95 Main Street, Garvagh, Co. Londonderry, BT51 5AB

A three-bay two-storey-with-attic mid-terrace commercial building with modern shop-front insertion, predating 1832 and remodelled in the mid-nineteenth century. Located on the east side of Main Street in Garvagh town centre, the building has a mid-Victorian appearance but has been significantly altered by enlarged ground-floor openings and replacement uPVC windows.

The rectangular building sits on a pitched artificial slate roof with rendered chimneystacks. Cast-iron half-round rainwater goods run along a moulded eaves course, with cast-iron downpipes and a hopper. The walling is painted smooth render on a contrasting plinth with raised quoins. Windows are replacement uPVC set in moulded architraves with keyblocks and corbels beneath the sills.

The west-facing principal elevation has been substantially altered at ground floor. The original central entrance—a replacement panelled-and-glazed timber door with transom light, flanked by fluted pilasters and surmounted by a plain entablature and cornice—survives, but it is now accompanied by a modern entrance at the left with double-leaf timber panelled doors fronted by a metal roller shutter and metal fascia. A traditional-style shop-front occupies the right, comprising a plate-glass window on a painted render stall riser, flanked by fluted pilaster jambs and topped by a plain timber fascia. Three windows light the first floor, with the outer pair being wider than the centre. The north gable features a diminutive two-over-two timber sash window at attic level, with an adjoining lower building abutting at first-floor level. The east (rear) elevation has a first-floor window opening to the left with concrete block infill, and a modern single-storey extension abuts at ground floor. The south elevation is blank at ground level; upper floors are fully abutted by an adjoining building, with a ground-floor coach-arch opening.

The building is street-fronted with an enclosed yard to the rear.

Historical notes: The Canning Arms Bar takes its name from the Canning family, Barons of Garvagh, descendants of George Canning, first agent of the Ironmongers Company in County Londonderry. A building has occupied the site since at least the 1830s. The present structure appears on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1832 and is listed in the Townland Valuation of 1828–40 as the residence of Mrs Spencer, valued at £13. By Griffith's Valuation of 1856–64, the premises was listed as a hotel run by Hugh Rea, later falling vacant. The property boasted a well-enclosed yard and garden, with £150 spent on repairs; the rent was £16. Subsequently taken over by John Johnston (proprietor of the 'Canning Arms Hotel' by 1901), then Joseph O'Kane in 1921, followed by Mary Conway. The First General Revaluation of the 1930s shows the building consisted of a bar and parlour with bottling room, stables, shed and earth closet to the rear. The dwelling above the bar was by then uninhabitable with fallen ceilings and rotten floors. Sales records from the 1930s indicate the bar did 'fairly good business', averaging 88 gallons of whiskey, 500 dozen bottles of stout, 30 dozen bottles of beer, 5 dozen bottles of wine and 8 dozen bottles of minerals annually. The building was delisted on 26 March 2014. In 2004, permission was sought to rebuild the rear and alter the front elevation to provide a new clubhouse for Garvagh Rangers Supporters Club. The ground floor has since been radically altered with the installation of a shop-front and doorway, both fitted with shutters. Original sash windows to the first floor have been replaced.