By RICK MILLER
Olean Star
Olean has a new Irish pub!
Talty’s Irish Pub, 535 N. Union St., has transitioned with new ownership to Gaynor’s Irish Pub.
Jess Munson, who worked at Talty’s for six years, decided to buy it from former owners Laura and Sean Dixon to be able to continue the feeling of community and family for which the pub has come to be known.
A ribbon cutting was held at noon on Friday with Mayor Amy B. Sherburne, Assemblyman Joe Sempolinski and representatives from State Sen. George Borrello and Rep. Nick Langworthy in attendance.
Munson said she has added more Irish food items to the menu to go with the Irish beers and will offer brunch on weekends from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The new Gaynor’s Irish Pub Facebook Page is up and its website should be up soon.
Munson said the new name of the pub honors the late Noel Gaynor, who was the day bartender for many years and a father figure to her. “He really implemented my life in the bar business and had that community aspect for it,” she said.
“He had a huge impact on my life and I’m very grateful to be able to own a business that embraces what he had going forward,” Munson said.
Gaynor came to Olean from Northern Ireland in the 1990s and became one of the deportees, Northern Ireland citizens who came to the U.S. without admitting past convictions in the “Troubles.” He was among about 10 deportees who successfully challenged the government’s position and remained in the U.S.
Noel and his wife, Colleen, raised two daughters in Olean. He died in May 2025. Munson considered herself to be his surrogate daughter.
Asked what is behind the lobster on the new logo for Gaynor’s Irish Pub, Munson smiles and tells the story about how Noel would say as he left the bar that he had to go walk his lobster.
Out-of-towners who stopped by the Irish bar and heard the tale of the pet lobster often scoffed and made jokes. “And it became a running joke between me and him.” Sometimes she would walk down the bar and whisper the lobster’s name in the ears of people at the bar. They’d say “Oh my God, you actually have a pet lobster.”
When creating the new Logo for Gaynor’s, Munson said, “I wanted to still have that Irish touch to it, but also to have that personal touch of Noel.”
As she considered whether to buy the pub, Munson thought about keeping the Irish roots and sense of community and family going.
“I don’t have a lot of family,” she said. “It’s just me and my grandmother, an aunt, uncle and cousin. For the last six years here, everyone’s just become my family and I can count on them for anything. I just didn’t want to see my family diminish or go away.”
