Brit Inn Site Finds New Life with Curves Set to Move Down Oakland Avenue in August

Nearly three years to the day the Brit Inn burned to the ground in an early morning blaze, the site has found new life and a new tenant.

Nearly three years to the day the Brit Inn burned to the ground in an early morning blaze, it has found new life. Owner Byung Kuk Yun, stifled by financial issues and a slew of obstacles for years including asbestos removal and contamination tests after an oil drum was found buried beneath the property, has rebuilt the building and Shorewood’s Curves is slated to move from its North Oakland Avenue location near East Capitol Drive to the restored building at 4473 N. Oakland Ave. The site has been split into two buildings and two addresses; Curves will fill the south portion of the building. Yun's martial arts studio BK Yun's Black Belt Academy is right next door to the north. Shorewood Curves owner Julie Kruse said the women's fitness …

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What Should Take the Former Brit Inn's Place in Shorewood?

Property owner Byung Kuk Yun has, after nearly three years, finally rebuilt and placed a for-rent sign on the storefront's new windows. Have any suggestions; what do you want to see take its place?

It took nearly three years to put the pieces back together after an early morning fire ravaged the Shorewood storefront, but the former Brit Inn site has new life with a for-rent sign recently placed in the window. The property, occupying the south half of the buildings at 4473-79 N. Oakland Ave., burned to the ground on May 26, 2009, in a fire ruled arson by authorities. Owner Byung Kuk Yun, stifled by financial issues and a slew of obstacles including asbestos removal and contamination tests after an oil drum was found buried beneath the property, has finally rebuilt. Yun's martial arts studio BK Yun's Black Belt Academy is right next door to the north. Construction workers have erected new walls on what Yun says he hopes will become a …

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Dispatches: The Changing American Dream

After Home Away from Home is Extinguished, Two British Friends Open Three Lions

Following fire at British-style tavern, the former pub's two managers and longtime friends realized their local slice of home in Three Lions Pub.

The English pub is homogeneous to a community hub, providing a venue for locals to come and expound on culture, David Price says. It's much more than just a place to grab a "pint and a bite." “It's a place to go watch soccer, a cozy little pub like back home, where you can come on your own and read a book or come with 20 people and have a party,” Price said. Price and longtime friend Christopher Tinker both grew up in small towns situated between Manchester and Liverpool in the United Kingdom, where they came to digest the paramountcy of the local pub to the English communities they serve. They made the journey to Milwaukee in early 2003, on scholarships to play soccer and study at Cardinal Stritch University, in a group of five. It was in…

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Shorewood Patch Year in Review

The Best of Patch: February

A month-by-month look back at the top stories of 2011.

As the year comes to a close, we all tend to look back at what exactly we've accomplished over the past 365 days. We were still newbies in Shorewood, but Patch heeded the call in Shorewood in the month of February, as the village and the state erupted over the proposal of the budget repair bill or Act 10. Here’s a recap of the news that made headlines in February. After Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker introduced Assembly Bill 11, known as Act 10 or the budget repair bill on Feb. 15, which curtailed most collective bargaining rights for public workers, it triggered a massive reaction in the state. Shorewood was not unique in that fact, as residents and teachers took to the streets to demonstrate and local officials drafted responses to the bill…

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Finally Rebuilding After Fire, Owner Hopes for a New Restaurant in Brit Inn's Wake

After many delays, construction could be done in three months on former Brit Inn.

On May 26, 2009, Byung Kuk Yun awoke to a telephone call from a detective informing him that the building he owned on N. Oakland Ave. was on fire. The Brit Inn, occupying the south half of the buildings at 4473-79 N. Oakland Ave., burned to the ground in a fire later rule arson. Yun’s martial arts studio BK Yun's Black Belt Academy and the tenant to the north were spared. More than two years later, construction workers are finally demolishing dilapidated features and erecting new walls on what Yun hopes will become a restaurant and turn around what has been an exhausting financial drain. “It was really hard times, the most hard in my life,” Yun said. “I always think, what kind of crazy guys do this? After the fire, I was feeling really bad…

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