New Fort Myers pub opens with Irish flavor, music and beer at Bell Tower

Meagan McGregor is back on familiar ground.

At 3 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 1, she opened McGregor’s Public House with her husband Tom at Bell Tower in Fort Myers. It just so happens to be in the space previously occupied by World of Beer (WOB) where she was part of the management team for nine years.

“It’s a serendipitous moment,” Meagan said. “When the leasing agent said they were trying to find a tenant for the WOB space, our eyes lit up.”

The couple signed the lease in January, got the keys in February and had been “going forward as quickly as possible” ever since.

Tuesday’s opening is just the beginning of things to come.

“This is the first phase,” Meagan said. “We are not exactly sure how many phases we are going through.”

For starters, McGregor’s will be serving beer and wine for the first couple of weeks.

There are 19 taps inside and 20 on the patio, plus nearly 100 more beers in bottles and cans.

“It’s a mix of Irish imports, other styles of imports and a rotation of American craft beers," Meagan said. "We have a partnership beer with Palm City Brewing as a celebration of the opening — an Irish red. August is kind of a soft opening for us.”

Seltzers and non-alcoholic beer are available, along with sparkling, red and white wines from Italy, Chile, California, New Zealand and beyond.

Phase 2 to feature Irish food with a twist

While customers are enjoying beer and wine, the couple and their chef team of Micah Tedros and Christa Thurber will be working on the menu and seeing what can be done in the limited space.

“We will be testing food, but not offering items until we’ve ironed it all out,” Meagan said. “Our whole idea is to take traditional dishes you see in pubs, like shepherd’s and meat pies, and put a unique twist on them. Our chef team is super talented.”

One of those twists, according to Tedros, will include sharable shepherd's pies that fit into the palm of your hand.

Phase 2 comes in around the third week of August when food is added.

“We will have sharable pub food, sandwiches, salads," said Tedros, who has worked at Harold's, Table & Tap and Ford's Garage. Meagan said. “Everything we do, we will do well and with passion."

Liquor comes with phase 3

Expect phase 3 in mid-September.

“We will have a bigger grand opening then when liquor is added,” Meagan said. “Then we will be a full Irish pub.”

The McGregors, whose children are ages 6, 3 and 8 months, have been busy working on the space to give it a cozy, homey feel.

“It was already set up to be a bar so we didn’t do much there,” Meagan said. “It was redone when WOB took over for Bacchus (in 2011). We liked the brick and kept it. We painted, took out the old stage to get more kitchen space. It has the same look but a different vibe.

“It’s kind of an extension of our house — pictures I took, tchotchkes, plants, books. It has a pub feel.”

But the couple isn’t about to stop there.

More expanding, music coming soon

They plan on expanding into the unit behind McGregor’s which once housed Cache.

“We’ll eventually knock out the wall and add in the old retail space,” Meagan said. “We will have the entire breezeway area. The grand, grand opening will be when we have one complete space.”

Although the pair keep going back and forth on what exactly that space will become, they have an idea.

“We will definitely have a more dedicated live music space so we can feature bigger groups,” Meagan said. “Right now we are limited on the small side. And it will have a lounge-type feel with plusher furniture. We are gearing toward setting it up with community-style tables. We encourage people that if they see an empty chair, they sit there and make a friend. Ireland pubs do it that way.”

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Live music begins at Tuesday’s opener, with Ian Barksdale performing Irish tunes from 7-10 p.m.

“There will be at least one musician every day,” Meagan said.

With her WOB experience and Tom’s impressive resume (he was with the Kearns Restaurant Group at Ford’s Garage, was beverage director at Babcock Ranch and general manager at 10 Twenty Five in downtown Fort Myers), the couple certainly have the experience to pull it all off.

“It’s a little nerve-racking though,” Meagan said. “We know we will kill it in the small space, then we’ll expand. We are just ready for people to come say, ‘Hi,’ and have fun.”

McGregor’s Public House, 13499 S. Cleveland Ave., Fort Myers, at Bell Tower; open 3 p.m. to 1 a.m. daily beginning Tuesday, Aug. 1 (except Sunday, Aug.  6, when they will be closed); live music daily from 7-10 p.m.; mcgregorspublichouse.com; follow along on Facebook and Instagram

Robyn George is a food and dining writer for The Fort Myers News-Press. Send news to rhgeorge@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: What we know: McGregor's Public House opens in Fort Myers