Fighting fit Conor McGregor's new €3m gastropub to unveil sign ahead of opening in New Year

CONOR McGregor is set to stamp his mark on his new gastropub as he unveils its new sign next week - ahead of a re-opening in the New Year.

Builders working on the Black Forge in Crumlin have told locals that new signage is going up in the coming days and will be revealed next weekend.

Speculation is growing that the UFC fighter will leave his own mark on the pub by calling it ‘McGregor’s Black Forge’ or even ‘The Notorious Black Forge’.

He has apparently ruled out naming it ‘Proper 12’, the same name as his whiskey line.

Workers have also told locals that there is “no way” the new gastropub will have its renovations completed in time for Christmas.

“The likelihood is there will be a big opening in the New Year with the St Patrick’s Day and the Cheltenham race week in March the main target,” reveals an insider.

Scaffolding surrounds the pub on the Drimnagh road in Crumlin, where workers are working flat out to renovate the premises.

McGregor is turning the boozer into an upmarket gastropub in a bid to fight coronavirus restrictions.

The UFC superstar is forking out over €1 million to completely gut and renovate the popular hostelry.

This is on top of the estimated €2 million he paid for buying his favourite pub in the area he grew up in.

Documents recently seen by the Sunday World show that an application was made in July to the National Building Control Office for major renovations to the downstairs and first floor area of the pub.

Both the owner and builder of the company in which the application is made is listed as Alan Geraghty. Geraghty is Group CEO for McGregor and Entertainment.

He specialises in Business Management, Corporate Finance, Forensic Accounting. He has raised finance for trading businesses, site acquisitions and property development.

Several construction vans were parked outside the Black Forge this week as workers continued its renovation.

It, like pubs across the country, has been closed under Level Five restrictions.

The Black Forge is a ‘wet’ pub and, because it did not sell food, it has been shut since the first lockdown in March.

Along with Dee Devlin, McGregor’s fiancée and the mother of his two children, Geraghty is the director of the fighter’s four main business entities in Dublin.

The most important of these is McGregor Sports and Entertainment (MSE). McGregor (32), who has a fortune of over €100 million, is also a coach for the Black Forge soccer team.

The fighter, who announced his third UFC retirement in June, is spending thousands kitting out the players as well as putting them through their paces.

McGregor spent numerous nights partying in the Black Forge, which was his favourite watering hole growing up in Crumlin.

The Sunday World can also dispel widespread rumours McGregor has bought a second pub in the area, the Marble Arch.

Last November McGregor was convicted of assaulting a man in the pub the previous April.

The fighter was fined €1,000 for punching Desmond Keogh (50), at the bar

The Notorious is set to come out of MMA retirement for the third time when he takes on Dustin Poirier in January, which is set to take place in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.

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Online Editors