Popular downtown Ellsworth pub reopens after year-long hiatus
Just in time for lunch on Thursday, the Irish flag will be flying outside Finn’s Irish Pub in downtown Ellsworth for the first time in a year as the beloved pub reopens.
It closed down last summer 13 years after it first opened.
New owners Gary and Sharon Creswell, who own and operate Airline Brewing Company and its associated pubs in Amherst and downtown Ellsworth, announced in March that they had agreed to purchase Finn’s, which is across the street from the couple’s British-styled Airline Pub.
“We came in here when we were thinking about [opening] the brewery,” Gary Cresswell said Tuesday while sitting at a table in the back dining room.
Similar to the way they planned how to open Airline Brewing while enjoying pints at Finn’s, years later they mulled over whether to buy Finn’s while sipping pints across the street at Airline, he said.
“We’ve come full circle,” he said.
Finn’s is larger than Airline Pub, and features a 1932 Jerry O’Mahony diner as its primary bar. The rail-car inspired space retains many of its original art deco features and, according to a local patron, is thought to be one of the oldest continuously operated O’Mahony diner buildings in the country.
Carl Sederquist, a Navy veteran and frequent customer at Airline Pub, has been researching the history of the bar inside Finn’s. It opened as the Pineland Diner in Augusta in the 1930s. Later, it was moved to Northport and then, in the 1980’s, to Ellsworth where it was known as Michael’s Pineland Diner. With a kitchen and a back dining room added on, the diner became Maidee’s before it was reinvented as Finn’s in the late 2000s.
“There are people who follow diners just like they follow pub trails,” Sederquist said. “A lot of them have been built out [with additions], and a lot of them have been torn down.”
Finn’s developed a devoted following during the decade-plus that it was operated by local resident Lorena Stearns and her husband Paul Markosian. Like almost every other restaurant, it struggled its way through the COVID-19 pandemic before it abruptly closed last July.
The decision to shut down was met with sadness by many loyal customers. But the couple set out to find new owners who they hoped would revive the business and keep it going.
The Cresswells said despite their fondness for Finn’s, they initially were skeptical of taking it on. But they knew it had a loyal customer base and that it could continue to be more of a complement than a competitor to their Airline pub in Ellsworth bustling downtown.
“We want to keep the tradition [of Finn’s] alive because the community has such a tie to that,” Sharon Cresswell said. “Ellsworth has been an amazing community for us.”
The new owners have invested in new equipment in the kitchen, but are keeping the bar and dining rooms the same, Gary Creswell said. And much of Finn’s old staff, who were vital to its prior success, are coming back, he said.
“They want to be part of bringing it back to life,” he said.
The Finn’s menu is also back. The Cresswells say they plan to offer a wide selection of beers, though most of Airline Brewing’s selections will be served at their other pub across the street. They also plan to bring back live music and Monday Night Trivia, Sharon Cresswell said.
They might make some minor changes down the road, but for now, they are just bringing the familiar favorite back.
Finn’s will officially re-open Thursday at 11 a.m. and — for the time being — will be open 5 days a week, Thursdays through Mondays.
“The Irish flag will be flying outside,” she said.