Off the top, Bob Ryan wanted to clear up one misconception about his new business venture.

"I've heard some people say that an Irish pub was opening at the old Piccadilly Pub. No," said Ryan. "A pub will be opened at the old Piccadilly Pub that will be opened by an Irishman."

Ryan appeared before the Tewksbury Board of Selectmen Tuesday night at Town Hall, asking for a liquor license for a restaurant to be known as John Ryan's Pub. The restaurant, said Ryan, will be named after his 24-year-old son.

Ryan, a Lowell resident, has more than three decades in the restaurant business and is currently the senior manager of the Ninety-Nine Restaurant in Lowell. He said he has also worked for Nine-Nine's in Andover and Tewksbury and was first with the Tewksbury location when it opened as a Weathervane restaurant.

John Ryan's Pub will be his first independent venture and he said he is looking forward to the challenge.

"I'm just really excited about this -- that location and the history that’s its got," said Ryan, who is leasing the space. "We're gonna do the right thing and bring some business to this town and get involved (in the community)."

While the exterior walls of the old Piccadilly Pub have been painted green, Ryan said his restaurant will be more "pub" than "Irish" with a comittment to quality food and a friendly atmosphere. He said the restaurant will be open from 11 a.n. to 11 p.m., seven days a week, while the bar will be opened from 11 a.m. to 1 a.m., seven days a week.

The Board of Selectmen granted Ryan his liquor license Tuesday but he was unable to provide a timetable for when the new restaurant will open. He must still gain approval from the ABCC, the state agency overseeing establishments serving liquor.

The building has been vacant since Piccadilly Pub closed in April.