A Legacy of Stone Mad Pub: New Ownership and the Journey Ahead

When Pete Leneghan lost his fight with cancer several years ago, he left controlling interest of his cherished creation, Stone Mad Pub and Restaurant, to his Godson and nephew, Bryan Leneghan, a fellow stand-out soccer player. (Although the gift may have been with some reservation, as Bryan was a standout soccer player on St. Ignatius H.S. State Championship teams, chief rival of Pete’s much-loved alma mater, St. Edward H.S.).

Pete left a minority ownership interest in the business to Stone Mad’s longtime manager, Eileen Sammon. While the passing of this family legacy to Bryan came as a surprise, he jumped right into the mix. He brought his degree from Ohio University, his financial services industry experience, discipline from the soccer field, and combined it with his Leneghan/Campbell family DNA in hospitality—and a strong motivation to honor his Uncle Pete—to Stone Mad (a bigger challenge than he first realized).

In the last few years of Pete’s life, his time and energy were necessarily focused on his health and, literally, the fight for his life. Stone Mad’s books and bottom line suffered as a result.

But the story moves in a good direction; Bryan, even facing the unprecedented COVID crisis, was able to bring order to the books, eliminate back taxes, and pay down outstanding business debt. His stewardship positioned this legacy business so that it could be transferred to new owners who understood and shared Pete’s goals.

Stone Mad’s New Owners

The story gets even better, as the new owners, Noelle Sayles and Nick Noyes, have history with Stone Mad and wish to renew the vision Pete had for the corner of W. 65th and Herman Avenue.

For frequent visitors to Stone Mad, one can take its distinctiveness for granted: the hand-blown glass chandeliers, intricate walnut woodwork, hand-wrought metallurgy, artisan-laid mosaic-tiled bathrooms, cut stone patio, individualized painted ceilings, and an indoor bocce ball court, all remarkable.

Also, note the mural in the walnut dining room. Pete asked a friend he made from his time in NYC to paint this picture. If you look closely, you can see Pete hidden in plain view at the center of the mural. He wanted a drawing to represent his own time/history, as well as his Leneghan/Campbell family’s history in NYC.

Pete left Cleveland to join Jimmy Campbell, who owned the only horse stable in Manhattan and was at the center of the Horse Carriage Tradition in NYC. With the funds he made by selling his carriage license, he was able to fund his Stone Mad vision for the Gordon Square neighborhood.

One account of Seamus Murphy’s book, Stone Mad, which inspired Pete’s choice for the pub’s name, focuses on “his artistic feeling for quality responded to his workmate’s reverence for the ‘well-made thing.’” Many who watched Stone Mad being built were both amazed and frustrated by the sometimes slow pace at which progress was made. But all now have a much better understanding and ‘reverence’ for what Pete was doing and, more importantly, what he accomplished—a gift to our community to have a place of hospitality that has a true sense of place, welcome, and distinction.

St. Patrick’s Day 2024

Stone Mad transferred to new ownership this past St. Patrick’s Day weekend. The husband-and-wife team of Noelle and Nick shared that “although we view Stone Mad as a great investment, our primary motivation was sentimental.”

Noelle has worked a number of years in hospitality as a bartender and server, including several years at the start of Stone Mad. Noelle is pictured in her server’s uniform in the family & staff photo hanging over the bocce court. While working at Stone Mad, Noelle made a pilgrimage to Ireland. Pete made sure his Mayo cousins, specifically John Leneghan, showed Noelle a hundred thousand welcomes upon her arrival.

It was a magical coincidence that John Leneghan of Westport, Co. Mayo, who was present at the opening of Stone Mad in 2008, unexpectedly was in Cleveland, at the Pub, with Noelle, Nick, and Bryan, at the exact moment the property recently transferred—talk about coming full circle. It felt like affirmation by Pete of the new stewards of Stone Mad.

They further shared: “Our primary intention is to make sure Stone Mad is preserved thoughtfully and to continue the legacy and vision Pete started in 2008. We were not looking to buy a restaurant, but we were inspired to own this restaurant,” shared Noelle.

It is planned that the annual Pete Leneghan Entrepreneurship Foundation Run will continue to be held at Stone Mad the first Sunday of each September. It doesn’t get any better than that.

Stop in and say hello to both the new and the familiar; it is one of the best patios anywhere. All the best to Noelle and Nick, whose sentiment and wisdom saw fit to be guardians of this remarkable place.

It’s Lammy Season

The polls show Keir Starmer’s Labour Party in the U.K. holding a commanding lead over the sitting Tory government of Rishi Sunak. If the Tories take a huge hit in local elections this month, look for a loud cry for a new parliamentary general election.

If so, it is expected that the Labour Party’s Foreign Minister would be David Lammy, the son of Guyanese immigrants to the U.K. Lammy, in his early fifties, has deep American ties, having spent his youthful summers with cousins in NYC, earning a master’s degree at Harvard Law, and even canvassing for candidate Barack Obama in 2008.

Will Labour’s likely ascendency provide new opportunities for Irish and U.K. relations? Will Lammy’s American sensibilities provide openings for a fresh approach to a Northern Ireland border poll? Expect the current stagnation and indifference to matters in the North of Ireland from Westminster to mercifully come to an early end.

One hopes a new Labour Government, combined with a very willing President Biden, will reinvigorate the Good Friday Accords and lay the foundation for an all-island election in Ireland.