The Boston Licensing Board on Thursday approved plans by a downtown restaurant and bar group to branch out and buy the closed Dorset Hall, 367-271 Neponset Ave. in Dorchester, and re-open it as an Irish pub called McGonagle’s.

After putting $500,000 into interior renovations, the East Coast Tavern Group will open McGonagle's in late September or early October, its attorney, Andrew Upton, told the licensing board at a hearing on Wednesday.

Upton promised "the same atmosphere (as Dorset Hall) but with elevated food."

The group needed board approval to buy Dorset Hall's liquor license.

The East Coast Tavern Group owns several restaurants and bars in Boston Proper, including the Dubliner and Scholars downtown and Emmets Irish Pub and Carrie Nation on Beacon Hill.