At left, Ed Sheeran walking into Boston pub The Dubliner on Monday, March 17, 2025 — St. Patrick’s Day. At right, a crowd forms outside the bar while Sheeran plays.
[This story first appeared on Boston Restaurant Talk.]
It looks like one of the biggest names in music has something in the works on the North Shore, but some questions remain.
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According to a message sent from @IrishEyesPhoto1, Ed Sheeran is apparently behind The Old Phone, a pub that is getting ready to open in Ipswich. An article from Northshore Magazine mentions that "Ed Sheeran is rumored to be building a pub in Ipswich, Massachusetts, this spring" while The Local News says that the town select board has approved of a one-day wine and malt application and a weekday entertainment license for the place on Friday, March 28 at the Old Mill building on the southern edge of Ipswich's downtown area, which brings up the question of whether this is simply just a popup event or the introduction of a permanent spot.
A check on the website for the pub also mentions the March 28 date while an Instagram post from Ed Sheeran HQ refers to the Old Phone website.
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Sheeran, who is from Ipswich, England, was recently in Boston, including making a trip to The Dubliner Pub, where he played an acoustic set.
Sheeran was on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" on Wednesday night and was asked about the venture. He described it as sort of a pop-up venture to promote his new song "Old Phone."
"You're doing your own pub over in Massachusetts, over in Ipswich, Massachusetts -- this Friday, in fact, and you'll be there," Fallon said.
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"You know what's interesting about this pub, it'll stand for two days," Sheeran said. "The music video is basically the build of the pub with everyone locally, and then to get entry to it, you have to go on your old phone and find an old messge that means a lot to you or a video that means a lot to you and send it in and then afterwards we're going to project them on the wall. It's gonna be cool. We're serving like Guinness and like tater tots and [expletive]. It's gonna be so cool."
You can watch the full "Tonight Show" clip below. The portion about the Ipswich pub starts around the 7:45 mark:
As soon as we get more information on The Old Phone, we will post an update here.
Follow Marc on Bluesky at @marchurboston.bsky.social
[A related post from our sister site (Boston's Hidden Restaurants): List of Restaurant Closings and Openings in the Boston Area]
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