 |
||||||||
 |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Reborn, Celtic style
By SHARON L. BOND, Neighborhood Times Business Editor ST. PETE BEACH -- When the barkeep pulls the last draft of Guinness from a tap at the Harp & Thistle today, it won't be just the end of another Sunday. It will signal the last glass to be served at the Irish pub at 650 Corey Ave. But the magnet for lovers of Guinness and folk music from Ireland and Scotland isn't gone for good. The name of the pub and all of its contents have been sold to an undisclosed buyer, who is expected to reopen the 18-year tradition. The offer for the name and contents didn't come until last week, so for a while it looked as if the closing today would be for good. An auction of decorations and memorabilia was to take up most of the evening tonight. Regular customers already had put dibs on the church pew from St. Patrick's Cathedral in Detroit and the dart board hanging in the back with its adjoining slate scoreboard. Once the deal was struck, however, the auction was canceled and the evening that will stretch to 2 a.m. was rechristened a celebration. The new Harp & Thistle site is not yet chosen but probably will be on St. Pete Beach, said Pat Packer, who with her family owned the pub for 18 years. "We are absolutely delighted that somebody else wants to carry on the legacy of the Harp & Thistle Pub," said Mrs. Packer last week as she prepared for the closing today, the last day of the Parting Glass Party Weekend. She would not reveal the identity of the buyers of the pub name and contents or how much they paid. Her daughter Jennifer Packer, who manages the pub, said the buyers were a group of local investors who had bought other restaurants and were successful with them. Pat Packer said she and her daughter will help the new owners get the reborn Harp & Thistle started. The building that houses the pub, which looks like a double-wide with a deck at the end facing the Gulf of Mexico across Sunset Way, was sold to a separate buyer two months ago. Mrs. Packer also declined to name that buyer or the selling price. Real estate broker Don Taylor, who works with Realty Executives in Treasure Island, was involved with both deals and said the buyers wished to remain anonymous. He said the new Harp & Thistle should open sooner rather than later, but he did not have a precise timetable. Mrs. Packer speculated it would be in some existing building on St. Pete Beach. Taylor said those who purchased the name and contents are getting all the goodwill established by the Packers over the years. "It's the business entity of the Harp & Thistle. That is what is being sold instead of strictly the name," he said. That includes draft Guinness, among other beverages, and a limited menu of "Misty Isles" entrees such as shepherd's pie and Cornish pasty, among others. Pat Packer said the music and camaraderie are big draws. Her family has gotten to know many of the regulars as friends, almost family. Tacked up in different areas around the interior last week were birthday and anniversary greetings to customers. A photograph of Lucky Dog occupies a special place. He is a 13-year-old Dalmatian who drinks Guinness. He can't come in the pub but spends time on the outdoor deck. A wedding was planned for Saturday night for two of the regular humans. Kim Westerfield of Clearwater got married at the Harp & Thistle in 1997. She said she and her husband Robert wore Renaissance costumes that seem to fit in well with the Celtic atmosphere at the Harp & Thistle, which they frequented for the music. The Packers arranged for a bagpiper to play the wedding march for the Westerfields. The couple and the piper have their photograph on the wall in the pub. "We were their first wedding," said Westerfield, 29, who is a recording specialist at the Pinellas County Clerk's office. "The only pub I actually go to is the Harp & Thistle. I'm not that big a drinker," said Westerfield, who said she is fond of the music. She visited earlier this month to say her goodbyes and was glad to hear this week the pub will reopen elsewhere. Mrs. Packer said she and her husband Bob started the Harp & Thistle in 1984, coming down from Detroit where they had a 5-year-old Irish pub. Their daughter Jennifer moved here first and told her parents there wasn't an Irish pub to be seen on the beaches. "Epcot was the first place you could have Guinness," Jennifer Packer said. The Packers decided to create a pub from a beach hangout. They were warned it wouldn't work. "You can't make an Irish pub out of a beach bar," Jennifer Packer said they were told. But they proved the doubters wrong. "We had 18 years. That is a good run." St. Patrick's Day always was a big celebration at the Harp & Thistle. Mrs. Packer said the pub put up temporary tents to handle the huge crowds every year. On Sept. 17, there was a party to celebrate the halfway point to the Irish holiday. Bob Packer died last year, and his widow said she decided in the spring after the enormous St. Patrick's Day celebration that she had to sell the bar. It was too much to handle, she said. "Somebody was in here taking a video of everything on the walls," Mrs. Packer said of the new owners. "They have asked our entertainment to be part of the new facility. That is what we want to recreate, the family feel we have established."
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111 
|
From the Times South Pinellas desks Letters |
