When Derry man Paul Crilly became a bar owner, some questioned whether his Morrissey’s Irish Pub would last six months, especially given the history of shortlived bars and restaurants in its space on West Lake Street in Minneapolis.

The location, 913 W. Lake St., had been the home to a number of ventures including Favor Cafe, Restaurant Miami and Restaurant Viva Brazil.

Two years and many 70 to 100-hour work weeks later, Paul (pictured above) and his three partners will celebrate the Lyn-Lake neighbourhood tavern’s second anniversary tomorrow. 

In May, they will expand into a neighbouring spot with a tea and coffee room.

Paul moved to the US in the late 1980s, first living in Boston doing construction work before settling in New York City where his brother, like their grandfather, tended bar. He helped Paul find a job.

With a hotel and tourism management qualification gained on this side of the Atlatic, he fell in love with the lifestyle. 

While working in a Midtown steakhouse, he befriended Dermot Cowley, who now owns O’Donovan’s Pub in downtown Minneapolis and Jake O’Connor’s in Excelsior.

“We used to pretend we were gravediggers when we were chatting up the girls,” Crilly told the Star Tribune. 

“It didn’t really work,” he admitted.

In 2001, Crilly followed Dermot to the Twin Cities and tended bar at O’Donovan’s before managing Jake O’Connors and eventually Kieran’s Irish Pub. 

During his stint at O’Donovan’s, he met two of his Morrissey’s partners: Roy Connaughton and Scott Schuler, who became a regular while opening the Seville Club next door. (A fourth partner in Morrissey’s, Guatam Pai, lives in California).

And the rest, as they say, is history.
 

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