Putnam's Pub Will Re-Open Just In Time For St. Patrick's Day

FORT GREENE, BROOKLYN — Putnam's Pub & Cooker staff members are working overtime to make sure their beloved bar is back open in time for St. Patrick's Day, the bar's owner Gerry Rooney told Patch. On Valentine's Day, Putnam's suffered a fire that completely ruined the infrastructure and interior and shut the restaurant down for weeks. But Rooney is confident that it'll be back to its old self by, at the very latest, St. Patrick's Day on Friday, March 17.

"I just wouldn't be able to sleep at night if we weren't open on St. Patrick's Day," said Rooney, who is from Meath, a county in Ireland just northeast of Dublin.

Putnam's, a local restaurant and bar that's beloved in the Fort Greene community, suffered damage to all of its electrical systems, heat and air conditioning systems, plumbing and furniture, Rooney told Patch. Every television and speaker was destroyed, and the majority of the furniture has to be replaced.

Rooney doesn't know how much his restaurant would lose financially after his insurance comes into play. "You sign a deal saying that they'll cover everything, but when it happens, you don't really know," he said.

The fire department determined the fire was accidental and began with electrical wiring in the first-floor bathroom, an FDNY spokesperson said.

"It was just a complete accident, and we want to thank the local community for all the support that we've received," Rooney said. "It really does make a difference. And that's not even bulls---t, 'cause I'm a pretty real kinda guy."

A Putnam's customer started a GoFundMe shortly after the fire that raised over $5,700 for the bar staff. Rooney said just yesterday the front bar staff split the money equally.

"They were amazed. Shocked really," he said of the donation money.

Kitchen and other staff behind the scenes are being paid their usual rate to help with reconstruction while the restaurant is closed.

Among the debris, a few special artifacts were left untouched, Rooney said. A Guinness tap that belonged to Rooney's grandfather was the only one that survived the fire.

And out of an entire wall-length bookshelf of books, this was the only one to make it out alive:

Photos by Sarah Kaufman/Patch. Photo of book taken by Gerry Rooney