Kildare’s Irish Pub closes days before St. Patrick’s Day

Revelers’ plans to eat corned beef and listen to Irish music at Kildare’s Irish Pub on St. Patrick’s Day came to a halt when the Franklin Street restaurant closed unexpectedly on Thursday.

The sudden closure surprised customers and employees alike.

Andrew Dawson, who took over as managing partner of the Chapel Hill Kildare’s in February, said he found out it was closing while driving to work on Thursday morning.

He got a call from one of the restaurant’s cooks who said the landlord was changing the building’s locks.

“It was all new to me. I didn’t know any of this was going on,” Dawson said.

He said the owners of Kildare’s were delinquent on rent payments to the landlord, who decided to reclaim the space despite the pub’s attempts to remain open through St. Patrick’s Day.

“It was a shock to us that the doors at Kildare’s Chapel Hill were going to be closed a few days before St. Patrick’s Day,” Kildare’s owner and CEO Dave Magrogan said in an email.

He said the restaurant’s sales had suffered since construction began on the nearby 140 West development in March 2011.

“Two years of construction at the 140 West Franklin project, which restricted vehicle and pedestrian traffic, combined with the elimination of our parking, dramatically impacted our sales and made it difficult to meet our rent obligations,” Magrogan said.

“Our landlord worked with us for a considerable amount of time but finally decided to protect his rights and reclaim the space.”

Magrogan also apologized for inconveniencing customers.

UNC senior Allison O’Toole, a regular at Kildare’s, was planning to celebrate her birthday with friends at the pub on Friday.

Unaware it had closed, she found an empty restaurant when she arrived.

“I guess we’re going to have to find a new place to hang out,” she said. “It’s a shame. It’s a really good place for Chapel Hill.”

She and her friends walked down the street to eat at Carolina Brewery instead.

In February, Kildare’s announced plans for Dawson to become the new franchisee, although the transaction had not yet been finalized.

“We were excited to re-launch the location with our new managing partner Andrew Dawson once the major construction was complete and parking was restored,” Magrogan said.

“Ultimately it was not our decision to close, and we tried to resolve the balance with our landlord with no success.”

The company is now offering refunds to customers who bought Kildare’s gift cards or St. Patrick’s Day VIP passes.

Contact the desk editor at city@dailytarheel.com.