Owens Public House, 50 Main Street, Limavady, Co Londonderry, BT49 OEU

Owens Public House is a two-storey, three-bay rendered terraced building on Main Street in Limavady, dating from a 1928 renovation of a much older structure. The building is Grade B2 listed.

The facade is a well-preserved example of 1920s vernacular classicism applied to the ground floor. Painted plaster quoins mark the corners. The entrance comprises double panelled doors with a rectangular fanlight stating the licensee's name, positioned centrally beneath a window and slightly wider than it. Sub-Doric pilasters flank either side of the entrance, each with a rose head at the neck and ribs on the shaft. Similar pilasters frame the wide flanking ground floor windows, which measure 1.5 metres across and have no sills. A plaster plinth course runs along the base of the facade, breaking outward at the pilasters. The upper storey contains four-pane sliding sash windows with painted stone cills and painted architrave moulding surrounds. Above the ground floor, an entablature features a glass panel in the frieze inscribed "Owens, wines, spirits". Angled lamps sit over the cornice.

The roof is natural slate with cast iron rainwater pipes and brick chimneys at each end of the ridge. The northeast gable is rendered and painted but features no windows or decorative details. A passage to the side with block wall access leads to the rear. A two-storey pitched-roof return projects from the main building at an angle, with a single-storey flat-roofed extension extending further back. An unusual step down occurs at the back of the main pitched roof where it abuts the neighbouring property. A metal framework supporting a canvas tent has been added to the rear yard since a previous survey to enable use of this space for functions.

The building is indicated on an 1831 map. The 1858 Griffiths Valuation lists Michael O'Doherty as the occupant, renting from William Douglas at a value of £6. Two photographs displayed in the bar show the building at the turn of the century, revealing a steeply pitched thatched roof over a storey-and-a-half building with a projection from the street line of approximately 700 millimetres along three-quarters of the facade. Thatch extended down over this projection to cover a sign reading "John Gynn" above the ground floor. The 1928 renovation created the present condition, and the building has remained largely unaltered since then, with the return extended as part of that renovation. The Owens family are descended from Mr Gynn.

The interior is notably untouched and of considerable character, retaining a room plan more reminiscent of domestic accommodation than a public building—a once-common vernacular type now largely disappeared from most pubs. The building is of significant local and social importance, offering rare evidence of local society and social customs that have largely been erased from other buildings in the area. Its well-preserved early 20th-century bar fitments and layout add distinctive interest and colour to Main Street.