Area residents with a taste for Irish food, drink and culture will soon have a new place to satiate their appetite.
A Fionn MacCool’s pub is slated to open in the former premises of Kelsey’s Restaurant, at 1935 Gaetz Ave. Katherine Clark, a spokeswoman with Fionn MacCool’s parent company — Prime Restaurants Inc. — said the business is scheduled to open in early December.
She described Fionn MacCool’s as “a premium Irish pub” that serves international food as well as beer, whiskey, cocktails and wine. Live entertainment is expected to be offered three days a week.
Prime Restaurants’ website said Fionn MacCool’s primary customer base are adults 25 to 54 years of age, with above-average disposable incomes. It added that the pub serves authentic Irish foods like leak and salmon pie, and Guinness steak and mushroom crock; as well as premium beers and spirits.
The live entertainment focuses on traditional Celtic and Canadian East Coast music, it said.
There are 21 Fionn MacCool’s operating or scheduled to open in Canada, including the Red Deer location and two each in Calgary and Edmonton. All the rest are in Ontario.
Prime Restaurants also has a half-dozen Irish pubs operating as D’Arcy McGee’s, Paddy Flaherty’s or Tir nan Óg, all in Ontario.
The Fionn MacCool’s franchise in Red Deer will be locally owned, said Clark.
The former Kelsey’s Restaurant building has been vacant since last September, when Kelsey’s closed after 15 years of operation.