Molly Maguire's Opens Its Doors Just In Time For St. Pat's

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RUMSON — Mike and Kathy Maguire like to kid each other that they have another child. That child—their sixth, in fact—is their new restaurant and bar.
While the name and the owners are new, the location it occupies has a long history in the borough as a comfortable, local pub and restaurant.
The Maguires are the new owners of Molly Maguire’s Blackpoint Inn, 132 East River Road. The restaurant, which they acquired last October, had its official grand opening last Thursday, and will, the Maguires said, continue to serve traditional Irish fare and be the comfortable spot that patrons have come to expect over the years.
Mike Maguire, who works full time as medical sales rep, said recently he had wanted to name one of his children Molly. It is a name he always liked and one he thought would be in keeping with the names of his other children, whose names all begin with M. “But my wife said ‘I will never name my child after a bar,’” Mike explained.
The Maquires had been considering starting a business of their own and had looked into a number of possibilities when they heard that the former Murray McGregor’s was available.
“We were looking at all different avenues to make something for ourselves and our family,” Kathy Maguire said.
“I wasn’t as gung-ho as my husband for a restaurant, she acknowledged. “But I did say it would have to be the perfect place,” and when she saw the location and the community she thought it was “the perfect spot for our family… we would just grow into the place and make our home here.”
“That’s exactly what we have here,” she said.
And Mike finally got his Molly.
Kathy also liked adding the words ‘Black Point Inn’ to the name “Molly Maguire’s” because of the history of the inn and its importance to the area.
Before the Maguires took it over, the location had been Murray MacGregor’s Publick House for the last couple of years, before that it was Briody’s, a well-known restaurant and watering hole. Prior to Briody’s the bar/restaurant had been known as the Black Point Inn for many, many years.
“We have a lot of older folks come to our restaurant,” she said, “and they come in and say, ‘As a kid I remember it as the Black Point Inn.’ And it’s just nice to hear that people stay in the community.”
So much so, she said, that she and Mike are hoping to eventually relocate to the borough, especially given the time they will be spending here.
The restaurant will continue the tradition of food and live music at Molly Maguire’s, with an entertainment lineup that includes Pat Guadagno, Dave McCarthy and others. “And that’s what makes this place comfortable,” those traditions, she said. “You can meet your old friends, you can meet new friends and have fun.”

Mike and Kathy Maguire are the new owners of Molly Maguire's in Rumson. They celebrated the grand opening of their new restaurant on Thursday, March 1. The parents of five children, the Maguires joke that their new restaurant is their "sixth child."