Brier expected to be major economic score for London, Ont.

Preparations are underway for the Tim Hortons Brier, being hosted in the Forest City beginning this weekend.

 Curling fans will descend on Budweiser Gardens for the event starting Friday night, and when the games have ended they’re expected to hit the town.

“So they’re going to go to restaurants, and they’re going to go shopping, Covent Garden Market, they’re going to be out by the 401, so they may go to White Oaks Mall,” said Brier organizer Peter Inch, a former chair of Curling Canada.

The 10 day Brier will attract 18 of Canada’s best curling squads, along with thousands of devotees of Canada’s “other” national pastime. It’s a huge economic score said Zanth Jarvis, sports tourism director for Tourism London.

“We projecting an economic impact between 10 and 15 million [dollars], that’s based on the last Brier was 16.8 million [dollars] in Lethbridge and just under 10 [million dollars] in Brandon. Somewhere in that range would be a tremendous impact for us coming out of COVID and the pandemic, trying to really repay our tourism industry and get them back on their feet,” he said.

Zanth Jarvis, director of sports tourism at Tourism London at Budweiser Gardens in London, Ont. (Bryan Bicknell/CTV News London) In addition to activities at the Bud, RBC Place will host The Patch for social activities, according to Jarvis.

 “We’ve got local entertainment scheduled every single night,” he said. “Different events, curling, top shots games, competitions, you sort of name it.”

Restaurants, hotels and motels are also gearing up for an onslaught. At J. Dee’s Market Grill across from the Bud, co-owner Jim Davies said he hopes they have enough staff to keep up.

“Oh our sales will be up [300] to 400 per cent over that period of time. It remains a challenge in the industry, so we’re going to do the best we can,” he said.

Organizers said hotels and motels are expected to be fully booked.

Sanjay Patel, who owns Parkway Motel on Dundas Street East, said he’s hoping to catch some of whatever’s left after downtown books up.

“We guys have to wait all the time whenever any events come to London, Ontario. We have to wait to fill up the people from Wellington and downtown, then hopefully they will come on this side,” he said.

The Tim Hortons Brier runs March 3 to 12.