Sligo, a beloved pub in Davis Square, closes its doors
SOMERVILLE — Devoted patrons of Sligo Pub crammed shoulder to shoulder in the dim, narrow Davis Square watering hole Sunday to bid farewell to the 75-year-old family establishment on its final day of business, but also to mourn the demise of the neighborhood dive bar.
“It is the only bar in Somerville that is in tune with the actual square,” said Henry Lima, 47, a lifelong resident of Somerville and a Sligo customer since he was old enough to drink. “The eclectic-ness, the diversity, the small-business way of life is represented here. It’s inviting and shows just pure love for the people and culture of the square.
“You can tell by everybody that’s here, the outpouring of love for Sligo Pub,” Lima said. “This is one of the greatest bars that ever existed.”
Lima, now a property manager, said that when he tended bar at the pub in 2013-14, it was “one of the best years of my life” and that the owner since 1989, Tom Mannion, was “a complete class act” who “loved his bartenders” and “made us feel like family.”
According to the pub’s website, Sligo Pub was named by former owners who immigrated from County Sligo in Ireland. The pub had previously been named Mahoney’s, and before that, Pat Connolley’s.
Tom Mannion’s two daughters, who have run the pub since his death in March 2022, did not give a reason in early May when they announced the pub would be closing “after careful consideration.” But the pub’s future at 237A Elm St. had been in question since its building was bought for nearly $10 million by student housing developer Scape in 2019.
Employees at businesses on either side of Sligo Pub said Sunday that their bosses had assured them they would not be affected by the development.
When Carissa Ryan, 31, and her husband, Jeff Matthews, 35, of Medford, got in line with their party of five at 10:20 a.m., about 20 others were already waiting for the pub to open.
Matthews, an engineer, said he went to Sligo Pub back in 2010.
“I used to live on the other side of that parking lot,” Matthews said, pointing out the back door.
“I’d literally rather see it be a hole in the ground than the luxury dorms they say it’s going to be,” Matthews said. “Somerville needs actual affordable housing, not luxury dorms.”
Matthews said he has watched beloved dive bars dwindle over the years from about 10 in the Boston area, to half a dozen, to now maybe just two: the Silhouette Lounge in Allston and Paddy’s Lunch near Porter Square in Cambridge.
Stephen Caron, 72, who grew up in Somerville and now lives in Arlington, said he has been frequenting Sligo’s since he turned 21.
It’s “the people” who make a place, Caron said, recalling names and faces that filled “so many memories.”
“These neighborhood bars, they’re no more,” Caron said. “The bartenders and the owners were fantastic, it’s a beautiful place, the people are gorgeous, and everybody gets along.”
Friends Lisa Brodeur, 28, of Medford, and Emily Kenney, 29, of Somerville, joked that they liked to bring first dates to Sligo “to test them out.”
On the serious side, they said they were sad to see Sligo come to a close.
“It takes a lot of community and effort to make a place like this exit. So when it goes away, it’s hard to replace,” Brodeur said.
Kenney added: “You’re taking a piece of history. You can’t renovate history.”