There's a new bar coming to Fort Worth that will fill a mostly unfilled niche: the Irish pub. The bar is called Trinity College Irish Pub, and it will open in the West 7th corridor at 910 Currie St., formerly home to Tortaco, the Mexican taco and bowls concept which closed in 2018.

Trinity College comes from Alan Kearney, a native of Dublin, Ireland who moved to the Dallas-Fort Worth area in 2011. He's owned bars in Dublin and Dallas, including Crafty Irishman Pub in downtown Dallas, and has a clear sense of how a true Irish pub should feel.

"For me, an Irish pub is about proper food, proper service," he says. "Some Irish pubs are like an Irish pub fantasy, but I take a more modern approach of a cosmopolitan bar you might find in Dublin. I love the warm wood feel of bars in Ireland, but we also embrace the sports bar aspect. We believe in good conversation — but if there's a good fight or a good game on, we like to show it."

"It's also there in the training of our staff, that they're warm and friendly, that we serve proper pints of Guinness correctly and at the right temperature, and that we have knowledge of hundreds of Irish whiskeys and Scotches," he says.

Kearney came to Dallas because of his wife Leigh. She works for Delta Airlines and is among the small 8 percent of female pilots. They met while she was visiting Dublin, and he followed her back to Texas.

"She's the reason I'm here," he says. "I still remember that one of the first places she took me was Billy Bob's, and it was such an amazing Texas moment. We danced, and I was so impressed that they host big-name performers you'd hear about in Ireland."

At Trinity College, they'll have live music by traditional and local bands, as well as a menu of authentic Irish fare.

"We make all our food and use local vendors," he says. "Many of our recipes are traditional Irish dishes, but sometimes with a modern twist. We have a modern take on corned beef and cabbage that's stacked. We do shepherd's pie, Irish stew, and our fish and chips."

He's hoping to build a splendid patio, and targets late spring for his opening date, depending on city permits and other variables.

He'll do late-night hours both for the night owls and for the student population at nearby TCU, which helped inspire the bar's name.

"And Trinity is for the Trinity River, plus the reference to Trinity College in Dublin, it clicked in so many ways," he says.