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[[McGuire's Irish Pub]] is a popular Pensacola restaurant and local [[:Category:Landmarks|landmark]]. Founded by [[McGuire Martin|McGuire]] and [[Molly Martin]] in 1977, the restaurant was originally located in [[Town & Country Plaza]]. McGuire's moved to its current [[Gregory Street]] location (Pensacola's [[1927 firehouse|original firehouse]]) in 1982. It is known for its on-site brewery and patron traditions, like kissing a stuffed moosehead and stapling autographed dollar-bill "tips" to the ceiling. A second location has also opened in [[Destin]].
==Restroom signage controversy==
Since McGuire's first opened in Pensacola in [[1977]], its restroom signage has been playfully misleading; for instance, the sign on the women's restroom door states "Men's Room" with the small text "This way to" above, as well as a hand pointing toward the adjacent men's restroom, and vice-versa. Many patrons do not notice the smaller text or hand and hence walk into the incorrect restroom. The signs are widely recognised as a long-running joke and tradition. Similarly misleading signage was installed in the Destin location upon its opening.
[[Image:McGDestinsignage.jpg|thumb|left|The Destin restroom signage, now removed]]In early [[May 2007]], a patron of the Destin restaurant named [[Chris Hall]] filed a complaint with the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR) after a man walked in on his fifteen-year-old daughter while she was in the women's restroom. Shortly thereafter, the Destin McGuire's was ordered by the DBPR to remove the confusing signage.<ref>[http://www.pensacolanewsjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200770517026 "McGuire's forced to change bathroom signs"] - ''Pensacola News Journal'', May 17, 2007.</ref> The ''News Journal'' later reported that more than 3,000 patrons of the Destin location signed a petition asking for the return of the old signage within a 10-day period.<ref>[http://www.pensacolanewsjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007705180338 "Girl's father finds little humor in landmark's infamous restroom signs"] - ''Pensacola News Journal'', May 18, 2007.</ref> General Manager Billy Martin defended the signs, saying "“We’re not trying to be malicious. It’s an Irish joke kind of thing.”<ref>[http://www.nwfdailynews.com/article/5298 "State forces McGuire’s to remove 'joke' restroom signs"] - ''Northwest Florida Daily News'', May 16, 2007.</ref>
The story was picked up by the [[Wikipedia:Associated Press|Associated Press]] and was published in various newspapers including the ''San Francisco Chronicle'' and the ''Seattle Post-Intelligencer'', as well as other national news outlets and online blogs and web sites.
The order to remove the confusing signage at the Destin location did not apply to the McGuire's in Pensacola. However, on [[May 24]], [[2007]], the ''News Journal'' reported that the Pensacola location had also been ordered to remove its similar signage after a DBPR inspection cited the restaurant for "lack of signage properly designating bathrooms".<ref>[http://www.pensacolanewsjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070524/NEWS01/705240318/1006 "Losing its bathroom humor"] - ''Pensacola News Journal'', May 18, 2007.</ref> Notably, the Destin restaurant was inspected in January 2007 (as well as many times over the past several years) and was not at any time cited for the signage.
==References==
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[[Category:Landmarks]] [[Category:Downtown restaurants]] [[Category:Bars & nightclubs]]