By Ed Meyer
Beacon Journal staff writer
POSTED: 12:16 p.m. EDT, Jul 14, 2009
The serpentine bar — with seating for 40, dark-wood fixtures and hardwood floors — has rounded corners shaped like a 
four-leaf clover.
Twelve 50-inch plasma televisions are recessed into the walls above canopied wooden booths and paneled standing-room tables.
The high-tech audio system is connected to a touch-screen jukebox with thousands of online songs at your fingertips, like some gigantic iPod.
There could be a good argument that Chicago or Los Angeles has nothing on Akron now, at least when it comes to downtown Irish pubs.
The new Brubaker's Pub, a centerpiece entertainment stop in the 22 Exchange complex at Main and Exchange streets, is scheduled to open Monday, owner Scott Brewer said.
''I'm very proud of it,'' Brewer said, beaming as he conducted a tour of the bar recently.
The pub's dark wood and Irish green interior, in much of the space occupied by the former Jillian's restaurant and bar, is 3,200 square feet.
In addition to the gleaming black Panasonic plasmas and the jukebox, which has a full-color viewing screen and sidewall lighting system, there is a pool table adjacent to the bar with stadium-type, wooden bench seating.
''I think we've built a really good product,'' Brewer said.
And that's just the inside.
A canopied outdoor patio at the main entrance, 357 S. Main St., is 50 feet wide, 8 feet deep and seats 45 at the roomy green tables and wrought-iron, high-back chairs.
The patio will have three big-screen TVs, an overhead heating system for fall and early winter and large windows that open for an unobstructed view to the bar's interior.
Brewer and his friend and general contractor, Vince Santoferraro, did much of the design work themselves.
Inside the pub, they even gave it a unique touch with custom-made, gold and amber wallpaper emblazoned with numerous Irish limericks such as this one: ''May you live as long as you want.''
Construction on the pub began in January, and there are only a few finishing touches to the patio and interior before it is complete, Santoferraro said.
City spokesman Mark Williamson said a ribbon-cutting ceremony is in the planning stages, most likely for the late morning on Opening Day.
Mayor Don Plusquellic and his chief deputy mayor, Dave Lieberth, will be in attendance, Williamson said.
More details will be announced in the coming days.
Immediately above the ground-floor pub, of course, Brubaker's will have a built-in clientele in the three-floor, 140-bed University of Akron student apartment complex.
Developer Martin Mehall said all of the two-, three- and four-bedroom units already have been snapped up and that the apartment complex will be fully ready by the time the students move in Aug. 22.
Jimmy John's Gourmet Sandwiches also has signed on for a spot in the complex. Mehall said he is talking to six or seven additional prospective tenants about leasing spots in the complex.
''We're being selective about who we allow in there, because it needs to be complementary to the students. We're not going to let something go in there that doesn't really work with student housing,'' Mehall said.
Negotiations are confidential until the leases are signed, he said.
Brubaker's will be open daily, Brewer said, from 10 a.m. until 2:30 a.m. Monday through Saturday and from noon until 2:30 a.m. Sunday.
Ed Meyer can be reached at 330-996-3784 or emeyer@thebeaconjournal.com.
