We are continuing our series on historic and/or noteworthy bars, taverns, and restaurants around Maryland and Washington, D.C., and O’Lordans Irish Pub in downtown Westminster certainly qualifies. The establishment has been such a local fixture for decades that one doesn’t even think twice before casually referring to it as “the historic O’Lordans Irish Pub in downtown Westminster.”
The grand, old stone building first appeared on local maps between 1867 and 1870. It opened first as a foundry. Over the years, it has served as a barber shop, a live chicken house, and the old Stone House Restaurant owned and operated by the Sharkey family in the 1930s. It was a coffee shop in the 1980s before closing for many years and eventually being purchased by the Johansson family. Following a renovation to bring it up to modern standards, the building reopened as O’Lordans Irish Pub on Oct. 25, 2005.