Maguire’s is a bar located closer to the south end of Downtown Bloomington, at the intersection of Center street and Jefferson Ave, on the west side of the old city hall building. A former department store, Maguire’s has a large, open floor plan with high ceilings. It is a combination Irish pub/sports bar, well renowned for its St. Patrick’s Day celebration and it Monday Night Football events alike.

Its features many typical features of a bar including a pool table, four dartboards, Buzztime trivia and a Touchtunes Jukebox, which allows you to pay for and play music with an app on your smartphone. It has two 100+” HD projectors, plus numerous large flat screen televisions for sporting events, and recently installed five electronic gambling devices. It features a full bar menu of typical bar food, and you can expect acceptable taste and quality at an acceptable price.

There are some things that make Maguire’s a unique experience. The first is its friendly staff. The bartenders are longtime employees and love to deliver that Cheer’s type experience. They make an active effort to learn your name and drink, and always give you your beverage with a smile. Even the bouncers are friendly when removing an unruly patron. Maguire’s has some of the best deals you can find at a bar. $2.75 draft beers every day, with daily specials of course. Monday Nights during football season you can find a pound of chicken wings for under $3.00. All of these things serve to make Maguire’s a pretty good establishment, but what really sets it apart is its patrons and the atmosphere they help to generate. It attracts and older crowd, but not the kind of crowd that makes you uncomfortable. It’s not a place you find large groups of after work State Farm businessmen nor trashy, smelly bikers. It’s far enough from the college heart of Downtown Bloomington you don’t often see an overly rowdy group of wet behind the ears 21 year olds either. Music is played at a quiet enough volume that allows conversation with your table, but at the same time is loud enough to where you can’t hear the conversation at the table behind you. The large physical space allows plenty of room to move around, so you never have to feel like you are wedged in shoulder to shoulder and have your drink regularly spilled on you. Lines for the bathroom are short, and you should never have to wait more than a minute or two for your drink.