Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Last round at Maguires Irish pub
Maguires Hill 16, a Fort Lauderdale fixture, is shutting down. The Irish bar, which has been open since at least 1960, is under contract for sale to local investors, who did not comment on their plans. The last night at Maguires will be Sunday.
Maguires Hill 16, a popular Irish restaurant and bar on North Andrews Avenue in Fort Lauderdale, is shutting down, its owners said Wednesday. Its last day will be Sunday.
James Gregory, who is in charge of the daily operation of the familyowned pub, gathered his employees and broke the news on Tuesday. “I told them that after Sunday, we’re no longer going to be their employer,” he said.
Maguires, as it is commonly known, employs 35 people, he said.
“It’s heartbreaking,” said Quiche Hackett, who has worked as a waitress at the business for eight years. “It’s been like a family. Very close-knit between the employees and customers.”
James Gregory said the property is under contract for sale to local investors who have teamed up on numerous restaurant and condominium projects in the region.
Alan Hooper, president and CEO of Hooper Construction, developer of several adjacent condominium projects in the area known as Flagler Village, and a partner in the Restaurant People, which owns YOLO, Tarpon Bend, Sun Surf and Sand and Boatyard, confirmed the property was under contract. He declined to comment about the group’s plans.
Jim Gregory, James Gregory’s father who bought the business with his wife Martina in 1999, said the surrounding condominium development made it impossible to envision a future at the location. “All the properties have been bought up around me,” he said. “The parking lots have all been bought.”
During busy events such as the annual St. Patrick’s Day party, which draws 4,500 patrons, the bar has leased use of adjacent properties for parking, James Gregory said. But surrounding development is making it more difficult to accommodate patrons for such events, he said.
James Gregory said he doesn’t know what the buyers plan to do with the property but said the sale included the liquor license.
Fans of the NFL’s Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens, as well as the Notre Dame Fighting Irish college team, claimed the bar as their teams’ Fort Lauderdale headquarters. Steelers fans will gather one last time under the Gregorys’ ownership on Sunday to watch their team’s first-round playoff game against the Miami Dolphins.
The bar has been open since at least 1960, when it was called Fridays and allowed customers to bring their own meats and grill them outside, James Gregory said. At some point it was renamed Maguires, and operated under that name by the owners who preceded his parents.
The bar’s fans, James Gregory said, include Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jack Seiler, and brass of the Fort Lauderdale Police Department and Broward County Sheriff ’s Office.
After the sale, Jim Gregory plans to stay in Ireland, where he and his wife own two other bars. They used to own five there. He said he won’t miss the 15-hour flights he used to make every month. “I’m 77 and it’s time I stopped.”
James Gregory, 42, plans to marry an Irish woman whose family also owns bars in Ireland, then take a long break and decide whether to return to Florida or stay in Ireland.
He declined to reveal the sale price other than to say “it’s a nice high figure.”