Mullarkey's Irish Pub, the Erie Street tavern that has anchored Downtown Willoughby's nightlife for three decades, is going up for sale. Owner John D. Bowers, 72, plans to retire after 30 years running the bar he named for his late wife, and the pub will keep serving customers while a buyer is sought.
The property is expected to be listed in October 2026, according to Brendan Bowers, John's son, who said his mother helped run the bar over the years, per a press release cited by cleveland.com. John D. Bowers has owned Mullarkey's since 1996, envisioning the space at the corner of Erie and Second streets as an Irish pub from the start. He named it after his wife, Eileen Mullarkey Bowers, and told the outlet that someone should come in and appreciate the pub's location.
A Corner With a Layered History
The building has worn several identities before Mullarkey's claimed it. Major McKinney's Trading Post once occupied the space, followed by Erie Street Café, before Bowers opened his Irish pub there in 1996, per the same report. When Mullarkey's opened, Downtown Willoughby had just two other non-Irish bars and restaurants nearby, John's Café and 1899, a sparse commercial landscape compared to the roughly 25 bars and restaurants that now line the corridor.
That transformation happened on a stretch of Erie Street that had only recently earned historic recognition. The Downtown Willoughby Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on November 29, 1995, per the National Park Service, just months before Mullarkey's opened and began adding its own chapter to the district's late 19th- and early 20th-century commercial architecture. Arabica Coffee House, at 4138 Erie Street, opened that same year, making it a fellow 30-year fixture that arrived during the same wave of investment, according to Cleveland Magazine.
According to the City of Willoughby's Willoughby Vision 20/20 plan, city policy calls for continuing to preserve and enhance Downtown Willoughby's historic character and economic viability. The plan also called for creating a new zoning category for the Downtown Business District.
Gold-Certified Pints and a Soap Change
Mullarkey's built its reputation in part on the quality of its Guinness pours. Guinness representatives analyzed the pub's tap system, which required balanced CO2 and nitrogen content, along with pint pours that had to meet a specified level and temperature, and bartenders who had to let pours sit for a specific amount of time before serving. Guinness representatives made three announced visits and three unannounced visits, inspecting the pub's pint pours in 2002 before Mullarkey's earned the company's gold-certified pint status, according to cleveland.com's account. Bowers said the certification made him the only gold-certified operator in Cleveland; Guinness has since discontinued the gold-certification program.
The pub's attention to detail extended beyond the taps. Bowers said a soap change in the glass-washing process prevented a film from remaining on the glassware, a small but telling example of the operational care that went into every pour. For its first 15 years, Mullarkey's also served food, including Irish stew, chili and pork dinners, before eventually stepping back from the kitchen.
Building a Neighborhood, Pint by Pint
Bowers did more than run a bar. He helped create Downtown Willoughby events and helped establish the district as a regional entertainment destination, work that dovetailed with the founding of the Downtown Willoughby Bar and Restaurant Association in 2011. That association now organizes a full calendar of annual events along Erie and Second streets, including the Marous DTW Rib Burn-Off, the DTW Chili Cook-Off, and NashWill, a district-wide festival featuring 15 live music stages, according to the City of Willoughby. The lineup also includes pub crawls and concerts, and the association has raised money for local and regional organizations along the way.
Back in 1997, per an account attributed to the Plain Dealer, Bowers described Downtown Willoughby as having the look of a small Irish town, a fitting backdrop for the pub he was building. Nearly three decades later, that description still resonates: Mullarkey's stocks an extensive lineup of Irish whiskeys, including Tullamore D.E.W., Jameson, Redbreast, Bushmills, and Knappogue Castle, alongside tap pours of Guinness, Harp, Smithwick's, and Magners cider, according to the pub's own website. Travel guides note the bar deliberately skips television screens, leaning instead on live acoustic music and late-night hours until 2 a.m. to keep the focus on conversation, per Kupi.com.
A Mural, a Legacy, and What Comes Next
The pub's place in the community was formalized further in 2024, when the Willoughby Arts Collaborative installed a 21-by-12-foot mural celebrating Irish heritage on the side of Mullarkey's building. The mural, designed by local artist Beth Lynne Gregerson, was funded by a $4,600 municipal public art grant along with donations from Bowers and his wife, Eileen. It stands as a physical marker of the pub's integration into the downtown streetscape, even as its future ownership remains uncertain.
Mullarkey's is recognized as Lake County's oldest Irish pub, though it is not the oldest in the broader Cleveland region; that distinction belongs to the Flat Iron Café, which opened in 1910 in the Flats East Bank, according to Cleveland Historical. As the October 2026 listing approaches, questions remain open about whether a future buyer will preserve the Irish pub concept or reimagine the space, and how the district's dense foot traffic, on a strip now home to roughly two dozen bars and eateries including Frank & Tony's Place, Erie + Vine, The 1899 Pub, Spirits in Willoughby, and The Yard on 3rd, will factor into the sale price.
