BREIFNE PUB, Flushing

by Kevin Walsh

The Breifne Pub at Crocheron Avenue and 169th Street in Flushing has a nifty illuminated sign with raised lettering, though I’m unsure if it works at night.

The name refers to a medieval Irish territory located in what are now the Counties Leitrim, Cavan, and Sligo.

The Crocheron name, meanwhile, is very old in Queens, and when Queens streets were mostly numbered in the 1910s and 1920s, Crocheron Avenue kept its name.

The Crocheron family lived on the edge of Little Neck Bay for centuries. The first family member to live in the area was John Crocheron, a farmer whose will dates from 1695. His long line of distinguished descendents include: Henry Crocheron, a Congressman from 1815 to 1817; Jacob Crocheron, a Congressman from 1829 to 1831; Nicholas Crocheron, a member of the 1854 State Assembly; and Joe Crocheron, a horse racer and gambler who was as renowned as Cornelius Vanderbilt and August Belmont. NYC Parks

All this time, though, I’ve been perplexed on how to pronounce it. My guess is  CRO-sher-on, with the CH pronounced like SH.

Is my guess correct?

5/25/15

5 comments

Luke May 25, 2015 - 7:35 pm

Any chance on getting info on the “Moon Pub”? It was on the corner of Eliot Av. & 72nd Str. in Maspeth, across from Our Lady of Hope and Middle Village. It was there from when I moved there in 1964 to sometime in the 1970s or beyond. Now it’s a cleaners, it was a drug store (when the drug store expanded), and I wish I had pictures. It was on the end of the strip of stores, next to the three gas stations (now one).

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George K October 23, 2017 - 3:30 pm

I remember the Moon Pub. I grew up on 74th and Eliot, and went to Our Lady of Hope. When I was 10 years old, I started working at the candy store three doors down from the pub. I used to put the Sunday newspapers together on Saturday and Sunday morning. The pub was a dark place, busier later at night, and the crowd that hung out at the pub was a tough bunch, and the owner was a connected guy. One morning, I arrived at the store at 645am to get started, and the area outside the bar was a crime scene. The night before, the owner was shot and killed while at his crowded bar, seemingly by a professional. The bar never reopened, and that’s when the drug store expanded.

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Tom Walsh May 26, 2015 - 5:07 pm

Your guess is correct. I have lived in or near Bayside since 1968. Worked at the Bayside Times. I never heard anyone pronounce it differently.

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Elbern Ed April 11, 2019 - 5:22 pm

I’ll second that. Your pronunciation is correct. The Breifne closed back in 2016, I believe. While the sign said, “Est. 1940”, it was O’Reilly’s back then, eventually became “Ryder’s” (or maybe vice-versa), then the Breifne. Regardless, it was a true “old man’s (dive) bar” back in my day, the late 60’s-70’s. But a good friendly place. They upgraded it when they changed it to Breifne’s and seemed to do well. Kinda a shame that it’s gone now . . . but aren’t they all?

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FlushTownB October 31, 2019 - 9:33 am

It actually just reopened in May 2019. The interior was been spruced up alot and its super clean all around. Beer selection is great and the prices unbeatable.

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