Lucks runs out for Brendan’s Irish

All three pubs in the area now closed



MAKEOVER—A worker uses a power washer to clean the walls at the former location of Brendan’s Irish Pub and Restaurant in Agoura Hills. RICHARD GILLARD/Acorn Newspapers

MAKEOVER—A worker uses a power washer to clean the walls at the former location of Brendan’s Irish Pub and Restaurant in Agoura Hills. RICHARD GILLARD/Acorn Newspapers

Brendan’s Irish Pub and Restaurant, a once-popular venue for foodies, dart-throwers and sports fans, has closed its final locations in the area.

The restaurant announced last week that its Camarillo and Newbury Park businesses have closed for good, the last of what was once a chain of three pubs in Ventura and Los Angeles counties.

On Fri., Jan. 3, workers were removing linen and other items from inside the Brendan’s Irish Pub and Restaurant at 1755 E. Daily Drive in the Camarillo Plaza.

Brendan’s in Newbury Park at 495 N. Ventu Park Road, which opened in 2012 as part of the Palm Garden Hotel, has also closed this week, said Shawn Julian, chief operating officer for the Brendan’s chain.

A third Brendan’s Irish Pub and Restaurant at 30315 Canwood St., in Agoura Hills, which opened in 2012, closed last year.

Julian said the company had no plans to reopen any new locations in the two-county region.

He blamed a lack of clientele for the chain’s demise.

“Just not enough customers to make it,” Julian said. “He invested a lot in this place and was never able to really get the return,” a reference to owner Jonathan Siegel, an Irish native and tech entrepreneur who opened the first Brendan’s in December 2010 at a 6,500-square-foot building in Camarillo that formerly housed a Sizzler.

Siegel named the chain after longtime restaurateur Brendan Searls, a Ventura resident who came to the U.S. from Ireland in 1985. Searls no longer is with the company.

It’s unknown at this time whether or not the restaurant will reimburse those who have a gift card for the eatery.