Bar to open, work to continue
Molly Maguire’s owner David Birkenhead said he plans to reopen the bar for the St. Patrick’s Day holiday as work continues next door.
A sign in the window had said the facility would reopen March 9, but Birkenhead said he had not been able to meet that deadline.
Birkenhead said he planned to block off the original Irish pub section from the new space, formerly Blue Mountain Organics, to open for the ‘wearin’ of the green’ March 17.
The reason any blocking off is needed is the work recently begun next door.
Birkenhead said the renovations will continue for possibly as much as a month before the space is ready to open.
Asked for a more specific time, he said, “When you see a leprechaun outside the building we’ll be open.”
Part of the reason for the delay, he said, was waiting for the Alcohol Beverage Control to sign off on the license change required for the new serving space.
“We’re just waiting on a different license,” he said.
Birkenhead said since returning from vacation he had been focusing on finishing off the new space which includes banquet facilities and expanded seating capacity in the dining room.
“The place was just too small before,” he said.
The new space includes seating near the front windows with a fire place at the front of the building; a secondary kitchen for late-night food/bar food; additional handicapped accessible restrooms; a banquet room for about 40 people; seating estimated for 90 people, space for tables; office spaces in the back and a stage for entertainment or additional tables.
The new area will be connected to the original via the dining area at the front of the original site, with a serving window from the bar as well as a doorway to the main kitchen.
“We’re just putting up some walls and sheetrock and that’s it,” Birkenhead said Thursday.