John Reynolds' new Idlewild Bar in Dublin has got the green light

RESTAURATEUR AND NIGHTCLUB entrepreneur John Reynolds is naming his latest acquisition to mark what he describes as a colourful connection with a US President, film stars of the past and “ladies of the night”.

His new Idlewild Bar at 14 Fade Street, Dublin, which sits next to another of his venues, The Market Bar, was today granted a full pub license by Judge Francis Comerford in the Circuit Civil Court.

Barrister Constance Cassidy SC told the court the premises had been granted a declaratory order in June last year, guaranteeing it a full license on completion in accordance with planning permission.

There was just one slight architectural oversight in the plans before the court today and those submitted at the declaratory stage, Cassidy told the judge.

She said the original plan did not include the existence within the premises of a red brick, floor-to-ceiling pillar covering no more than a square foot. It now appeared in the current plan.

Judge Comerford pointed out that if ever Reynolds’ company decided to demolish the pillar it would leave an area of the pub, albeit a very small one, without a lawful drinks license.

Following legal submissions, the court decided the pillar, that was not there previously but now is, was of such insubstantial consequence as not to affect the granting of the pub license.

Cassidy told Judge Comerford she was unable to tell the court what Reynolds was calling his new venture. In evidence he said he had more than 20 years’ experience in the license and entertainment trade.
https://www.facebook.com/1720267871562728/photos/pcb.1728580030731512/1728579650731550/?type=3&theater

The name

Later he explained, in a statement, the mystery behind the naming of his new bar as The Idlewild.

“I’m simply tipping my hat to an era of stars and colourful characters with an Irish connection to the original Idlewild Bar on the site of what now is the JFK airport in New York,” he said.

He said that in 1942 construction work on New York’s Idlewild Airport started on Idlewild Golf Course, long before it was renamed the John F. Kennedy Airport.

“Like all good construction projects in America during that era, the mafia and the teamsters took an interesting role in its development through their legendary ‘consultancy agreements’,” Reynolds said.

He said one of their conditions included the incorporation of a pub, which became known as the Idlewild Bar and was run for the benefit of their colleagues, friends and ‘molls’.

John Reynolds in 2006

“Legendary artists and actors regularly frequented the Idlewild, pre- and post-flight, when the airport opened in 1948, including Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Marilyn Monroe and John F. Kennedy.”

And the Irish connection? The manager was an Irish man who had been born in Georges Street, Dublin, just around the corner where the new Dublin Idlewild is situated. He went on to manage the Flamingo in Las Vegas on the recommendation of Sinatra.

“We tip our hat to this era of colourful characters and the Irish connection,” Reynolds said outside court today.  “Number 14 Fade Street itself had its own colourful history as a place where ladies of the night kept residence in the 1830s.”