The Red Arrow Diner is a 24-hour

diner A diner is a small, inexpensive restaurant found across the United States, as well as in Canada and parts of Western Europe. Diners offer a wide range of foods, mostly American cuisine, a casual atmosphere, and, characteristically, a com ...

located in the state of

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

in the United States. The diner currently has four locations, in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

Concord Concord may refer to: Meaning "agreement" * Pact or treaty, frequently between nations (indicating a condition of harmony) * Harmony, in music * Agreement (linguistics), a change in the form of a word depending on grammatical features of other ...

, Londonderry,

Nashua Nashua may refer to: * Nashaway people, Native American tribe living in 17th-century New England Places In Australia: * Nashua, New South Wales In the United States: * Nashua, California * Nashua, Iowa * Nashua, Minnesota * Nashua, Kansas City ...

, and previously had a location in

Milford Milford may refer to: Place names Canada * Milford (Annapolis), Nova Scotia * Milford (Halifax), Nova Scotia * Milford, Ontario England * Milford, Derbyshire * Milford, Devon, a place in Devon * Milford on Sea, Hampshire * Milford, Shro ...

. Media outlets have repeatedly rated the diner one of the best in the United States, and the diner became known as a recurrent stop for politicians on the

New Hampshire primary The New Hampshire presidential primary is the first in a series of nationwide party primary elections and the second party contest (the first being the Iowa caucuses) held in the United States every four years as part of the process of choosi ...

campaign trail—one of the first in the nation—during presidential primary season.

History

The first location, in Manchester, opened in 1922 and was founded by David Lamontagne, who was a

boxer Boxer most commonly refers to: * Boxer (boxing), a competitor in the sport of boxing *Boxer (dog), a breed of dog Boxer or boxers may also refer to: Animal kingdom * Boxer crab * Boxer shrimp, a small group of decapod crustaceans * Boxer snipe ee ...

and iceman.Red Arrow's been getting partisans' votes since 1922
''

Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

'', December 20, 2014. It closed in 1985 and was bought and reopened in 1987 by Carol Lawrence, who remains its owner and president.Owner of Red Arrow diner hopes to capture restaurant history on video
''

New Hampshire Union-Leader The ''New Hampshire Union Leader'' is a daily newspaper from Manchester, the largest city in the U.S. state of New Hampshire. On Sundays, it publishes as the ''New Hampshire Sunday News.'' Founded in 1863, the paper was best known for the conse ...

'', April 15, 2018. Manchester designated the Red Arrow a city historic landmark in 2000. A Milford location opened in 2008, and a Londonderry location in 2015. The Concord location opened in 2017. The Milford location suddenly closed on December 1, 2019. On May 8, 2020, the diner opened a new location in Nashua, New Hampshire.

Media attention

News outlets and food journalists have rated the diner one of the best in the nation on several occasions. ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...

'' rated it one of the ten best diners in 1998.Q&A with: Red Arrow Diner owner Carol Sheehan
''New Hampshire Business Review'', August 13, 2010. In 2014, ''

Business Insider ''Insider'', previously named ''Business Insider'' (''BI''), is an American financial and business news website founded in 2007. Since 2015, a majority stake in ''Business Insider''s parent company Insider Inc. has been owned by the German publ ...

'' named it the best diner in New Hampshire. ''New England Today'' declared it one of the 15 best diners in New England in 2018, and also in 2018, '' The Daily Meal'' rated it the best 24-hour diner in America. In 2007, the Manchester location appeared in episode 7 of the first season of ''

Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives ''Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives'' (often nicknamed ''Triple D'' and stylized as ''Diners, Drive-Ins, Dives'') is an American food reality television series that premiered on April 23, 2007, on the Food Network. It is hosted by Guy Fieri. The show o ...

''. In 2012, the diner was re-created in Massachusetts to be used for filming of the

Adam Sandler Adam Richard Sandler (born September 9, 1966) is an American comedian, actor, screenwriter, producer and singer. He was a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1990 to 1995, before going on to star in numerous Hollywood films, those of wh ...

film ''

Grown Ups 2 ''Grown Ups 2'' is a 2013 American comedy film directed by Dennis Dugan, written by Adam Sandler, Fred Wolf, and Tim Herlihy, and produced by Sandler and Jack Giarraputo. It is a sequel to the 2010 film '' Grown Ups''. The film stars Sandler, Ke ...

''. In 2019, the Red Arrow Diner was used to frame a "Daily Double" question on ''

Jeopardy! ''Jeopardy!'' is an American game show created by Merv Griffin. The show is a quiz competition that reverses the traditional question-and-answer format of many quiz shows. Rather than being given questions, contestants are instead given genera ...

''.

Campaign stop

The restaurant became "a requisite stop for political candidates" campaigning in New Hampshire, in part because New Hampshire's presidential primary is held earlier than any presidential-election-related contest in the nation other than the Iowa Caucuses. In 2014, an ''

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

'' writer noted, "you really can't run for president without grabbing some grub at the Red Arrow Diner. Every four years during New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation presidential primary, pretty much every White House wannabe makes a pilgrimage to this tiny almost 100-year-old diner tucked onto a side street of the state's largest city." ''

Eater Eater may refer to: * Eater (band), an English punk rock group * "Eater" (''Fear Itself''), a 2008 episode of the NBC television horror anthology ''Fear Itself'' * ''Eater'' (novel), a 2000 science fiction novel by Gregory Benford * ''Eater'' (w ...

'' attributed the Red Arrow's prominence to the influence of the 1992

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

campaign, which prioritized diner visits as a means of outreach to rank-and-file voters;

Al Gore Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. Gore was the Democratic Part ...

's 2000 campaign took a similar tack, and "by the 2008 election cycle, it had become a must-stop for both Democrats and Republicans". The diner has a tradition of "de-virginizing" patrons who are visiting for the first time; in her 2008 campaign trail stop,

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...

's campaign asked that this tradition not be applied to her. NPR interviewed dinees at the Red Arrow the day after

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...

's 2016 presidential victory; Trump's visit to the diner on the campaign trail was marked by a citizen protest.Someone Yelled 'Enjoy Your Burger, Racist!' at Trump in Manchester’s Red Arrow Diner
''Boston Magazine'', January 13, 2016.

References

External links

* {{coord, 42.993449, -71.461400, type:landmark_globe:earth_region:US-NH, display=title Restaurants established in 1922 Restaurants in New Hampshire Diners in the United States Manchester, New Hampshire 1922 establishments in New Hampshire