Local Business Will Bring The Irish Pub To You

Christopher Huffaker, Patch Staff

Two Reading brothers made a portable Irish pub as a pandemic project. They’ll park it in your driveway.

READING, MA — Missing your local Irish pub but not feeling safe going to a bar in person? Nostalgic for the trip to Ireland you took before the pandemic?

The Wee Irish Pub, a Reading business, will bring the pub to you.

Founded by brothers Matt and Craig Taylor, the pub is a trailer decorated inside and out to look like an Irish pub. For $800, they will deliver the 12-seat bar to your driveway for the day and pick it up the next morning. 

The pub is based in Reading and can travel anywhere within about 40 miles.

“It has an electric fireplace, heat, a TV, and all the Irish decor you’ve come to expect,” Craig Taylor said. “We recommend a bartending service. There are a couple of taps, but you need to bring your own keg.”

The Pub works with Bartending Service of New England, although you can also pour drinks yourself if you want.

“We did do a lot of research on what makes a good pub — the Irish flag, the Irish Declaration of Independence, Irish sheet music and so on,” Taylor said.

The Taylors did a lot of research on Irish pub decor, Craig Taylor said. (Courtesy of Craig Taylor)

Craig’s wife Kathleen is “100 percent Irish” and the family took a trip in 2018 to Ireland to visit her family’s hometown, church, cemeteries and more, guided by Craig’s genealogical research. The brothers are also partially Irish, Taylor said.

The Wee Irish Pub began business in the fall and has proved popular.

“They’ve loved it,” Taylor said. “It’s really funny when you see people pull up and see it. It looks like an Irish country cottage with the red doors, but when you walk inside it’s much bigger than it appears. People’s jaws drop on the floor.”

“It’s like you’re in an Irish pub,” he said.

Legally it’s a private party — as the trailer is on your property, it’s an extension of your house, Taylor said.

From left to right: Matt and Craig Taylor, two Reading brothers, built and run the Wee Irish Pub together. (Courtesy of Craig Taylor)

In preparation for St. Patrick’s Day, March 17, Taylor recently began advertising around the region, including in Andover, where “everyone booked right away.” Already, four days the week of St. Patrick’s Day are booked.

>>See the Wee Irish Pub’s availability on their website.

“We’re kicking up into high speed for March for St. Patrick’s Day,” Taylor said. “There are still days that week available.”

With the success of the first pub, Taylor said, another portable bar may be in the brothers’ future.

“It’s more popular than we ever hoped it would be,” he said.

To contact the Taylors, check availability or see more photographs, visit their website.

Christopher Huffaker is a reporter with Patch mostly covering Andover, North Andover, Tewksbury, Wilmington and Woburn. He can be reached at 412-265-8353 or chris.huffaker@patch.com.