“It closed as the Fireside on a Wednesday, we passed papers on Thursday and re-opened as the Claddagh Pub on Friday morning.”
Claddagh co-owner Brian Farrell on the restaurant’s lightning-speed transition

“My goal is, a month in, all the former Fireside regulars are coming in,” says Brian Farrell who, with his wife Karen, purchased and re-branded the popular Pelham Street restaurant from the Swerchesky family just days earlier.

“It was the fastest restaurant turnover you’ve ever seen. It closed as the Fireside on a Wednesday, we passed papers on Thursday and re-opened as the Claddagh Pub on Friday morning,” laughed Brian, who had operated the original Claddagh in Lawrence for three decades before closing in December 2023.

Brian embraced the golden rule of If It Ain’t Broke Don’t Fix it, leaving nearly every Fireside item on the updated menu, plus adding a few Irish favorites that the locals love.

Meanwhile, Tom Swerchesky notes: “I don’t have to work today – it’s a great day. It’s just that after 52 years here, I’m tired. But (Brian) kept 98 percent of the help.”

Only Tom, 73, his sister Pauline and Tom’s son Derek have punched out to spend long-overdue time with family, carve up the Vermont slopes in winter and golf in every other season. Pauline’s daughter Suzy has stayed on at the Claddagh.

A few months after a failed attempt by Scrub-a-Dub car wash to purchase the property, Tom vowed to keep the restaurant a restaurant and searched for a suitable buyer. Brian made an acceptable offer, then worked at the restaurant this past October to December to learn the Fireside way.

Says Tom, “He asked if he could use the word Fireside (on signage), but I told him I’d like the name to end with us. So him keeping the fireplace on his logo was a nice testament to me. I think we left a really good legacy.”

Meanwhile, back in the kitchen Brian and crew are fine-tuning the menu.

“There was a lot of overlap from my old Claddagh menu and the Fireside menu,” says Brian. “We took only a couple things off, and we can run those as specials. The Guinness beef stew is going gangbusters and the Reuben sandwiches are flying out the door.”

Add hand-cut fries, beer-battered onion rings and fish-and-chips to the “new or improved” file.

If the menu and staff look familiar, then so will the indoor appearance.

“I didn’t change a lot of the décor,” says Brian. “We’re using a few small pieces (from the former Claddagh) but there’s so many of the Fireside clientele that come here four or five days a week. I didn’t want to put them out for the sake of closing to put up decorations.”

Plans are in the works for the Irish high holiday on March 17. Brian is looking to book entertainment for the entire St. Patrick’s weekend and, if the weather is decent, you may see a giant function tent in the parking lot.