8-12 Main Street, Randalstown, Antrim, Co Antrim, BT41 3AB

A two-storey building of late 18th or early 19th century origin, standing on Main Street in Randalstown as part of a terrace facing directly onto the front pavement. The building has lost most of its original exterior and interior features but retains its notably fine main entrance doorway, and continues to contribute to the character of the conservation area.

The north-facing entrance elevation is nine windows wide to the first floor. The roof is covered in Bangor blue slates in regular courses with dark toned ridge tiles, and features one chimney near the right-hand end, smooth cement rendered with a projecting base and plain projecting cornice. The wall is smooth rendered, lined and blocked, with a projecting eaves course and timber eaves board. Windows to the first floor are modern rectangular timber fixed lights with top-hung vents containing leaded glazing.

The ground floor is divided into a public house to the left and an off-licence to the right of a segmental arched main doorway, with a segmental open archway to the right-hand extremity. At the extreme left, the pub shop front comprises four panelled pilasters with moulded bases and capitals surmounted by a timber frieze with a moulded dentil cornice and raised nail-head panels to each extremity. To its left is a rectangular timber fixed light window with etched finish, set in plain reveals and recessed cill; to its right is a modern rectangular timber 6-panel door in a plain frame with a modern tiled doorstep continuous from the porch interior.

To the right of the pub front is an elliptically arched recessed doorway containing a rectangular timber 8-panel door recessed between plain timber pilasters with moulded capitals. The doorway is flanked by rectangular sidelights with original decorative looped glazing, and the fanlight above has original radial and looped glazing. The archway features panelled reveals and soffit. The recessed doorstep sits at a lower level than the pavement and includes an iron bootscraper to the right-hand side. The doorway is fitted with a modern metal letterbox and door knocker.

To the right of the arched doorway is the off-licence shop front, of similar character to the pub front but with three pilasters instead of four, the central one broad, positioned between the window and door. The window is a large modern timber fixed light set in plain reveals with a projecting painted stone or concrete cill. The doorway contains a modern rectangular timber 4-panel door with a plain rectangular fanlight and plain reveals, and a cement doorstep. Antique-style painted metal lamps are mounted on the wall to each side of the off-licence front.

To the right of the off-licence shop front is a single window, a rectangular timber fixed light with top-hung vent, set in plain reveals with a projecting painted concrete cill and moulded surround. At the extreme right-hand end is a segmental-arched vehicle entrance containing a recessed rectangular steel roller door set in a wooden frame with a rendered tympanum. The archway has a moulded surround rising from a cement base block at the left-hand side. Plain rendered reveals and soffit are visible except for the rusticated quoins of the adjacent building at the right-hand side. A plastic and metal pub sign is mounted on the wall over the archway. The vehicular entrance is surfaced with tarmac; the side walls are of basalt rubble with what appears to be original lime mortar with some later cement repairs; the ceiling is of modern plywood panels.

The rear elevation consists of the main two-storey front block with a long two-storey return at the right-hand side. The main block roof is covered in synthetic slates in regular courses. The walling is rendered with a dry dash of white limestone chippings swept over a smooth rendered plinth, with a timber eaves board and PVC gutter and downpipes. A later steel framed balcony and external staircase are located to the left-hand side, with a modern rectangular doorway and window in the first floor opening onto a concrete paved balcony. A canted bay to the right-hand side has a modern PVC door and windows to the first floor, with a rectangular flush timber glazed door and modern rectangular timber window to the ground floor.

The rear return is of similar walling with similar rainwater goods and similar modern rectangular timber windows—fixed lights with side-hung casements and top-hung vents—and a flat asphalt-covered roof. The rear wall of the front block to the right of the rear return is one window wide to the first floor, with smooth cement rendered walling angled back at the right-hand extremity, synthetic slates to the roof also angled back at the right-hand extremity, and PVC gutter and downpipe. The ground floor contains a rear doorway from the front bar room leading into a rear alley, which is partly enclosed by a corrugated perspex roof. A flat roofed single storey extension extends beyond the rear alley.

The rear of the building comprises a tarmac yard between the main block and the return, with the tarmac driveway continuing to a larger rear yard surfaced in concrete, bounded on both sides by a basalt rubble wall and containing a small single storey garage and funeral parlour block. At the end of the larger yard is a grassed garden.

The date of the building is uncertain. Buildings are shown on the Ordnance Survey map of 1829, but those appearing on the map appear to be smaller than structures shown on the 1858 Ordnance Survey map. Old photographs show sashed windows in the front façade and original detailing to the shop fronts, now altered. The building was renovated in 1973 when owned by the Marrion family and was sold to the present owners around 1997.