The Burren pub has been offering the best in food, drink, and entertainment since 1996. — Photos by Sydney Johnson

By Sydney Johnson

On Elm Street in Somerville, Massachusetts, the pull of a lively crowd and the bright scrape of a fiddle tuning up drift onto the sidewalk, beckoning people inside. Just beyond the door, The Burren hums with animated conversations and music. It’s warm, low-lit rooms, echoing with a variety of genres, including Jazz, Blues, and Traditional Irish music. The pub, founded by Irish musicians Tommy McCarthy and Louise Costello, has welcomed patrons for three decades, building a community around shared tables and shared tunes.

Tommy McCarthy grew up hoping to come to America.

Raised on American television and music, and on the stories of his father, a musician, who was invited on a cultural tour of the United States in 1972. McCarthy imagined a country of possibility.

“When he came back from the tour after four weeks, he was telling me these great things, like how people used to fly to work, and there was no such thing as a water hose,” McCarthy said.

That fascination became reality in March 1986, when a friend called to ask if he wanted to visit New York. McCarthy said yes.

A stop at a pub introduced him to a circle of Irish Americans, and musician Joanie Madden connected him with a band in need of a fiddle player. Instead of booking a return ticket, he stayed.

By September, he was in Philadelphia, uncertain about what would come next.

“I rang home, and I said to my dad, ‘I’d like to stay till at least Christmas, and I’m not too sure where to go.’ He said, ‘Why don’t you go to Boston?’” McCarthy said.

He arrived in Boston in November 1986. At the time, there was only one traditional Irish session, held at the Village Coach in Brookline Village.

“I kind of got a nice feel for Boston, really,” McCarthy said. “I went downtown the next day to the Black Rose, and there was Irish music there. Everywhere you went around the city, people would be a part of the old country.”

Boston’s Irish music scene was tight-knit, sustained by immigrants who gathered nightly in neighborhood pubs. At The Kinvara in Allston, a hub for young Irish newcomers, McCarthy met Louise Costello, who was playing the banjo. Eventually, they started playing together.

Four decades later, they still are.

The idea that would eventually become The Burren took shape years later. After returning to Ireland and marrying in 1993, McCarthy and Costello were presented with the opportunity to tour across America in 1994. Following their final show at the Somerville Theatre, they stepped onto a dark, nearly empty Elm Street with friends and wandered into the Rosebud, a local townie pub where they spent the night talking and listening to music.

An opportunity to remain in Boston and continue performing followed. But the life of constant gigs and travel began to take its toll.

“I was probably about 27 at the time, and I was thinking, well, I’m married now, and we can’t keep this gallivanting around the place playing music if we’re going to get into this next serious part of life and start a family,” McCarthy said. “Then I thought, why don’t we open a pub? And that way, we could be playing our music, and we could be home every night. And if we have kids, we’ll be there in the morning, in the evening for them.”

Louise Costello had a similar experience traveling to Boston. She came over to visit a friend she worked with, who traveled to Boston and never looked back. After doing a session at the Kinvara, where she met McCarthy, she too ended up never looking back.

When McCarthy first pitched the idea of the Burren, Costello had her doubts. “It sounded like a mad idea at the time, but we had been playing around pubs for a couple of years, so it kind of made sense to have our own place,” she said.

Two years later, in 1996, the Burren opened its doors.

Costello said her one requirement was to have no televisions. “…Because that’s what it’s like in most of the traditional pubs in Ireland.”

No flat-screen televisions. No distractions humming in the background. Just live music and conversation. A family place, as McCarthy described it. Somewhere where strangers could become regulars and even friends.

However, starting the Burren was not a seamless process.

“We were told to get a lawyer…I just about knew my telephone number, never mind getting a lawyer. But we made a few phone calls, we got a team together, and got to know the global councilors. My father was also a carpenter. So he came out from Ireland for a few months and helped us build the front bar of the Burren.”

Success led to expansion. McCarthy and Costello opened The Bebop in 2017. Located on Boylston St, near Berklee College of Music, The Bebop offered a space geared more towards college-aged musicians.

“There was a jazz musician performing in the back room of The Burren one evening, and he’d never been there. 
We got talking at the bar his during his break, and he said, ‘You know, a place like this could do really well down in Berkeley College of Music Area.’”

McCarthy said they had a vision for musicians to be able to come in from the college and play music, form bands, and gain experience playing in front of an audience.

“There’s one thing going to college, learning how to play music, inside the closet with your headphones and reading music, but you really need to get out there, get on stage.”

They expanded again in 2023. Opening McCarthy’s and Toad. The pub in Cambridge. The pub replaced the well-known bar Christophers, which closed during COVID. Opening McCarthy’s was not a planned endeavor, but when the opportunity came about, McCarthy and Costello took a chance.

In addition to being active within all three of their pubs, McCarthy and Costello continue to share their love of live music beyond America and Ireland. They continue to play in countries like Australia, Japan, South Korea, Sri Lanka, and more.

But Boston is still one of their main venues. The Irish music scene thrives under their support, and it is through their Irish Traditional sessions and St. Patrick’s Day celebrations.

“We have 12 shows in the back room that we do every year,” McCarthy explained. “Louise and I perform with a few other musicians.”

The Burren was packed. A sea of green and white, as people of all ages gathered to listen to a traditional Irish Session. It felt familiar, as if it was never truly your first time coming. Guinnesses were poured, and conversations were had. People knew that The Burren was the place to be during St. Patrick’s Day.

“Trad music is such a critical cornerstone, and it’s beautiful having this place to connect,” said Analissa Iverson, as patron of the Burren. She grew up in Massachusetts, but has since left. However, she traveled to visit her friend Leah Sakala and knew they had to go to the Burren. Growing up listening to Traditional Irish music, she expressed how the Burren is a warm and welcoming place. Perfect to pay homage to the Irish part of her heritage.

Other customers shared her sentiment. As people gathered in masses, making new friends and conversing with old ones. The lighting was dim, the music was lively, and the atmosphere was vibrant.

Another patron, Delaney Brassard, spoke about how the Burren is one of a kind. “Such a staple in Boston,” she said. “There’s not a lot of places left that are true Irish Pubs.”

In the middle of their set, McCarthy spoke to the crowd, “wherever you are from around the world, you are welcome here at the Burren.” This message continues to ring true whether people are regulars or only come once every few years.

The Burren is a place where the owners will stand around and have Guinness with their regulars. The bartenders will chat you up, and the music is never-ending.

On any given night, you can still hear the bright scrape of a fiddle, spilling out onto Elm Street. The same as it has been for 30 years, and continues to pull people in.

Inside, the circle of traditions and culture widens.