For nearly three decades, Ireland’s Four Provinces has been where Falls Church goes for a pint of Guinness, a plate of cottage pie and a window seat overlooking West Broad Street. Now two sets of government filings point to a possible change in ownership. A newly formed Alexandria company has raised $800,000 from investors in connection with the purchase of an existing business, according to a federal securities filing, and a state liquor license notice ties that company to the pub. When the News-Press called the restaurant, the staff who picked up either didn’t know what was happening or weren’t saying.
One of three directors named in that federal filing, each listed as a member of the new company’s executive committee, is Terence Richard McAuliffe, listed at 105 West Broad Street, the pub’s own address. That is also the full legal name of former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a Democrat who served from 2014 to 2018. The filing lists McAuliffe only by name and the pub’s address, and the News-Press has not been able to confirm whether he is the former governor. When the News-Press called the Alexandria law firm at the address listed on the company’s SEC filing, the firm would neither confirm nor deny it.
On Thursday, Oct. 29, the News-Press received a legal notice for an ABC license application filed by that company, Wicklow Entertainment Team LLC of Alexandria. The notice lists the trade name as Ireland’s Four Provinces at 105 West Broad Street and seeks a Mixed Beverage, Wine and Beer On and Off license, the full package a restaurant and bar needs to serve drinks on site and sell alcohol to go. It names Patrick Hallahan as the restaurant manager.
On Nov. 3, Wicklow filed a Form D with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission reporting that it sold $800,000 in equity to 27 investors, with a minimum investment of $20,000 and nothing left to sell. The filing says the offering was made in connection with an asset purchase of an existing business. The company was formed in Virginia this year, lists its business address at 119 North Henry Street in Alexandria and identifies its industry as restaurants. It declined to disclose revenue, and the filing does not state a purchase price or say whether any purchase has closed.
The other two directors are Robert Nealon, who signed the filing as executive manager and is listed at the Henry Street address, and Patrick Hallahan, who is also listed at the pub. The first sale of shares took place Oct. 26, and because the offering was made privately, the 27 investors are not publicly identified. One name is missing from every page. Colm Dillon, who bought the pub in 2004, is not named on either filing. That alone doesn’t show he has sold his stake or stepped away, and neither filing speaks to it.
The 4 P’s, as regulars call it, opened in Falls Church in 1997, according to the restaurant’s published business history. Eater DC has reported that it was established by Christy Hughes, a veteran of Washington’s famed Dubliner. Dillon, a County Cork native and former general manager of The Dubliner, bought the Falls Church pub in 2004, according to a 2013 Arlington Magazine interview, and became the face of the place. Under his ownership, the 4 P’s became the Wednesday night trivia, the weekend live music, the Sunday brunch crowd and the St. Patrick’s Day line down the sidewalk. It outlasted the original Four Provinces in Washington’s Cleveland Park, a Hughes pub later renamed Ireland’s Four Fields, which closed in 2012, according to local reporting at the time. Falls Church has watched plenty of restaurants come and go on Broad Street, but the 4 P’s stayed. Even the new company’s name carries an Irish echo: Wicklow is a county in Leinster, one of the four provinces the pub was named for.
When the News-Press called the pub to ask about the license application, the employee who answered the phone said they had no idea who Patrick Hallahan was. That’s a striking answer from a restaurant where state paperwork lists Hallahan as the manager and federal paperwork lists him at the pub’s address. The call was handed to another manager, who quickly said any questions would have to go through Colm Dillon. Dillon was not in the building.
Meanwhile, rumors about the pub’s future have been circulating online, and the News-Press cannot confirm or deny any of them at this time. What is on the record is in black and white: a new company, $800,000 from 27 unnamed investors, an asset purchase cited in a federal filing and a longtime owner whose name appears nowhere in the paperwork.
Under the legal notice, objections to the license application must be submitted no later than 30 days from the publication date of the first of two required newspaper legal notices. They can be registered with the Virginia ABC Authority at www.abc.virginia.gov or by calling (800) 552-3200.
The bigger questions are the ones regulars are already asking at the bar. Has a sale closed? Is Dillon stepping away entirely or keeping a role? Who are the 27 investors? Will the menu, the music and the faces behind the taps change? For a pub built on knowing your name, it’s strange that the staff who answered the News-Press’s call couldn’t say who’s in charge. We’re going to find out, and the News-Press will report it as soon as we can confirm it.
