dover to be able to plan a night out by just walking downtown instead of having to account for driving and waiting time," she said. McSharry also noted the higher rents that Portsmouth business owners pay. "The opportunity starts with the lease," McSharry said. "Like it or not, your landlord is somewhat of a partner." McSharry says that he's lucky to have a good landlord to work with, who helped him and his business partner fix up the space their business is in now. The new coffee shop opened its doors for the first time on Dec. 7. Dover Soul isn't just your regular coffee shop. A coffee bar during the day turns into a martini bar at night, which keeps the place open well into the evening. Attached to the side of the coffee shop is Little Louie's Fish House, a restaurant specializing mainly in fish designed to serve a lunch and dinner crowd. The restaurant is also owned by McSharry. "It's really a three part project," said McSharry. "You've got the restaurant, the coffee shop and the martini bar. It's the biggest project I've ever been a part of. Opening three things at once can be overwhelming." McSharry and his staff are already starting to see the progress from all their hard work. "Business has been steadily picking up," said Elissa Armstrong, one of the coffee house's original employees. A lot of the business Dover Soul gets doesn't start until most coffee shops have closed and locked their doors for the night. The coffee bar closes down at 10 p.m., giving way to the martini bar, which stays open until 1 a.m. "The martini bar is classy, but not too classy," said Armstrong with a laugh. The bar is equipped with a full drink list ranging from red and white wine to their own signature martinis like the Soul in the city, which is their twist on a cosmopolitan. DJs keep the bar filled with music and people on the weekends. Fridays are underground hip-hop nights while Saturdays they're spinning dance and house music. Some nights they even have break dancers showing off their skills. "There's a good diverse crowd on the weekends," said Armstrong. "I've seen everything from kids in their 20s to couples in their 40s." Despite the early success, McSharry admits there's always work that needs to be done and changes that need to be made. "Some things work and some things don't," McSharry said. "We've already redone the sandwich menu and our hours of operation. I've owned Jumpin Jay's for five years and I'm still making changes, but we're in this one for the long haul." McSharry is hoping that students being back in town will help boost business even more. "UNH was gone for the whole first month we were open, but hopefully students will check out the place now that they're back in town," McSharry said.

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Scavengers steal Scan TV sign Saturday

If you read on their facebook page for the stolen sign they accuse them of taking it. I just think that the blame game has gone too far on this campus and people see fraternities as a good scape goat. Yes some do some shady stuff, but at the same time one cannot instantly blame them. "They think it was maybe a fraternity stunt or scavenger hunt of some kind." - taken directly from their facebook page. I do hope that your sign does get returned because I understand how iconic it is for the university and the MUB.

posted by: UNHAlum
Faculty members need a wake-up call

It is time the faculity sucked it up like the rest of us on campus. This year staff over $40,000 received no raise, faculity received 5.5%. Take the 1.5% and be happy.
Do You remember why you became a professor? I hope, to pass your knowledge on to the next generation.
Some of you look like greedy individuals who can only think of the God almighty dollar and not the students you teach and mentor. If we keep increasing out tuition to pay for salaries students will look at other schools and then where will you be, on the street.

posted by: Robert Pettigrew
Faculty members need a wake-up call

I don't think it's fair to compare UNH to UMass (Amherst, I assume) and UConn. Both those schools are considerably larger than UNH — 26,000 and 20,000 undergrads, respectively — while the other schools mentioned are closer to UNH's size, give or take 3,000 students. Massachusetts and Connecticut are also feeling the effects of the recession slightly more than NH is. I realize that UNH commonly uses those schools as comparators, but those two are just on a different level than our school.
There are two other things I'm going to look up before I decide how I feel about this.
First, how does the average UNH professor's salary compare to to other universities? It's probably in line with other schools, but if it's significantly lower, shouldn't UNH profs get that too?
As some have said, if the pay is lower here, professors can quit and go to other schools — if they can find an open position somewhere else. But, if a professor leaves, the school will be left in the position of trying to attract a new teacher with lower-than-average salaries. Enact the raises and UNH remains competitive in keeping and hiring the best professors.
Second, what percentage of UNH's budget goes toward paying the professors? Again, this could be that the professors are asking the university to dedicate an equal amount to paying educators at UNH as they are paid at other schools. If UNH only dedicates 15% of the budget to prof pay and the other schools all dedicate 20%, why shouldn't that be changed? Not to sound Beck-ian, but I don't know and that's something that should be looked at.
Neither of those questions deal with the larger problem of education funding from the state, which I think was something like 2 percent (and that's for all schools, not just colleges). California students staged huge protests yesterday because fee hikes raised they amount they pay per year for school to around $11,000. Meanwhile, that's close to what UNH students have been paying for tuition alone for years, and it continues to rise. If Governor Lynch and our state reps don't start working to increase education funding in the state, all the groups involved, students, professors and administration, need to start showing the kind of outrage that California showed yesterday.

posted by: Clark Kent
Faculty members need a wake-up call

The whiny, lazy, faculty all need to get fired. I haven't seen a more wanna-be-entitled bunch anywhere I have worked. They don't deserve any raises, but instead a pay cut. The rest of the staff had a mandatory salary freeze that will last probably 2 years at least. Faculty also get the bonus of cheaper benefits than the rest of the staff. To top it off they are whiners and complainers about anything not in their contract or if they feel the least bit slighted by the administration. They got out of taking mandatory sexual-harrassment training that everyone else on staff had to take, since somehow their union filed a grievance with the administration that it wasn't required in their contract. The entire training was online and took less than an hour but that's too much for those slackers.
Tenure indeed is the only thing that keeps many of them employed, and it's a concept that needs to get thrown out. Many of them are dead wood, not bringing new ideas to the table and too 'busy' to try anything new, despite having many grad assistants and others to do all their real work, and the most over the top support structure of any organization I have seen.
Yet their greed continues unchecked! Ugh!
Good riddance!

posted by: Your name
Faculty members need a wake-up call

How quickly things change.
Just last week, when editorializing about a group of campus perverts, the attitude of the editors was: "we also don’t think it’s any of our business to judge an organization just because their activities are a shock to our system." Seven days ago we were advised to "shackle our judgment" and told that the campus S&M crowd "deserves respect." Now, a mere week later, when the same editorial board concludes that the UNH faculty union's collective bargaining position is "shocking," what do the editors do? Take their own advice and "shackle their judgment?" Offer respect to the faculty? Conclude that the negotiations are none of their business?
No, none of these. Instead, the hypocritical editors tell "whining" and "greedy" faculty they are lucky to have a job, and should be satisfied with whatever the administration considers to be a fair offer -- because, presumably, the administration ALWAYS tells the truth about university finances, and ALWAYS treats the employees of the university fairly.
Why not spend some effort actually learning the facts regarding the financial situation of the university -- revenues from the state, tuition increases, higher enrollments, grant money? Why not report on the value of the faculty and the university as an economic engine for the state? Why not investigate both the enormous increase in administrative salaries and the bloated growth in new administrative positions over the last two decades? Why not write about the relative compensation of your faculty compared to those with similar education, training, and experience in other fields? I guess these tasks were too challenging. It's just easier to call faculty names.
Everybody loves free-market capitalism as long as the managers and administrators get to call the shots and the workers remain docile and content with whatever the bosses decide they deserve. But, when workers assert their rights and engage in labor negotiations as equals -- well, that is just unacceptable to our enlightened editorial masters. You're all doing a great job of learning how to be corporate lap dog journalists.
Oh, and you spelled "principal" incorrectly.

posted by: Prof. "Greedy," Ph.D.

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Dover Soul offers spirited service

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