HUTCHINSON, Kan. — For years A&W was a fixture near the corner of 30th and Main in Hutchinson. But the store closed and the city has been without the famous root beer and burger establishment ever since.

Now A&W is coming back to the Salt City. Work got under way Wednesday on the remodeling of the Long John Silver’s restaurant at 30th and Main, and will become a joint restaurant with A&W. According to Eric Estes with Estes Enterprises out of Pratt, work will include the ability to make the homemade root beer just as in the past, along with its own kitchen and seating space. And yes, the root beer will come in glass mugs.

Estes says they want to bring back the A&W of the past, and says customers are always bringing in old menus and the original glass mugs that were a part of the restaurant’s history.

Estes, who also owns the Qdoba restaurant in Hutchinson, says they hope to have the store open by August.