McHughs Bar, 31-33 Queens Square, Belfast, Co. Antrim, BT1 3FG

McHugh's Bar, 31–33 Queen's Square, Belfast

McHugh's Bar is widely recognised as the oldest surviving building in Belfast, constructed around 1710–1715 as part of the Hanover Quay development undertaken by Isaac MacCartney between 1710 and 1720. It stands on reclaimed land that was then fronting the early 18th-century Hanover Quay — renamed Queen's Square in 1849 in honour of Queen Victoria's visit to Belfast that year. The building's great age went largely unrecognised until 1994, when Tom McErlean of the University of Ulster identified its historic significance. A subsequent archaeological survey by F. W. Hamond, undertaken prior to listing in 1997, concluded it was "by far the oldest building to have survived in Belfast," and noted that not even a single standing wall of pre-1769 date had previously been known to survive anywhere in the city, making the building's essentially intact condition especially remarkable.

Architectural Description

The original structure is an attached three-storey house with an attic over a basement, forming part of an early 18th-century terrace. It has a rectangular plan facing north onto Queen's Square, with a three-bay, three-storey principal frontage. This original building is now partially enclosed within a modern public house extension to the side (west) and to the rear.

The roof is pitched natural slate with cast-iron rainwater goods over stepped corbelled eaves. The external elevation is finished in painted lime render. S-profile tie-bar ends are visible to the upper floors of the external elevation. All original structural timbers are sawn pine and are considered to be of early date, offering valuable evidence of early construction techniques.

The windows are replacement exposed-box, six-over-six timber sashes with modern crown-effect glazing, set in plain reveals with projecting stone cills. The ground floor carries a modern traditional-style pub front consisting of timber pilasters, a hand-painted fascia, and multi-paned timber windows framing rendered stall-risers, with a half-glazed timber door to the centre and a further timber door to the right side.

The original gable — now contained within the modern bar extension and viewable from a series of internal galleries — is of particular significance. It is constructed using brick-nogging with early handmade bricks, a technique that is rare in the Northern Ireland context. The gable consists of a longitudinal frame, slightly curved in profile, infilled with handmade brick up to beam level at the original eaves. Embedded into the wall above this is a butt-jointed king post truss with struts, tied with iron cramps. Above the truss the wall rises to the present roof level, with a former gable opening to the left that has been infilled with brick.

The rear elevation is now contained within the modern public house extension and is rendered, with a modern feature window inserted. The east gable is abutted by a modern adjoining building. The west gable is retained as a feature wall within the triple-height extension of the modern public house.

Historical Development

MacLanachan's 1715 map of Belfast depicts the early 18th-century development of the Hanover Quay area and is believed to show the building at the corner of George's Quay and Prince's Street. The three-storey terrace is clearly recognisable in an engraving of Chichester Quay and High Street by T. M. Baynes dated 1831, which depicts the three-bay structure much as it appears today — prior to the application of a Victorian rendering that subsequently helped conceal its true age.

The building appears on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of Belfast (1832–33). The contemporary Townland Valuation records that No. 31 Queen's Square (then known as Nos 31–33) was valued at £8 2s. 9d. and occupied by a Mr Samuel Clotworthy, while the adjoining corner building at No. 29, then valued at £4 2s. 8d., was occupied by a Mr Henry Byrne.

By the time of Griffith's Valuation in 1860, the value of Nos 31–33 had risen to £22. This increase likely reflects a mid-19th-century alteration that included the application of a mid-Victorian rendering to both the interior and exterior brickwork. At that time the dwelling was leased by a Mr Thomas Chornside to Anne Quinn, a local spirit dealer. The 1861 Belfast Street Directory records that Quinn operated a spirit and coffee house from the premises — notably also the departure point for the Belfast, Newtownards and Portaferry mail car. The Quinn family would continue to occupy the site until the end of the Annual Revisions in 1930.

The adjoining No. 29 was at that time a private dwelling valued at £17, let by a Mr William Crawford to Charles Kirkpatrick, a grocer, who had vacated by 1862. By 1862 No. 29 was occupied by Mr Hugh Swan, who remained for approximately three decades. Towards the end of the 19th century Anne Quinn's daughters, Teresa and Mary Quinn, took possession of both Nos 29 and 31–33. The valuer noted that by 1894 they had "expended about £100 [on] flooring and windows" at No. 29. Nos 31–33 was by this time recorded as a public house, while No. 29 was converted into a tobacconist's shop, as recorded in the 1901 Belfast Street Directory. Mary Quinn died in 1898, after which Teresa (recorded in the 1901 Census as aged 54 and Roman Catholic) continued to operate the public house alone, residing in No. 33 and employing domestic servants and barmaids. The census building return described her three-storey premises as a first-class public house of six rooms; No. 29 was described as a shop and was not used as a private dwelling.

On Teresa Quinn's death in 1908 the property passed to her married sister, Eliza Galvin, who took over both sites. By the time Galvin inherited, the public house had increased in value from £22 to £65, presumably due to improvements carried out by Teresa and Mary Quinn. In 1911 Galvin successfully appealed the valuation, reducing the public house to £35 and No. 29 to £24. Galvin continued to operate the public house and tobacconist under her siblings' names (as recorded in the 1918 Belfast Street Directory) and remained at Nos 31–33 until the end of the Annual Revisions in 1930.

By the First General Revaluation of property in Northern Ireland in 1935, ownership had passed to a Mr W. J. Hendron, who also later became proprietor of a public house at No. 44 Church Lane (now the Roost Bar). The Hendron family had been forced to sell the Savoy Bar on Ann Street at the start of the Great Depression in 1930 and subsequently took on the former Quinn property; the bar was known as Hendron's Bar during this period and was managed for 25 years by the father of Dr Joe Hendron, a former West Belfast MP. The value was split between the public house at £40 and the upper-floor private dwelling at £21. The adjoining No. 29 was leased by a Mr E. Tiernan to Madeline McGarry, who continued to operate a shop from the premises, with a value of £40. By the Second General Revaluation (1956–1972), the public house had risen in value to £180 (with the upper dwelling remaining at £20), and No. 29 had risen to £76.

Pat McHugh, who gave the bar its current name, came into possession of the property around 1970 and operated the site until 1996, when it was sold in a poor state of repair to James Mooney of Botanic Inns Ltd. On recognition of its historical significance, the public house was closed for one year while a £1 million renovation programme was undertaken. The work re-established the façade and sought to restore the early 18th-century character of the dockside inn whilst retaining as many original interior features as possible, including a staircase. The greater part of the restoration was focused on the former Nos 31–33 Queen's Square (now simply No. 31) owing to the higher degree of preservation of its exterior and interior; the adjoining No. 29, which had been considerably altered over the years, was converted into a modern bar. Upon reopening in 1998, James Mooney stated his intention to create "a pub museum devoted to the history of the area, offering live entertainment and food and drink in three floors."

Setting

The building fronts directly onto Queen's Square — formerly Hanover Quay — on reclaimed land. Opposite, to the north, stands the Custom House. To the rear is the Oxford Street Bus Centre. The original early 18th-century gable is visible from within the modern bar extension through a series of internal galleries.