Just in time for St. Patrick’s Day, Old Town Wichita is getting a new Irish pub
St. Patrick’s Day is almost here, so the owners of Wichita’s newest Irish pub decided they’d better get their doors open.
The only thing is — the business isn’t quite ready. But owners Brent Steven and Brad Steven say they really wanted to open their O’Larney’s Pub and Rooftop Bar in time for greenest of holidays and the arrival of the NCAA tournament next week. So this weekend, they’ll be offering a bit of a sneak preview.
The pub, which is taking over the space at 126 N. Mosley that was occupied by night club Industry Old Town until the brothers closed it in December, will open its doors at 3 p.m. on Saturday to welcome St. Patrick’s Day revelers. It’ll stay open until 2 a.m.
Then, on Monday — the actual St. Patrick’s Day — O’Larney’s will open again from 3 p.m. until 2 a.m.
After Monday, the business won’t reopen until Thursday, when NCAA Tournament first- and second-rounds start at Intrust Bank Arena. The following week, O’Larney’s will start its regular hours: 4 p.m. to 2 a.m. Wednesdays through Sundays. It will be closed Mondays and Tuesdays.
When it first opens this weekend, O’Larney’s won’t much resemble what people will see in about a month, Brad Steven said. The owners are planning to renovate the downstairs space by adding lots of custom woodwork and old-world touches, but that isn’t quite done yet.
They’re also planning to serve food. The kitchen also will be ready in about a month and will serve Irish-themed foods like pretzels with beer cheese, shepherd’s pie, Irish nachos, corned beef sandwiches and Reubens. It will also offer wings and pizzas.
“We’re noticing that a lot of Irish pubs, even in Ireland, are doing wings and pizza now,” Brad Steven said.
The rooftop bar that was a popular feature of Industry will remain, though the owners have cleaned it up and added more furniture to the open-air space.
Brad Steven said the brothers, who have owned the building the bar will occupy since 2007, decided that they no longer wanted to run it as a night club.
“We played around with ideas a million times,” he said. “My initial thought process was, ‘I don’t feel like the club scene is really a thing anymore unless you’re in a big city.”
They instead envision O’Larney’s as a place where people of all ages gather to have a Guinness and a bite to eat or watch a soccer game. The business will be soccer focused, he said, and it may open earlier when Premier League matches are on.
The bar will have live music on the weekends and karaoke on Wednesdays. It’ll have DJs later at night, but they won’t be club-style DJs — “just someone playing music,” Brad Steven said.
The brothers chose the name O’Larney’s as an ode to the Wichita street they grew up on: Killarney Street. But “O’Killarney’s” was too much of a mouthful, so they decided to just shorten it.
An Irish pub fits in perfectly with Old Town’s historic vibe and brick-lined streets, Brad Steven said, and the brothers hope it’s a business that will last for a long time.
“Irish pubs usually stay around forever, so we thought that was the best fit,” he said.
The Steven brothers also own Vora Restaurant European, The Hill Bar & Grill and Wine Dive restaurants in Wichita, Lawrence and Manhattan. Their restaurant group also owns eight Twin Peaks restaurants in Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Arkansas.
.jpg)