Closed pub gets new lease on life
New owner says he wants to re-open former Doherty’s Pub
PAWTUCKET – A new craft beer and burger restaurant will resurrect the space that was left vacant after Doherty’s East Avenue Irish Pub closed earlier this year.
Matthew McCreavy of Warwick, the former general manager of Doherty’s, is hopeful to open Craft Burger & Beer, or “Craft B&B,” at 342 East Ave. within the next three weeks. The Board of License Commissioners on Wednesday night gave their unanimous seal of approval to the new restaurant that will occupy the space of the legendary east-side haunt.
“When it closed, I was out of work, but I saw potential in the place,” McCreavy said. “I saw the good times and I was here for the bad. I wanted to go with it.”
“It was a very successful business and I still think it has a lot of potential,” he said. “We’re looking to reopen it. Some of the things we could improve upon – the menu was very big, I just thought a smaller menu, condense it to the burgers – is something I thought we could work out.”
Doherty’s, an institution in Pawtucket since opening its doors in October 2006, was a consistent winner in Rhode Island Monthly’s “Best of Rhode Island.” Doherty’s ceased its operations on July 31 after filing for bankruptcy. The East Avenue pub set itself apart from other local watering holes for its extensive lineup of beers, which included 83 draft lines, two cask ale lines, and more than 80 bottled beers.
According to court records, the pub’s operators, DIP Inc., doing business as Doherty’s East Avenue Irish Pub, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last October. It was converted to Chapter 7 liquidation in July.
Aside from aesthetic changes to the interior, one of the most notable changes to Craft B&B from Doherty’s, McCreavy said, will be the menu. He said things have been “simplified a little bit … I feel when it was Doherty’s, it was changing its direction. I wanted to refocus, refocus our menu around burgers … We’ve trimmed it down – less appetizers, less entrees, we’ll focus on the quality of meat and chicken and burgers.”
Asample Craft B&B menu includes six appetizers – nachos, pretzel bites, potato chips with onion dip, chicken fingers, fried pickles, and sliders. It also features entree salads, sandwiches such as pulled pork or veal pastrami, plates including shepherd’s pie and fish and chips, specialty burgers, and the option to build your own burger.
McCreavy said he’s contacted at least 10 former Doherty’s employees, all of whom are Pawtucket residents, who will begin working at Craft B&B when it opens. He said that sort of familiarity will bring with it stability to the new business.
“I know what my expectations of them are, they know what their expectations of me are, I’ve worked with them in the past … A lot of the regulars really loved the staff, we’ve had five people working for over 15 years,” he said.
The commissioners on Wednesday night approved Craft B&B’s license unanimously, but with two stipulations after questions were raised from concerned neighbors. The first, that a fence be erected in the rear before the restaurant opens and also that a dialogue be established with a resident about a separate fence that was at Doherty’s until three years ago.
Craft B&B will be open only for dinner Monday through Thursday, lunch and dinner on Fridays, and brunch on weekends.