There will be some sort of St. Patrick’s Day party again at downtown Irish pub Harrington’s, and the Financial District bar that’s been closed for two-and-a-half years is mounting a crowdfunded comeback bid.
The 85-year-old Financial District Irish pub Harrington’s closed permanently in October 2020, bringing an end to a family-owned Irish pub fish-and-chips place that opened in 1935 and in recent years had been one of SF’s most popular St. Patrick’s Day destinations. (The bar is not to be confused with Civic Center’s Harry Harrington’s Pub, which also closed during the pandemic, and is now Shovels Bar and Grill). Even the website for the old Harrington’s Bar at Front and Sacramento Streets is now fully defunct, and has clearly turned into something else.
But there’s a new hope for Harrington’s, as the SF Business Times reports on a crowdfunding campaign to reopen Harrington’s under new ownership. Prospective new owner Ed Kim has started a Help Us Re-Open Harringtons crowdfunding campaign, to address the main financial obstacle of renewing and transferring the liquor license — because purchasing the license from the original owners will run around $200,000.
"We're going to do everything we can to reopen Harrington's, but there are some real costs that we really hope past and new patrons will support us in," Kim told the SF Business Times. "But it's been amazing so far. Any day we have the doors open while cleaning and fixing the place up, dozens of people will pop their heads in and share their stories."
The 245 Front Street building itself is still owned by the Harrington family, with Kim currently taking over renovations on a short-term lease. But this is no guarantee that Harrington’s will survive, as its current liquor license will expire at the end of May this year.
“We're raising $250K to make improvements and acquire the liquor license necessary to re-open Harrington's,” the crowdfunding page says. “A bulk of the funds will be used for the liquor license while any remaining funds will be used to fix and update the kitchen and bathrooms as well as the entry floor.”
They’ve apparently been running Friday happy hour events called Pub Sessions, with this past Friday having been the first that featured Grammy winner Tony Peebles. But that event was billed as a “Private, invite-only pub / jam session.”
And per the crowdfunding page, there will be a St. Patrick’s Day Pub Sessions event at Harrington’s, described as “St. Paddy's Celebration with live music (to be announced).” It’s unclear whether this will also be private or invite-only, but the Harrington’s Pub Sessions Instagram page is probably your best bet for updates on that.
Related: Kilowatt Has Reopened, Redesigned and Under New Ownership [SFist]
Image: Tony L. via Yelp
