CLEVELAND — St. Patrick’s Day is making an early debut in Cleveland this year. A former Christmas-themed pop-up bar in the Flats East Bank reopened Friday as CLover Bar.
The theme of the new watering hole, nestled between popular nightlife destinations, is apparent at first glance. A 2-story leprechaun welcomes visitors through an entryway flanked by shamrock signs, green string lights and a green pom-pom wall with a flashing “Get Lucky” neon sign.
“It’s gorgeous. They really did a fabulous job,” said Ginny Fitzgerald during the Friday evening grand opening.
Her daughter Christine Fitzgerald laughed, adding, “We love Irish places.”
CLover Bar picks up where the former Xmas Bar left off. The Christmas-themed pop-up attracted long lines of customers from mid-November to late December.
“We were actually sitting here at Christmastime thinking, ‘Wouldn’t it be great - next month we’ll do winter wonderland, then we’ll do Valentine’s Day, then we’ll do St. Patrick’s Day.’ And here we are!” said Dee McNamara, who was enjoying the grand opening with her daughter Catherine.
Both the Xmas and CLover concepts were something of a backup plan for what was originally intended to be a sports bar.
“Part of the reason why we’re doing this is because our furniture isn’t ready yet for Hi 5. So we were like, ‘We have to do something. It’s not coming til like April,’” explained co-owner Beth McLeod. “I have to laugh because Mayor Bibb was actually the one who was like, ‘You should just do pop-up bars.’”
Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb made an appearance during a friends and family soft launch of CLover Bar Thursday night.
McLeod said a Christmas-themed bar was a natural idea in mid-November. The following pop-up concept took more brainstorming.
“St. Patrick’s Day in Cleveland is out of control. Yes, it’s one day. But maybe we can stretch that out. Maybe people can come enjoy Guinness for more than one day,” said McLeod.
The bar leans into Cleveland’s love for the holiday. A rainbow and pot of gold mural leads patrons up the stairs to the bar’s main level, where shamrocks hang from the ceiling, a ‘Keg Korner’ features Guinness and other Irish beers on tap, and bartenders serve up a variety of green and St. Patrick’s Day themed cocktails.
“It was so well put together. I love all the colors. The vibes are great here, I love it,” said Catherine McNamara.
Bar staff put the new theme together in a week, shortly after Xmas Bar decorations were dismantled. McLeod said another benefit of transitioning to a new pop-up concept was keeping her staff employed until the sports bar is ready.
“When you have a great staff, you don’t want them to go someplace else,” she said.
CLover Bar will be open on weekends through St. Patrick’s Day. McLeod plans to pivot the theme for the week of Valentine’s Day. After March 17th, she hopes to transition to the permanent Hi 5 sports bar.
Watch live and local news any time:
Download the News 5 Cleveland app now for more stories from us, plus alerts on major news, the latest weather forecast, traffic information and much more. Download now on your Apple device here, and your Android device here.
You can also catch News 5 Cleveland on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, YouTube TV, DIRECTV NOW, Hulu Live and more. We're also on Amazon Alexa devices. Learn more about our streaming options here.
