Wine bar, Irish pub set to open to downtown Barrington

Two new businesses - an Irish pub and a wine bar - have plans to operate in downtown Barrington.

The village announced that two new family businesses are planning to open by the end of the year.

McGonigal's Pub plans to open at 105 S. Cook St. where the former Wolf Camera store was located. The eatery, offering traditional Irish food and pub fare, will occupy both levels of the building, said Peggy Blanchard, Barrington director of economic and community development.

Park Avenue Wine Bar and Merchant will operate next door at 205 Park Ave. The shop will feature both a wine bar and a retail area for fine wine and liquor.

Two longtime Barrington families, the McGonigals and Berrys, will run the businesses. Dennis McGonigal lives in North Barrington and Naples, Fla. His son, Bryan, also lives in North Barrington with his family. Daughter Melissa McGonigal Berry and her husband Steve Berry live in Barrington.

Construction at the businesses is expected to start soon. "We want park Avenue Wine Bar and McGonigal's Pub to serve as anchor businesses in the revitalization of Barrington's village center," Steve Berry said.

The building that will house the new businesses was originally built in 1911 as the First Sate Bank of Barrington. For a while it housed popular restaurants before it was used for retail purposes, Bryan McGonigal said. "We have quite a bit of work to do to bit it back into bar/restaurant form," he said.