A beer connoisseur’s haven, whose operator has years of experience
running New York City nightspots and has tight ties to The Wellmont
Theatre’s management, could move into the former site of the Rascals
Comedy Club on Bloomfield Avenue.
Sean McGarr, of Millburn, who operated New York’s Webster Hall for more
than a decade and was involved in resurrecting the Wellmont as a live-
show venue, aims to open his third Village Pourhouse bar/restaurant at the
ex-Rascals location.
McGarr believes a business strategy he has used successfully in
Manhattan, opening clubs and bars near busy, established music venues,
will also prove effective in Montclair.
One of his Manhattan bars, Vintage Irving, is directly across the street
from the concert venue The Fillmore New York at Irving Plaza.
Another of his establishments, one of New York’s two Village Pourhouses,
is across from Webster Hall, and that pub has a symbiotic relationship
with the performance space. Concertgoers have dinner in the restaurant
before shows and stop there for drinks afterward, McGarr said. There have
also been promotions where audience members receive free drink tickets
to the Pourhouse during shows at the hall, he said.
McGarr’s connection with Webster Hall extends back to his graduation
from Boston’s Northeastern University, when he started working for OutQ,
an ad agency that established a co-op for non-competitive nightclubs to
pool money and buy radio ads announcing their event calendars. The
company advertised heavily on popular radio stations such as WKTU and
Z100, McGarr said.
He handled the advertising and marketing programs of major clubs and
ballrooms, including Webster Hall, and the hall’s managers later
approached McGarr about founding a record label.
In time, McGarr rose to be one of the four partners who owned Webster
Hall, and he was its operating partner for 11 years until he sold his shares
two years ago.
The venue was the largest of the three performance spaces run by the
Bowery Presents, which recently took over the Wellmont.
While McGarr and the other top Bowery operators were in the midst of
bringing back Montclair’s theater on the corner of Seymour Street and
Bloomfield Avenue, he saw the potential to open another satellite
restaurant and bar at the Rascals site, he said.
McGarr is hoping that, if he can open a Village Pourhouse in Montclair,
then it will have a similar and mutually beneficial partnership with the
Wellmont, and he anticipates offering discounts on food to concertgoers
before and after shows, he said.
Montclair is one of three New Jersey locations where McGarr, who moved
back to Millburn after college and resides with his family on the same
street where he grew up, hopes to open another three Pourhouses. He is
also looking at Red Bank and Morristown as potential locales. Farther
down the road, he hopes to extend the chain to Philadelphia.
Tom Lonergan, executive director of the Montclair Center Business
Improvement District, said the idea of welcoming a Pourhouse into
Montclair "would be a homerun. We’d love to have them. The Pourhouse
has a great reputation, and it seems like the perfect addition to our
restaurant base."
About the possible co-promotion between the Wellmont and the bar,
Lonergan said, "It’s evident that the owners recognize just how popular of a
destination Montclair Center has become for fine dining and great nightlife,
and it sounds like they would like to be part of our ever-growing family."
On Monday, McGarr said he was in talks about a 20-year lease with Dick
Grabowsky, owner of the Rascals site.
Grabowsky told The Times on Tuesday that the deal is still under
discussion, and he would not comment unless a lease is signed. He noted
that McGarr is one of "any number of interested parties that we are in
heavy negotiations with" about the space.
If a deal is signed, then the new Village Pourhouse would be divided into
several "identities," McGarr said. The main room’s setting would be
reminiscent of a century-old English pub, where the soundtrack would
consist of rock ‘n’ roll and the bar would be stocked with about 100 beers,
26 of which would be on tap.
"We are looking to support local breweries" and small producers of "craft
beers," McGarr said, adding that the Pourhouse would be "a good place to
experience beer."
The restaurant would offer promotions enabling patrons to sample brews
from various international locations and "try new things without spending a
lot of money," he said. The restaurant would also have two other rooms
with different themes, including a downstairs lounge.
Comedy would also return to the site.
McGarr said he planned to sublease the 450-seat upstairs area to the
Catch A Rising Star comedy club, which has five locations nationwide.
To deal with the parking demand, McGarr said the Pourhouse would offer
valet parking. He said he has reached out to Herod Church Street Holding
Company LLC, which owns the Church Street Parking Lot, and to other
owners of parking areas in the Central Business District about parking cars
in their lots.
Should a contract be signed within the next few weeks, November would
be the anticipated opening date.