Central Bar, 7 Bridge St., Cushendall, Co.Antrim

Central Bar, 7 Bridge Street, Cushendall, County Antrim

The Central Bar is a terraced four-bay, three-storey rendered commercial building constructed around 1850, predating its first appearance in Griffith's Valuation of 1859. It stands on the northeast side of Bridge Street, between No. 9 to the northwest and The Lurig Inn at No. 5 to the southeast, forming part of a terrace of similarly scaled buildings lining that side of the street. The building originally comprised two separate private dwellings and has operated as a public house since around 1883, though it was not merged into a single property until around 1911.

Architectural Description

The building is rectangular on plan, facing southwest. Its pitched roof is covered in natural slate with terracotta ridge tiles, and three symmetrically placed rendered profiled chimneystacks with terracotta pots rise above the roofline. Cast-iron guttering runs along a moulded eaves course, with cast-iron downpipes. The walling is painted in a ruled-and-lined render finish, with rusticated rendered quoins and frieze panels below the eaves.

The window openings are square-headed with painted masonry sills and replacement 4/4 timber sliding sash windows with ogee horns. At first-floor level, four evenly spaced windows are set within moulded architrave surrounds with keystones. Four smaller but similar windows appear at second-floor level, without surrounds, aligned with those below.

The ground floor is dominated by a painted stucco pub shopfront spanning the full width of the façade. The lower half of the ground floor features channel-rusticated walling, with two fixed-pane display windows containing etched glass and three square-headed door openings. The pub entrance has double-leaf timber panelled doors within kneed architrave surrounds with keystones, and replacement double-leaf timber panelled and glazed doors. All openings are flanked by flush rendered piers with plain panels below the full-span fascia. A plain painted fascia is surmounted by a full-span lead-lined cornice. The stucco façade details to Bridge Street are of fine quality and characteristic of a late 19th-century public house shopfront.

The rear elevation is in unpainted cement render. A two-storey lean-to extends across the full width of the rear, itself extended to the full extent of the site as a single-storey flat-roofed addition built around 1980. A steel fire escape at second-floor level runs the full length of this rear extension and crosses the rear access lane. The northwest side abuts No. 9 Bridge Street and the southeast side abuts The Lurig Inn at No. 5.

The interior retains some original historic detailing and much of its original plan form, though internal refurbishment carried out in 1989–90 included the removal of the original Victorian-era snugs.

Historical Background

Cushendall developed during the 19th century into a popular seaside resort and stopping-off point for tourists travelling along the Antrim Coastal Road. The 1901 Ulster Town Directory described the village's hotels as "comfortable and well conducted" and noted that it provided "an excellent centre for making excursions to view the far-famed scenery of the Antrim Coast." The Central Bar was one of a number of commercial buildings established in the village during this period of growth.

When first recorded in Griffith's Valuation in 1859, the building comprised two private dwellings, each valued at £9, and the Ordnance Survey Town Plan of 1903 confirms it was still divided into a pair of similarly sized two-bay properties at that date. The premises were originally leased from the Turnly family to a Mr Sampson Trick and a Ms Catherine McAlister. The McAlister family remained at the site until the 1920s, while the other occupant changed with considerable frequency over the following four decades. According to the Annual Revisions, the McAlister family converted their half of the property into a public house around 1883, while the adjoining house fell vacant in 1898.

By 1911 the two halves had been combined into a single property, and the Annual Revisions set the total rateable value at £30. The 1911 Census of Ireland recorded the enlarged public house as occupied by Patrick McAlister, described as a local spirit dealer and flesher. The census building return classified it as a first-class public house and dwelling containing 13 rooms, with a range of rear outbuildings including a stable, two cow houses, a piggery, a fowl house, a boiling house, and a store. McAlister remained at No. 7 Bridge Street until his death in 1917, after which the premises were occupied by a Mr John Maguire.

Under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936–57), the public house was valued at £47. The building was occupied by a succession of tenants until 1956, when Alexander McDonnell took possession. McDonnell purchased the property outright from the Turnly estate in 1967 and continued to reside there into at least the 1970s; by the end of the Second General Revaluation (1956–72), the total rateable value stood at £70. In 1972, the Ulster Architectural Heritage Society described the building as "a tall stucco three-storey four-bay building with quoins and fanciful architraves on the ground and first floors."

The buildings along Bridge Street were included in the Cushendall Conservation Area in 1975 — only the second conservation area to have been designated in the province at that time, a distinction described as testimony to the special qualities of the village. In the same year, Cushendall was selected as one of Northern Ireland's four pilot schemes for conservation during the European Architectural Heritage Year. No. 7 Bridge Street was listed in 1976.

Following the interior refurbishment of 1989–90, which removed the original Victorian snugs, the upper floors were converted to bed and breakfast accommodation in 1998.

The Central Bar continues to contribute to the social life of the village and is of recognised local interest.