Irish Pub to Open in Square

Culturally diverse Harvard Square may boast multiple Indian restaurants, yuppie coffee shops, and chic bars. But ironically enough, in what is perhaps America’s most Irish city, the Square is not home to a tavern with a uniquely Gaelic bent, one with Guinness on tap and corned beef and cabbage on your plate.

That will change this fall, when Tommy Doyles Irish Pub opens shop in Harvard Square. It may start serving as soon as September, pending renovations to its home-to-be at 96 Winthrop St.

The space, formerly home to the House of Blues and ill-fated barbecue restaurant Brother Jimmy’s, will undergo renovations costing up to an estimated $1 million before Tommy Doyles opens.

“As you can see if you’ve ever been inside, the building has been in a complete state of disrepair for the last number of years,” owner H. Finbar Griffin, 33, said with his lilting Irish brogue. “There’s a lot of fundamental work that has to be done.”

The pub will occupy the first and second floors, with live entertainment likely on the second, Griffin said. A gourmet pizzeria owned and operated by Griffin—and perhaps a few business partners—will fill the basement.

“We’re very much an Irish pub compared to any other Irish pub in the area,” said Griffin, a native of Dublin. He is banking on creating an ambience that will be part Irish, part Harvardian, to distinguish Tommy Doyles from its Square competition.

“There’s very little character in [Harvard Square] bars,” Griffin said. “I’m not going to name names, but there’s nothing on the walls and nothing to give kind of a historic flavor.”

The vision for Tommy Doyles is a place where patrons can bask under the portraits of tweedy alumni while quaffing their pints.

“We’re kind of a museum-type bar. There would be over 1000 items on the walls, ranging from past people who went to Harvard to Irish politics, sports, and music.”

Griffin is unconcerned by the rapid turnover the Winthrop St. location has seen recently. Tommy Doyles will be the third bar and restaurant to occupy the location in three years.

“Coming into the area, we’re virgins as far as how we’re going, the kind of student body,” Griffin said. Tommy Doyles, which has two other locations in greater Boston and is planning to open a fourth in addition to the new Square location, has experience with student clientele from its Kendall location, near MIT.

For one Irish student at Harvard, Tommy Doyles’ popularity will depend on factors other than its faithful replication of the Irish pub aesthetic.

“Pubs in Ireland, specifically around the Dublin area, are extremely expensive and generally not worth it, unless you have unlimited access to money. So in some ways pub life is slowly dying here,” James A. Powers ’08, who is from Greystones, Ireland, wrote in an e-mail. “Providing the new pub in Harvard is not so picky on carding, it will be welcome.”

While consultants from the old House of Blues will help Tommy Doyles ease into its new location, Griffin stressed that he is not deviating substantially from a business with a good track record in its Kendall Square location.

“Our menu is what our menu is. We’ll be running the same menu we do in our Cambridge locations and Newton,” Griffin said. “We’re not going to compromise quality to get a three- or four-dollar burger on the table.”

Tommy Doyles’ menu offers an eclectic mix of pub food, from burgers and fajitas to calamari, salads, and egg-heavy brunches. True to its roots, the restaurant also features Irish stew, corned beef and cabbage, shepherd’s pie, and bangers and mash. Entrees are generally priced at $8-15.

“We’re middle of the road. You get good quality food and you get good quality service, which you also don’t seem to get much of in Harvard Square at the moment,” Griffin said. The Kendall location offers 12 beers on tap—including the ever-popular Guinness, which sells “very well,” according to a hostess there.

The Harvard Square Business Association did not return requests for comment.

—Staff writer Samuel C. Scott can be reached at sscott@fas.harvard.edu.