At Mustang Harry\u2019s, it\u2019s all in the family.<\/p>\n
The longtime Midtown sports bar is celebrating its 30th anniversary \u2014 and owners Ian and Niall Conroy attribute the beloved watering hole\u2019s longevity to their efforts to form a tight community of regulars.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe run it like a family-run restaurant: our patrons have been friends over the years, and the ones that come in for lunch come in every week, multiple times a week,\u201d Ian, 63, told The Post ahead of the bar\u2019s anniversary celebration kickoff on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Brothers Ian (left) and Niall Conroy are celebrating 30 years of Mustang Harry\u2019s on Seventh Avenue. Robert Miller<\/p>\n
Opened in 1995, Mustang Harry\u2019s was inspired by the the bother\u2019s own family\u2019s pub in County Tipperary in Ireland \u2014 and the duo\u2019s own children have all held various positions on staff.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe treat everyone like they\u2019re family,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s as simple as that.\u201d<\/p>\n
A 1998 photo depicting an event at Mustang Harry\u2019s to benefit charities in Ireland for Down\u2019s Syndrome \u2014 featuring American actor Chris Burke (second from left) and Irish broadcaster Donncha \u00d3 D\u00falaing (second from right). Robert Miller<\/p>\n
The brothers will be holding a slew of celebrations over the weekend to honor its lasting status on Seventh Avenue, starting with a New York Rangers watch party, live music and giveaways \u2014 plus 1995 menu prices Friday and Saturday.<\/p>\n
Cocktails like White Russians and Greyhounds will run for $9, while brews like the \u201cHarry\u2019s Lager\u201d will start at 95 cents, the duo said.<\/p>\n
Mustang Harry\u2019s is celebrating 30 years in Midtown, Manhattan. Robert Miller<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a way of giving back to people. and making people feel [like it\u2019s a] home away from home \u2013 coming in here to relax. You start by putting a smile on their face,\u201d Niall, 60, told The Post. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a lot of staff members [that have worked] here for more than 20 years,\u201d Ian added, \u201cand they treat the customers the same way we treat them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bartender Robert Lianne, who has been working at Mustang Harry\u2019s for 26 years, shows off name plates for beloved barflies. Robert Miller<\/p>\n
The Conroy brothers recounted how over the year\u2019s the bar has gone through city tragedies like the Sept. 11 attacks and Hurricane Sandy in 2012.<\/p>\n
\u201c9\/11 was probably the first huge issue that we went through,\u201d Ian said. \u201c9\/11 changed things for everybody, [business] was slow, but then gradually we all got through it and we weathered that storm because the city came together.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Mustang Burger will be offered for $7 this weekend in honor of the bar\u2019s 30th birthday. Robert Miller<\/p>\n
The tavern served as a safe haven for neighbors during Hurricane Sandy to charge phones, use restrooms or simply sit down free-of-charge, the brothers recalled. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe were one of the few places that weren\u2019t affected by the loss of power,\u201d Ian said, \u201cso we put a sign outside the door and just invited anybody who needed to come in \u2026 that\u2019s Irish hospitality.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The pandemic served as the latest challenge for the business owners \u2013 and one that hasn\u2019t fully stopped affecting them.<\/p>\n
\u201cLunch still hasn\u2019t gotten to where it was,\u201d Ian lamented, adding that Mustang Harry\u2019s sister location, Mustang Sally\u2019s, was a victim of the pandemic. \u201cPeople are still working from home\u2013 but the trajectory is still moving in the right direction.\u201d<\/p>\n
The tavern served as a safe haven for neighbors during Hurricane Sandy to charge phones, use restrooms or simply sit down free-of-charge, the brothers recalled. Robert Miller<\/p>\n
The brothers are still working on building up their lunch crowd as more Midtown workers return to office buildings five years later, Ian said. In the meantime, they are sustained by dozens of weekday regulars for lunch and hundreds that flock to the tavern for evening hockey and basketball games.<\/p>\n
\u201cA big part of [our success] is Madison Square Garden \u2014 MSG has no idea how many businesses they help in the area, we\u2019re one of them,\u201d Ian said, noting earlier this year that the New York Knicks\u2019 success helped to give Mustang Harry\u2019s a much-needed boost.<\/p>\n
Of all the Midtown watering holes, the Conroys affirm theirs is a favorite among basketball, football and hockey fans alike.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think you retain the Irishness,\u201d Niall said of what makes the bar unique. \u201cIt\u2019s an American bar, but with Irish hospitality.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At Mustang Harry\u2019s, it\u2019s all in the family. The longtime Midtown sports bar is celebrating its 30th anniversary…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15385,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[8075,222,75,57,360,9,197,1104,56,63,65,64,58],"class_list":["post-15384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-bars","tag-madison-square-garden","tag-manhattan","tag-metro","tag-midtown","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city-life","tag-new-york-knicks","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15384"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15384\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}