Six years after fire, Center Moriches bar reopens

Jim Cantwell stands in the hallway leading to the back entrance of his Center Moriches bar. With a thick Irish accent, he greets customers and employees with handshakes and pats on the back.

His restaurant, Buckley’s Irish Pub, is dimly lit with black chandeliers. Patrons sit at the dark-wood bar drinking beer and eating wings. In the background, a man plays the acoustic guitar and sings Irish melodies as a woman strums an electric fiddle.

The walls are lined with flat-screen televisions, Irish song lyrics and old photographs of local landmarks like the Center Moriches Yacht Club and Camp Pa-Qua-Tuck.

Now Cantwell, 48, stands managerially at the end of the bar in his white-and-blue checked shirt and white pants, chatting with friends and colleagues, including his youngest son, Conor, 17, who works at the restaurant.

Buckley’s, which reopened Aug. 29, had been closed for six years after fireworks set the building ablaze July 3, 2005.

“I was starting from scratch in a great town, a great community, with good blue-collar people,” Cantwell said.

But Cantwell faced a litany of obstacles as he was rebuilding his Main Street bar. The area of Center Moriches where the bar is located had been named a historic district by Brookhaven Town officials, said Councilman Dan Panico.

The historic designation meant that Cantwell’s new building needed to have three specific items: a white wooden bar sign across the second story, a brick chimney chase on the rear of the building and faux windows on the side of the building. Because Cantwell did not have these items, the bar’s completion was delayed several years.

"During a hearing he was denied relief for these items, and the developer redid the items that previously were not added," Panico said. "The final product turned out great, and the downtown now has a vibrant nightlife again."

Cantwell opened his first Buckley’s in Southampton in 1986, and Center Moriches' was his second in 2000. His third was in his hometown of Hampton Bays in 2002, which he called Buckley’s Inn Between, because it was in-between the one in Southampton and the one here in Center Moriches.

Cantwell closed the one in Southampton five years ago and the one in Hampton Bays a year ago.

Despite the fire, he didn’t want to permanently close the bar in Center Moriches. He rebuilt the interior himself, with the help of his oldest son, Seamus, 21; two of his friends, Kevin Brannigan and Peter Fahey; and his girlfriend, Patricia Robbins.

“It has been a great addition to the town. It has had a lot of foot traffic, and it keeps things going on at night,” said Dr. Judith Savino, president of the Chamber of Commerce of the Moriches.

The Sea Cove Italian American Bar & Grill across the street opened within weeks of Buckley’s. Joe Lomonaco, chef and owner, said people bounce back and forth between the restaurants.

“Business has worked out for the both of us,” said Lomonaco, 45. “When they want louder music they can go there, and when they want to tone it down a bit they come here. People love it.”

Laura Rutigliano, a Mastic resident, recently revisited Buckley’s for the first time since its reopening.

“I used to come here all the time, and I loved it,” she said. “I love the new layout and I cannot wait to try the food … They don’t have anything like this in Mastic, so this is my community. I believe it is the best thing that has ever happened, and is so wonderful for the community.”