Murphy’s is Dead! Long Live Murphy’s!

Murphy’s, the oldest Irish pub in Seattle, is closed! Don’t despair, though, it’s coming back, under new ownership.

I spoke with Paddy O’Brien, one of the three partners who bought the bar from Vipul Shah (who has owned it since 2003), about his plans:

Paddy O’Brien: It’ll be changing from a sports bar to a music venue. We’ll of course have sports and whatnot on in the background during down times, but we’re going to be featuring live Irish music during dinner, five nights a week, then bar music late night a couple nights a week. You won’t hear anything but irish music playing overhead until after 10 o’clock at night.

Wallyhood: What about the bar itself? You’ve got some remodeling going on.

PO’B: Changing it to be more of a typical Irish pub, a real Irish pub. We’ll be changing the booths, updating the lighting and taking down some of the clutter.

Around the country, Irish pubs tend to become sports bars, because it’s easier to turn on TV’s than pay musicians. But our goal is for when people walk in the front door, they say wow this is different. That’s the idea.

I’m a native, Murphy’s has been here for ever, it was the only Irish pub for a long time, so no point in trying to change the name, it would just be the “Old Murphy’s”, anyway. So it will stay Murphy’s, but we’ll be catering to a different crowd. We want to take our demographic and expand it. Kids to senior citizens. Everyone loves an Irish Pub. My customers are going to be the ones who want to talk philosophy over a pint of Guinness, instead of throw darts over a PBR.

W: What about the deck? It’s such a wasted resource, hidden away back there.

PO’B: I don’t want to say too much about that. There may be permitting issues, but, yeah, decks are great. But we’ll be redoing the kitchen for sure, expanding all new equipment. We’ll be serving Irish fare, but Americanized, so it’s good. Irish food can be a bit bland. People will buzz about our food, that’s really going to be a draw here. The old Murphy’s just didn’t have the ability to do food, with the layout.

When you go into pubs in Ireland, there are kids all over the place, it’s a family gathering place. We’ll be kid-friendly until 9ish, when it turns into a bar. We want to have a place where parents can come have a few pints, eat some food, and enjoy some music and conversation. Kids love Irish music, it’s all tap and dance.

W: When’s opening day?

PO’B: We’re three weeks out, maybe four. I don’t want to make promises and then break them, and there’s lots to do. I’d love to be ready by the end of this month, or early in January. We’ll open quietly when we do, try to get our feet under us and the do a big bash, pipes and drums, when we’re ready. That’s the plan.

W: You’re not new to the Irish pub business, yourself, are you?

PO’B: No, not at all. My parents owned restaurants when I was growing up, so I started working with them, bussing tables, when I was 11. They owned that for about 30 years. Then, I started A Terrible Beauty [an Irish bar, that eventually expanded to three locations] with my now ex-wife, so I did what I was talking about, except on a much larger scale. I left that business and haven’t been involved there in any way for several years, though.

I’m starting this with Eamonn Davey, who was born in Belfast, and moved to the States about six years ago. He was a bar manager for me before, and he’ll be the bar manager here at Murphy’s.

W: So, will we see any of the old staff at the new Murphy’s?

PO’B: That’s still fluid. They’ve all been told to come talk with me if they’d like to come aboard. But I’ll be bringing my own crew, three bartenders who speak Irish. Heh, well, speak with an Irish accent. Speaking Irish means you can’t understand them.

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In a poetic twist, Paddy was once a sales rep for Diner Ware, a company that sold touch software for bars, which is how he met Vipul Shah originally. He tells me he was there on the first day Shah owned Murphy’s, when he was training the staff, and he was there on the last day, as well.

As for Shah, he continues to operate Pizzeria Picolinos in Ballard, as well as act as CFO elsewhere. He tells me that he’s pulling back a bit to spend more time with his family after going through some eye-opening hardships, but plans to return to related businesses again in the future.