McGregor’s Public House has completed a major expansion at Bell Tower in south Fort Myers, adding a larger dining room, expanded kitchen and a new neighboring coffee concept, Oak & Vine Celtic Cafe.
McGregor’s Public House expanded nearly three years after first opening at Bell Tower in south Fort Myers.
The restaurant has a new dining room, a new bar framed by hand-carved ornamental wood, a dark green paint scheme and plenty of visuals — including a perpetual live view of the scene outside The Temple Bar in downtown Dublin, Ireland — that set the scene of an authentic Irish pub.
The entrance to Oak & Vine Celtic Cafe welcomes customers at Bell Tower in south Fort Myers. Owner Tom McGregor launched the coffee shop as part of a broader expansion of his neighboring Irish pub.
David Dorsey
But owner Tom McGregor also opened a second, new business. Just next door to McGregor’s new entrance at 13499 S. Cleveland Ave., Suite III, a few doors down from Dave & Buster’s, is Oak & Vine Celtic Cafe. The cafe opens at 7 a.m. and closes at 5 p.m. It serves coffee, lattes, espresso and more to pair with a breakfast menu.
McGregor’s Public House opens for lunch at 11 a.m. and closes at 11 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 1 a.m. Friday and Saturday, and 9 p.m. Sunday.
McGregor has Irish roots. His grandparents were both born in County Derry, Northern Ireland. Tom and Meagan McGregor honeymooned there in 2012.
“I think it’s an authentic place,” McGregor said of the pub. “It’s always been my goal for my 20-plus years in the business. People see it. People feel it here.”
By leasing a space that had been vacant since women’s clothing store Cache closed in 2015, McGregor also acquired enough room to expand his kitchen to about five times its original size. That has allowed him to tweak the menu while staying faithful to the original offerings. There’s still no fryer, so no fish and chips on the menu — yet.
A hand-carved wooden back bar serves as the centerpiece of the expanded McGregor’s Public House at Bell Tower in south Fort Myers. The renovation added a larger dining area, expanded kitchen and one of the area’s largest selections of Irish whiskey.
David Dorsey
“We’re working on a way to do fish and chips,” McGregor said.
In the meantime, the menu remains distinctly Irish, featuring spuds (loaded baked potatoes), pasties and entrees such as Salmon McCool, a salmon dish served with mashed spuds and a lemon-parsley cream sauce; Hoggin’ Molly, made with two Irish sausages, mashed spuds, garlic-roasted purple cabbage, Guinness onion gravy and Kerrygold butter; and Irish Gnocchi-Noff, which combines potato gnocchi, braised pot roast, garlic-herb mushrooms, Guinness onion gravy, Dubliner Irish cheddar and sour cream. Entrees range from $19 to $27.
“We didn’t want to have a sports-bar-ish menu,” McGregor said. “It’s just never been us. We’ve built a new kitchen, and we’re sticking to our guns on that.”
The bar has 20 beers on tap, including Irish staples Guinness, Smithwick’s, Harp, Magners Irish Cider and Magners Peach Cider. Above the taps is what McGregor claimed to be the largest assortment of Irish whiskey in town. Those include Redbreast aged 27 years.
The restaurant has expanded from 1,600 square feet to about 4,800 square feet, adding roughly 3,200 square feet while keeping the original space — and its bar, formerly a World of Beer — open.
“We missed a lot of customers who were looking for a dining room,” McGregor said. “We designed this interior to have what we didn’t have over there.”
Adding Oak & Vine served two purposes. That space came with additional kitchen space in the back to serve the expanded capacity.
“We would have added 80 to 100 seats and not increased the kitchen size,” McGregor said.
But also: “I came into the hospitality business through coffee. I got into bartending through coffee. I kept coming back to coffee. Let’s do something that supports the mission here. I just felt like a coffee shop would fit.”
Oak & Vine Celtic Cafe recently opened alongside McGregor’s Public House at Bell Tower in south Fort Myers. The new concept serves coffee, espresso drinks and breakfast items daily from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.
David Dorsey
The proximity to two hotels, with a third under construction, and no coffee competition at Bell Tower helped McGregor make that decision, he said.
“We’ve got the space,” he said. “Let’s give it a try. We’re not competing against Vybe, Tap 42 or Burntwood Tavern at 9 in the morning. We have a whole new place for people to come and fall in love with us, essentially.”
And then there’s the new bar. McGregor enlisted Oregon-based Heartwood Carving to create the wooden framing around it.
Fort Myers-based tech company Vimu assisted with installing the restaurant’s technology.
Fowler Construction & Development completed the interior work.
McGregor said he spent between $600,000 and $700,000 on the project.
“We’ve got a backbone of regulars who keep us afloat,” McGregor said. “People take the time to put on our T-shirts and wave to us on the camera from Temple Bar in Dublin. You can’t buy that. That’s special.”