On a busy Friday night, the challenge at Mary Margaret’s Olde Irish Tavern is not finding a good pint of Guinness. It is finding a place to sit, order dinner, or even make it to the restroom.
The downtown St. Pete pub is often filled shoulder to shoulder with live-music fans, soccer supporters, dinner guests, and late-night crowds.
Publican Pete Boland, who also co-owns The Galley and The Ship’s Hold, said the space has become so consistently busy that an expansion next door has shifted from a longtime idea into a necessity.
Mary Margaret’s, at 29 3rd Street North, will expand this winter into the neighboring Top Slice Pizzeria space.
The expansion marks a full-circle moment for Boland, whose grandmother, named Mary Margaret, operated a salon out of the Top Slice Pizzeria space back in the 1970s.
The Irish pub currently occupies about 1,600 square feet, and the 1,400-square-foot addition will more than double its seating capacity with roughly 50 new seats, a second 12-seat bar, more patio tables, and additional restrooms.
“We’re packed to the gills,” Boland said in a conversation with St. Pete Rising. “It’s become a logistical challenge. Where do I put empty kegs? Where do I put the beer? Where do I put people?”
Construction is expected to begin in early October, although the original Mary Margaret’s will remain open throughout the work.
Boland hopes to have the new space ready by Christmas, or at least before the pub’s seventh anniversary in February and the rush surrounding St. Patrick’s Day.