WESTLAND, Mich. (WXYZ) — There was music, hardly a barstool empty and beers as far as the eye could see — Malarkey’s Irish Pub looks like a busy spot, which leaves one puzzled as to why it’s counting down the days until they shut the doors over the weekend. In fact, the last hurrah will be St. Patrick’s Day. After a final party the doors of Malarkey’s Irish Pub, at least in its current location, will close forever.
“Everybody I know comes here,” said one woman, a second draped over her shoulders adding, “It’s the atmosphere and the music, all our friends come here.”
The crowd, it seems, can do little to sway the decision. Malarkey’s — which sits on Warren Road in Westland, a stone’s throw from Lakeview Boulevard — had little say in the decision to close. In fact, they knew this day was coming ever since Garden City Hospital bought the location roughly two years ago.
While the owner has plans to find a new location, there’s talk that equipment will soon be sold off in the interim.
Rosann DiPiertro told 7 Action News they’ve been looking at new locations. After working at Malarkey’s for seven years, she’s hopeful they’ll find a new home quickly so that the crowds that have poured in since the news broke that they’d close will have a new place to pull up a bar stool.
“They’ve become family — our staff is also like family,” said DiPietro. “They walk in the door, they sit at the bar and their drink is waiting for them. That’s what this place has become.”
She said they’ve witnessed folks show up from as far away as Washington D.C. and Texas since they announced they’d closed — former regulars who wanted to see the place one last time. The rest of the locals will get a chance on Sunday when they hold a final St. Patrick’s Day party. Once the doors close, they’re closed for good.
