Terry and Molly Donnelly opened The Shamrock on December 9th, 1970 Well, in a couple week’s The Shamrock is moving to a new location—4501 N. Rockwood.

While I’m looking forward to seeing The new Shamrock, I’m kind of sad to see the old one go. I started drinking in here in 1975 when I was a junior in high school, armed with a fake I.D.

So please join me for some last shots of The Shamrock on what’s probably going to be my last visit to this location.

Here we are at the Shamrock. I first walked through these doors in 1975.

An unlit shamrock sign looms overhead.

But the neon is still blazing in the front window.

In the center of it all is a Shamrock circling the first and probably last type of beer I'll drink in this location.

The first thing you see once you're inside is the "Soups of the Day."

There's plenty of seats at the bar, which I guessed there would be, seeing it's the night after New Year's Day. Let's go snag one.

Friendly bartender Nate serves up the aforementioned bottle of Budweiser. He said he'll be working at the new place, so we'll see him there.

The patent-pending shot of the taps for Spike.

Obligatory bar room mirror shot in my goofy yellow work shirt!

There's a couple of tables in the front room to sit at.

A mother's letter. This has been on the wall for as long as I can remember. Which means it may have just been put up a few days ago.

There's a back room for parties behind the bar. And here's a fuzzy-wuzzy photo of it.

One of the windows of the room is filled with miniatures filled with Irish whiskey and adorned with the word, "Donnelley's" at the top.

There's more miniatures in the other window and this one is festooned with the popular name for the bar: "Shamrock." It's not often in life you get the chance to write the word, "festooned," and I'm happy for this opportunity that just gobsmacked me across my forehead. Oh, happy day!

And here's the back room. If you want to have one last party in here, you better book it soon!

There's lots of pictures and knick-knacks on the walls and I'm assuming they'll all be transferred to the new joint.

Authentic Irishman for hire!

A framed vintage ad for Boyd's old Irish whiskey hangs on a wall in the back room.

Right through your fingers, time it slips away. Just waiting on the countdown.

A framed article from the Journal Star hangs on a wall in the front room.

Wooden tables and booth's are set up in the back room.

Lamps hang over the booths, illuminating them in a glow of electric light.

A longshot of the highly-polished wooden bar that I've sunk my elbows into many times over the last four decades.

One last look out of the front neon-lit window and I'm out of here and gone like a cool breeze. Thanks for the memories, Shamrock, see you in the new location.

Donnelly’s Pub
4908 N. Renwood Avenue
Peoria
309-693-3735

New Location (Opening in mid-January):
4501 N. Rockwood

Further Reading: Beer Advocate, Central Illinois Proud and Facecrack.