A Final Goodbye To One Of Concord's Friendly's Restaurant

CONCORD, NH — The Friendly's Restaurant on North Main Street, which closed in October 2019, is really no more now.

The restaurant, along with a number of other Friendly's around the Northeast, closed in 2019. The Concord property was sold to Concord Realty Ventures LLC of Norwood, Massachusetts, for $600,000 on Oct. 1, 2020.

The Loudon Road Friendly's, however, remains open.

Construction workers were at the site on Wednesday demolishing what was left of the building which was destroyed by fire on Oct. 13, 2020.

According to Concord Fire Chief Sean Brown, the "official" cause of the fire was "undetermined" — with nothing to indicate that it was arson or intentionally set. However, as many as six homeless squatters were living in the building.

"It was a vacant building in the middle of COVID," Brown said.

Fire investigators found cooking, heating, smoking, and other materials in the building that might be used by someone inside of a structure that had no utilities, he said, surmising that investigators believe the fire was accidental.

Deputy Chief John Thomas of the Concord Police Department said the case was still an active investigation.

"Obviously, we're still trying to identify who was in the building at the time," he said.

Those squatters would not be charged with arson but could be charged with criminal trespass, reckless conduct, and criminal mischief, Thomas said.

NEWS 603 posted a video of the fire on YouTube.com.

Got a news tip? Send it to tony.schinella@patch.com. View videos on Tony Schinella's YouTube.com channel or Rumble.com channel.