Doyles's Pour House Finds New Home In Barnegat

These days, Brian Magnani and Mike Flanagan are trading in bar towels for toolbelts – at least part of the time.

The two southern Ocean residents – part-owner and bartender, respectively, of Doyle’s Pour House in Tuckerton – have partnered with two other longtime friends to open a sister location to their popular pub in downtown Barnegat on the site of the recently closed Hearthside Restaurant. 

Along with veteran area restaurateur Pete Fabian and experienced shore-area bartender James "Smitty" Smyth, Magnani, 40, of West Creek and Flanagan, 35, of Manahawkin, are working to open the new Doyle’s in April, putting in long hours overseeing the renovations that will transform the Route 9 restaurant into an Irish-style neighborhood watering hole. 

They’ve had their eye on a new location in Barnegat for about two years, Magnani said. 

“We always liked the town of Barnegat,” he said. Their laid-back style fits well with the town, he said, and seemed like a good place to set up shop.

The foursome plan on making the Barnegat Doyle’s a near clone of the Tuckerton location, with the same dark wood paneling, bottle-lined bar and menu of classic pub food. If you know and love the Tuckerton Doyle’s famous burgers and wings, Magnani said, you can rest assured you’ll find the same fare on offer in Barnegat.

The process of renovating and opening the new bar matches up with the old Doyle’s history, too. Six years ago this month, Magnani and Fabian bought a tavern in downtown Tuckerton, and that April, they opened Doyle’s doors. The timeline is almost exactly the same this time around; the partners hope to hire staff and be in full swing April 1.

Despite the success of his last venture, Magnani said the process isn’t really easier the second time around.

“It’s all the same challenges,” he said, including the stress of construction. “I’m kind of reliving it from six years ago.”

But the partners' combined experience in the bar and restaurant business – multiple lifetimes, if you're adding up years – has helped them arrive at a formula that works: Offer people great quality food for a low price, and have it served by a staff people want to come back and see. 

“It sounds cliché,” Magnani said, “but we give it to them at a fair price.”

For Flanagan, the shift to an ownership role is an exciting one. “It’s a great opportunity for me,” he said. He’ll miss his Tuckerton regulars, he said, plenty of whom are giving him a hard time about leaving the bar, despite the fact that he’ll be just up the road.

“Hopefully some of them will come and see me,” he said, grinning.