Royal Bar, 5 The Diamond, Ballycastle, Co Antrim, BT54 6AW

The Royal Bar is a large, prominent three-storey former hotel, now a public house, located at the north-west corner of the Diamond in the centre of Ballycastle. It is of probable mid-18th century construction, dating to around 1740–1759, and represents one of the oldest buildings in the town.

The asymmetrical front elevation faces roughly south-east. The ground floor is largely occupied by a pub front of late 20th century date (circa 1967–1975), consisting of a large timber double door to the left with modern curved-cornered sidelights and fanlight, and a large window to the right with similarly curved corners and modern timber frame. The openings are flanked by somewhat stylised moulded fluted pilasters, with a cill course and tall base. The ensemble is topped with a painted signboard with projecting cornice. To the immediate left of the pub front is a large segmental-headed carriage archway with a recessed timber tongue-and-groove sheeted door.

The first floor contains three roughly evenly spaced windows with plain sash frames and lugged and heeled moulded surrounds. The second floor displays three similar windows whose surrounds touch the eaves. The front façade is finished in plain painted render with in-and-out quoins to the upper floors and a moulded eaves course.

To the rear, the site is occupied by a two-storey return which steps down beyond a parapet and gable chimney to a slightly lower level, with an assortment of single-storey sheds and flat roofs extending to the boundary and covering a dance floor below. The return is rendered with most windows as casements, though two sashes remain. Cast iron rainwater goods are mounted on brackets. The rear façade is cracked between windows. The gabled roof is covered in natural slate and abuts the roof of the adjacent property to the south-west at an angle. Large rendered chimney stacks stand at either end, with a parapet to the north-east end.

The building's history can be traced through valuation records. A first valuation of December 1834 records an old house in good order of similar dimensions on this site, occupied by Matthew Fullerton. As later valuations do not record major changes (excluding additions to the return), the 1834 house is assumed to be the present building. The property is likely the inn under Matthew Fullerton's management mentioned by Luke Connolly as being 'opposite the church' in his description of the town in 1816, and also recorded in Pigot & Co's Directory of 1824. It may correspond to Ballycastle's single inn mentioned in the Ordnance Survey Memoirs of September 1835, which afforded 'but indifferent accommodation for travellers'. Like many properties in Castle Street, it may date from circa 1740–1770, when the town assumed much of its present form under improving landlord Hugh Boyd. Its situation in the oldest part of town and its widely spaced windows suggest considerable age; it could well be one of Hugh Boyd's earliest additions to the settlement.

Subsequent occupants recorded in Slater's Directories include William Boal (1846) and William Nelson (1856), by which date it was known as 'Nelson's Royal Hotel'. By 1859 it was in the hands of messrs Thomas and James Knox, followed by Neill McGugan (circa 1865), James Laverty (1868), Catherine Laverty (1872), John McHenry (1873), and James McMichael (1885), in which year the valuers specifically refer to the building as a 'hotel'. An advertisement in Bassett's 1888 Directory refers to the establishment as 'The Royal Hotel'. McMichael remained resident until 1924, when the freehold was sold to Daniel Delargy. Later residents included Jane Spence (1947–51), Alex Hamilton (1951–53), and Joseph Laverty (1953–57+); the freehold appears to have been sold to Michael Scullion in 1953.

The building has been substantially altered, both inside and out, yet remains a property of considerable importance to the varied Georgian character of the town centre. It lies within a conservation area.