The Daily Collegian

Issue date: 9/4/08 Section: News

Every new semester brings changes to the landscape of downtown Amherst. New shops, restaurants and bars are continuously closing and opening. Many University of Massachusetts upperclassmen arrived on campus this past weekend and were concerned to see longtime hang-out Delano's closed. However, plans for a new college bar are already in progress.



Earlier this summer when Delano's closed shop, Brian Stahl, owner and manager of McMurphy's Uptown Tavern, seized the opportunity to expand his business. McMurphy's, which first opened its doors in 1998, celebrates 10 years of operation this week.



While opening any new business in the current economic atmosphere poses several risks, a decade of experience along with a self-assured and amiable personality allow Stahl to enter into this new business pursuit with confidence. Its location in the middle of the Five College area almost certainly guarantees that there will be no lack of college students looking for an escape from the tedium of academic studies.



Frequenting the same bars and restaurants often turns weekends, a time for fresh experiences, into monotony. A new site to gather is always a welcome change.



As the Delano's property was only recently acquired, the new location holds many uncertainties.



Stahl hesitated to put a specific date on the opening of his new bar, citing the age-old superstition of not wanting to jinx himself and the very real possibilities of administrative impediments, such as obtaining a liquor license. Stahl only hopes that his new venue will open before the beginning of Spring Semester 2009.



"You never put a date on an opening," Stahl said.



Since the property changed hands after Delano's was already vacant, there will be no conjoining of the two businesses or their staffs. However, unlike the recent remodel of Judie's, a popular Amherst eatery, it won't merely be an expansion of its original space. Instead, the remodeled bar will be a completely new scene.



The new ownership plans to completely gut and renovate the property and looks forward to utilizing the new, slightly larger space. In addition to the possibilities that the new space holds, the new bar boasts another significant change. Although McMurphy's partnership with neighboring Antonio's Pizza will not be extended to the new space, customers can still look forward to good food, due to a quality kitchen already on site and a new menu.



Stahl plans to keep the menu simple.



"We want to offer you a wing, maybe a mozzarella stick; a french fry," Stahl said.



He explained that in a college town, there is no need to compile an extravagant menu.



UMass senior Chelsea Trowe is interested to see how this new bar will turn out.



"It will be cool to see what they do with all that space," Trowe said. "Hopefully they get rid of the pool table that no one uses and add flat screens like in McMurphy's, or even karaoke. No bars around here have karaoke."



Another UMass senior Nick Celularo added, "I hope the new bar is up and running before I graduate this spring. I've been to the same bars so many times it'll be nice to finally have somewhere new to go."



Sarah Gibbons can be reached at sbgibbon@student.umass.edu.

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