Little Compton’s beloved Commons Restaurant may get a new lease on life after town council members voted unanimously Thursday to transfer the business's liquor license to Portsmouth residents Adam and Kaitlin Donahue, who hope to take over the shuttered business.

The restaurant, located at 48 Commons and colloquially known as Commons Lunch., has been closed since June 2025. But the Donahues hope to take over from the previous owner Barbara Crowther, whose family took over the restaurant in 1966 from Ken and Louise Wilbur, who opened the restaurant about a decade earlier.

Kaitlin, who was born and raised in town, said she and Adam “really want to pay homage to the community," adding that if the sale is finalized and they purchase the building, they want to offer breakfast and lunch to start, and “grow our capacity depending on where we’re at.”

Cheryl Tammaro, Crowther's daughter, spoke in favor of their application — “their intentions are to bring a restaurant back to town. We all know that the people of the town are very much in support of having a restaurant reopened again.”

After the liquor license transfer was approved, residents stood and cheered about the potential of seeing the community staple return.

“It’s about time,” longtime resident Sal Marinosci told the Donahue family. “Good luck, we can’t wait.”

The restaurant went on the market in April 2024 and is currently listed as pending on the real estate website RILiving.Com. The asking price is listed at $1.1 million