Paddy’s Lunch

Paddy’s Lunch is a North Cambridge dive bar and the oldest family-owned pub in the city, pouring cold beer since 1934. Despite the name, one dive bar guide notes that it doesn’t actually serve lunch. Instead it offers well-priced drinks, a timeless room and a crowd that mixes longtime neighborhood regulars with newcomers. People come to catch a game, throw darts or settle in for good conversation, and the bar has long served everyone from firefighters and lawyers to local politicians.

Irish immigrants Patrick and Margaret Fennell opened Paddy’s in 1934, just after Prohibition ended. Their daughter, Margaret “Peggy” Fennell Ryan, took over in the 1960s with her husband, Harry “Bubby” Ryan, and in 1998 Peggy’s daughter Ruth Ryan Allen became the owner she remains today. That makes three generations of women from the same family running the bar for some 90 years.

What to Know

• For the past 13 years, Paddy’s has hosted a 5K that raises money for girls’ sports.
• Media round-ups have listed it among Boston’s essential dive bars.
• The bar is listed as women-owned with the Cambridge Chamber of Commerce.
• Patrons are invited to share their own Paddy’s moments.