The Lurig Inn, 1-5 Bridge Street, Cushendall, Co. Antrim, BT44 0RP

The Lurig Inn, 1–5 Bridge Street, Cushendall

The Lurig Inn is an attached four-bay, two-storey public house built over a concealed basement, constructed around 1880 and rendered throughout. It is accompanied by an attached three-bay single-storey wing, also over a concealed basement, to the southeast, and a large two-storey rendered extension over basement spanning the rear, added around 1984. The building was originally constructed as a private dwelling but had been converted to a public house by at least 1901. It was gutted by fire around 1983 and largely rebuilt shortly afterwards, meaning very little historic fabric survives either internally or externally. As a result, the building was removed from the statutory list in May 2017, having been listed since 1976.

The building sits on an irregular plan, faces southwest, and terminates a terrace of varied buildings lining the northeast side of Bridge Street on the west bank of the River Dall. The two-storey section has a pitched natural slate roof with black clay ridge tiles, while the southeast wing has a pitched artificial slate roof with synthetic ridge tiles. There is a red brick chimney stack to the southeast gable of the four-bay section. Rainwater goods are replacement steel throughout. All external walling is painted render.

Window openings are square-headed with painted concrete sills. The ground floor and southeast wing have replacement timber casement windows fitted with steel sill guards. On the two-storey southwest elevation, there is a square-headed door opening to the left giving access to the upper floor, and a further square-headed opening providing access to the public bar, which is flanked by large openings fitted with top-hung timber windows behind railings. The first floor of the two-storey section has four replacement 1-over-1 timber sliding sash windows with angled horns. Doors throughout are replacement sheeted hardwood. A painted panel between the ground and first floors reads 'THE LURIG INN'.

The single-storey southeast wing features applied architrave surrounds to its window openings and three multi-pane casement windows to the southwest elevation, each set behind modern metal railings. The southeast side elevation is finished in painted roughcast render to a blind gabled wall and carries a further painted panel with the inn's name. The northwest side of the building abuts the adjoining building at No. 7 Bridge Street. The rear elevation is abutted by the large gabled rendered two-storey extension. A rear access lane runs along the back of the extension, providing access to the basement.

The building has a notable history rooted in Cushendall's development as a popular seaside resort and stopping point for tourists travelling the Antrim Coastal Road during the 19th century. Valuation records show that three earlier houses on the site were demolished in 1880 to make way for the construction of Nos 1–5 Bridge Street. The new building was first recorded in the Annual Revisions with a total rateable value of £17, initially leased by the Turnly family to a local farmer, James Kenny. Following Kenny's death in 1900, the property passed to Catherine Kane. The 1911 Census of Ireland described it as a second-class public house and dwelling of seven rooms, with extensive outbuildings to the rear including two stables, two cow houses, a piggery, a fowl house, a boiling house, and a store.

Under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936–57), the building was known as the Lurig Bar, with its rateable value raised to £46 and 15 shillings. At that time it was occupied by local publican Michael Anderson, who also operated a pair of shops within the single-storey southeast extension. The Anderson family remained at the site until 1965, after which the bar was briefly held by Alexander Murray. By the end of the Second General Revaluation (1956–72), the value had risen further to £111 and 5 shillings, with a Mr S. Shields as operator. A 1972 Ulster Architectural Heritage Society guide recorded that the single-storey block housed a post office and a chemist's shop, and described the entire end block next to the bridge as "poor quality, but unobtrusive."

Bridge Street was included within the Cushendall Conservation Area in 1975 — only the second conservation area to be designated in the province — and in that same year Cushendall was selected as one of Northern Ireland's four pilot schemes for conservation during the European Architectural Heritage Year. The building was listed in 1976. Following the 1983 fire, it was rebuilt in 1983–84 broadly following its earlier layout. Around 1988, the shopfront in the southeast wing was removed and that block was incorporated into the public house. A second renovation around 1998 included internal reorganisation of the building.