Popular Clearwater Pub Changes Owners, Name

For more than 15 years, Margo Maher dedicated a great deal of time, money and hard work to making her Sunset Point Road pub the type of place where patrons could come to enjoy a cold beverage in the company of good people. 

But when a part-time job with the Transportation Security Administration, which called for early morning arrivals at Tampa International Airport, turned into a full-time career with the Department of Homeland Security a few years ago, Maher knew her days as a bar owner were numbered. 

That chapter of her life came to a conclusion on New Year's Day, when Maher relinquished ownership of to local businessman Tom George, ending her decade-and-a-half tenure as proprietor of one of Clearwater’s most beloved bars.

“I would say bittersweet is the perfect term to describe how I feel right now,” Maher said by phone.

“I’ve been working seven days a week for the last 15½ years. As my other job turned into a full-time position and I was doing both … I realized I’m a little too old to be doing that,” she said. 

A little over a year ago, a mutual associate informed her of a local businessman who might be interested in buying her pub.

After much consternation and soul-searching — “I’m going to miss the people so much,” she said — Maher decided George, who also owns Stix Billiards club in Palm Harbor, was the right person to keep the alive. 

“Tom is a good businessman. He has good patience and business sense. I feel good about leaving the bar in his hands,” Maher said. 

According to Maher, the main changes George has initially planned are the name and the addition of full liquor service to the beer and wine bar.

But even though the place she has nurtured and cherished for more than 15 years has become the property of another person, and she now has a new, exciting career as a trainer for a high-powered government agency, Maher still believes she will be back one day. 

“I told Tom that when I finish my career with the government, I’m going to come back and apply for a position at Brew Time,” she said.

“After all, there’s no better person to hire to work in a bar than a former bar owner.”

If you go: 

What: Brew Time Bar

Where: 1969 Sunset Point Road

Hours: From 10 a.m. to 2 a.m. Monday through Saturday; and from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday.

Call: (727) 562-0109