Molly Maguire’s Irish pub, named after Maguire’s Hill 16, coming to Fort Lauderdale

Three years and two months ago, the final foamy pint of Guinness was served, the last batch of shepherd’s pie was eaten and the bagpipes played a mournful dirge in the dim dining room of a dying Maguire’s Hill 16.

Although the Fort Lauderdale institution shut down in January 2017, another new Irish pub sharing its name is coming to Fort Lauderdale: Molly Maguire’s Pub and Eatery, slated to open this September in the rising Sistrunk Boulevard area.

At 3,240 square feet, the pub comes from co-owners James Campbell and Arthur Duffy (yes, both Irish), and will rise in the Shoppes at Arts Avenue strip mall at 550 NW Seventh Ave. Here’s what Molly Maguire’s will be: old-school, with warm wood-paneled walls, Guinness on draft, Celtic mythology glass art and a classic menu including shepherd’s pie.

Here’s what Molly Maguire’s won’t be: a reincarnation of Maguire’s Hill 16. Former owners Jim and James Gregory aren’t involved with the pub. No former employees are affiliated, either. Not one of Maguire’s Hill 16’s recipes, brass-bar seating booths or stained-glass pub lights has been recycled.

Only the name – Maguire’s – has been salvaged.

“We just wanted to replicate the mood, the ambiance and the friendliness, which is what makes an Irish pub great,” says Campbell, also co-chair of Fort Lauderdale’s annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade. “Everyone knew Maguire’s. It was the closest you got to a real Ireland pub, a place for travelers to feel at home, a piece of the old country far from the old country. We wanted to pay homage to it. We wanted to make sure the friendly atmosphere was going to be carried on.”

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Molly Maguire’s, which also shares its name with a 19th century secret society still active in Ireland, will go under construction in late February, Campbell says. The restaurateur plans to submit final design plans to the city next week and expects four months of construction.

The new Molly Maguire's Pub and Eatery will open this fall in the Shoppes at Arts Avenue plaza along Sistrunk Boulevard. (Fort Lauderdale CRA / Courtesy)

Last August Campbell’s restaurant group, Florida Irish Hospitality, filed for a $500,000 loan from Fort Lauderdale’s Community Redevelopment Agency for build-out costs, with a total budget of roughly $1.43 million. The city approved the loan last September.

Campbell says Molly Maguire’s won’t try to copycat the other Maguire’s menu, but it will add modern flourishes, including portobello mushroom vegan burgers, wild Irish quail with fingerling potatoes and Bailey’s Irish Cream mousse. Traditional Irish staples will include a full Irish breakfast, blood pudding, and codfish and chips. American comfort food will include hamburgers, steaks and French fries.

“Twenty years ago people thought of Irish food as shepherd’s pie, or bacon and potatoes, but things have modernized,” Campbell says. “We’re getting artisanal cheeses made in farmhouses in Cork and County Kerry.”

Campbell, who runs sightseeing yacht and bus tours for Fort Lauderdale tourists in his day job, says he wants to bring another piece of Europe to his pub. He’s planning to buy a British double-decker bus, which will connect Molly Maguire’s east to Fort Lauderdale’s New River.

“We’re going to be a destination bar like the old Maguire’s,” Campbell says. “Irish travelers will come here. Tourists will come here. That’s all you need for success. That and a pint of Guinness.”