Mc Bride'S, 2 Main Street, Cushendun, Co.Antrim

McBride's, 2 Main Street, Cushendun, is a modest two-storey, four-bay public house built around 1849, the architect unknown. It occupies a corner site at the junction of Main Street and Knocknacarry Road, directly facing north-east onto the street, and sits immediately to the north of the River Dun within the heart of the village of Cushendun. The building is located within both a Conservation Area and a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, with panoramic views of the coastline and the North Sea to the north-east.

The building has a rectangular plan with a pitched natural slate roof. It is white painted rendered throughout, set on a plinth painted in a contrasting colour that steps down a gentle slope along Main Street towards the Glendun River. The roof has black ridge tiles and two white painted rendered chimney-stacks at mid-ridge, each topped with terracotta clay pots. Eaves are stepped, with out-and-up iron brackets supporting half-round cast-iron guttering discharging to circular section downpipes. The south-east gable end has a concrete coping stone.

The principal north-east elevation faces directly onto Main Street and is accessed via a tarmac footpath. It features a single-storey gabled entrance porch, positioned off-centre, with a pitched slate roof, a vertically sheeted painted timber door to the south-east side and a two-over-two timber sliding sash window to the north-east side. The fenestration across the elevation is irregular: there is a single vertically sheeted painted timber entrance door to the right side, not aligned with the first-floor bays, and a mix of six-over-six, two-over-two and one-over-one timber sliding sash windows. All windows are of small-pane 'Georgian style' with horns and exposed box frames painted in a contrasting colour, incorporating a cottage style within the overall facade design. First-floor bays have moulded architrave surrounds. Shop signage above the left-side ground-floor bay reads 'M. McBride's'.

The south-east side elevation extends the full length of the site and includes a two-storey rear return, a rear yard and a single-storey outbuilding, all enclosed by a high white painted wall accessed from the south-east side. The main gable is blank, topped by a rendered chimney-stack. The walling along this elevation is of roughcast render with a white painted finish. The rear return has a vertically sheeted painted timber door with glazed top panes at ground floor and a small one-over-one timber sliding sash window at first floor above. To the left of the rear return there is a high roughcast rendered wall with a recessed doorway containing a vertically sheeted painted timber door leading to the rear yard. The roughcast rendered outbuilding elevation is blank with concrete copings. The north-west side of the building is adjoined to the neighbouring property at No. 4 Main Street.

The south-west rear elevation overlooks a modest rear yard. Where visible, it has a one-over-one timber sliding sash window to the left side, with the rear return abutting the elevation to the right. The north-east elevation of the rear return has two one-over-one timber sliding sash windows at first floor.

No. 4 Main Street immediately adjoins the building, and both properties face directly onto Main Street within close proximity to the village square. The building has substantial group value alongside the many other buildings of similar style within its immediate setting.

The village of Cushendun developed from the early 19th century, when travel across mainland Europe was cut off by the Napoleonic Wars and Ireland became a popular destination for British tourists. The previously isolated Glens of Antrim became accessible following the construction of the Coastal Road between 1832 and 1842, transforming villages such as Cushendun from minor settlements into popular seaside resorts. A number of summer houses and bathing lodges were built along the coast during this period, including the impressive residences of Glenmona Lodge and Glendun Lodge at Cushendun. No. 2 Main Street was constructed following, or contemporary with, the laying out of the coastal road and the initial development of the village.

The building has been licensed as a public house since 1849. It was first depicted on the second edition Ordnance Survey map of 1857 and appeared in Griffith's Valuation of 1859, where it was valued at £7 and recorded as leased by Edmund McNeill, a prominent local landowner who resided at Cushendun House (now demolished), to John McBride, a local publican. The McBride family remained at the address until around 1983. The Ordnance Survey town plan of 1904 depicts No. 2 Main Street in its current layout and suggests that the two-storey rear return is an original feature. John McBride operated the public house and resided on the site until his death in 1902, when the building passed to his daughter Elizabeth McBride. The 1911 Census building return described the property as a first-class public house and dwelling of nine rooms, with outbuildings including a stable, a cow house, a piggery and a fowl house. Elizabeth McBride remained as occupant under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936–57), by which time the rateable value had risen to £18. Ownership passed from the McNeill family to the National Trust in 1954. The Second General Revaluation (1956–72) raised the value further to £27, and from 1969 recorded a Ms. Mary McBride as occupant. The 1972 Ulster Architectural Heritage Society Guide for the Glens of Antrim described the building as 'Mary McBride's pub, a pleasant two-storey building of about 1850 with quoins and architraves.'

The building was listed in 1980, the same year it was included in the Cushendun Conservation Area, designated to protect and enhance the special qualities of the village. Mary McBride continued to operate the public house until her death in 1983, after which the pub was administered by the National Trust. Before its renovation, the original public area of the bar amounted to a single tiny bar measuring five feet by nine feet six inches, making it one of the smallest pubs in Ireland. In 1995 the building was closed for interior renovations costing £100,000, which included the conversion of living quarters into additional bar space. The pub reopened in 1997 and continues to be used as a public house. At the time of the survey the pub was closed for the winter months, with the upper floors in use as a private dwelling.