'Halfway House', 80 Halfway Road, Edenordinary, Dromore, Co Down, BT32 4HB

Halfway House, 80 Halfway Road, Edenordinary, Dromore

Halfway House is a long, plain two-storey gabled public house set on the north-west side of Halfway Road, approximately a mile north-east of Banbridge. The building is finished with a rendered façade and modern window frames throughout. Sources indicate that it assumed much of its present form in 1904, with large single-storey extensions added to the east end dating from the 1980s and 1990s.

The long front elevation faces roughly south and is asymmetrical in composition. Towards the centre-right is the pub front, featuring a pedestrian doorway with a relatively narrow panelled double door and louvered fanlight. Immediately to the left of this doorway, separated only by the jamb, is a large window with plain fixed light glazing. To the right of the doorway is a similar window, and further right again is another doorway, slightly broader and with a glazed fanlight bearing the word 'Bar'. Above this pub front ensemble is a traditional-style painted signboard with decorative end brackets. The far left-hand side of the front elevation contains a recent low vehicle doorway with a timber-sheeted double door. To the right of this is a window with a modern frame and non-functioning louvered shutters, followed by a pedestrian doorway leading to the domestic quarters. This doorway has a panelled door, plain fanlight and a cornice hood on decorative brackets, upon which a small statue of a lion has been placed. To the right of this domestic doorway is the pub front; to its right is another doorway similar to those previously described but without fanlight or hood. Further right is a window with modern frame and shutters as noted on the far left. All windows throughout the building are modern, either timber or uPVC; no sliding sashes remain.

The first floor features seven unevenly spaced windows. The five windows roughly to the centre are identical with shutters, whilst the window to the far left is much smaller and without shutters. The window to the far right has shutters and is slightly larger than the far left example. The west gable has a single window to the left on the first floor. To the left, the gable merges with the west face of a large single-storey lean-to.

The ground floor level of the east gable is completely covered by a large modern single-storey flat-roofed extension. On the south side, this links to a small single-storey gabled building with a whitewashed stone façade. This building has two small windows to its west gable, a small window to the left on the south face, and a slightly broader window to the east gable.

The rear elevation comprises, from left to right, the large flat-roofed single-storey extension; a large modern single-storey extension with a gabled roof; a smaller flat-roofed section, also modern; a small lean-to with a shallow pitched roof; and another lean-to with a steeper roof pitch. The latter two lean-tos extend from the rear of the original building. The small lean-to to the left sports a large window, whilst the one to the right has a partly glazed door, a small window, and another timber-sheeted door.

The first floor of the original building's rear elevation features three windows to the centre and centre-left. The window to the left is largely identical with the one to the right, which is broader and set at a slightly higher level.

The entire façade is finished in a Tyrolean-type render to the front, with largely plain render to the rear. The walls, which are not exclusively of this construction, are thin, suggesting largely brick construction. The main gabled roof is slated and has four symmetrically arranged rendered chimneystacks. The larger lean-to is slated, but the gabled portions of the extension are covered in artificial tile, whilst the smaller lean-to has a corrugated asbestos roof. A tall rendered chimneybreast and stack with a very tall pipe-like pot rises from the roof of the smaller lean-to. Small projecting lights appear under the verge to the front.

To the south-west of the building is a small single-storey gabled shed with a whitewashed rubble façade and roof covered as the main section of the pub. A large garden extends to the rear, with a large tarmac-covered car parking area to the west. A tarmac-covered forecourt with a line of small bollards runs along the roadside.