'The Inns', 69-73 Saintfield Road, Belfast, County Down, BT8 7HN

The Inns is a formal two-storey building dating to around 1835–6, built on the west side of Saintfield Road at its junction with School Road in Belfast. It was probably originally constructed as a hotel and is believed to be the first building erected along this section of Saintfield Road, which was laid out in the 1830s. The building is now listed as Grade B2.

The original structure had a distinctive U-shaped plan with projecting gabled end bays to left and right. A single-storey flat-roofed extension has since filled the former forecourt area, making the building square in plan. The façades are rendered and painted. The roof is covered in Bangor Blue slate with two rendered chimney stacks, each topped with five tall matching pots.

The front elevation faces east. The ground floor now contains three shop units and a ground floor entrance with stairs to the first floor. The left-hand ground floor shop has a timber glazed door and shop window, surmounted by a PVC awning and painted sign board. The left-hand projecting bay features a semicircular arched sash window (3 over 6) on the first floor, positioned centrally within a recessed semicircular arched panel and topped with a recently added wrought iron balcony. The right-hand projecting bay is similar in treatment. The right-hand ground floor is an aluminium-framed shop front glazed to floor level, with a shop unit to the left and door opening to the right. Above the flat roof of this extension runs a recent wrought iron hand rail matching the balconies. Each gable bears the painted name 'The Inns'. The recessed first floor has two equally spaced timber sash windows (3 over 6).

The south façade ground floor is largely obscured by an adjoining single-storey flat-roofed unit. The first floor has timber sash windows (3 over 6) positioned at the far left and right, with a further modern window left of centre. The north façade has a modern slot window to the far right at ground level, and timber sash windows (3 over 6) at the far left and right of the first floor. The west façade retains the original configuration with gables to left and right and a centrally placed timber sash window (3 over 6) to the upper portion, though the ground floor is now largely obscured.

Historically, the Ordnance Survey map of 1834 marks only the road outline with no buildings present. The property appears to be the 'lately built...clean and well kept' hotel mentioned in the Ordnance Survey Memoirs of 1837. By 1858 the building was shown with large outbuildings to the rear, probably stables. The original building included an enclosed yard accessed from the rear, with a tall wall to the north side and a part single and part two-storey outhouse to the west side; the two-storey section has been demolished. The east side may also have been enclosed by a wall. The yard area is now almost entirely covered by various flat-roofed single-storey extensions serving the shops.

In the 1923 directory, the property owner was Francis Bamford, who used the building as a store for dairy produce as a milk vendor. In 1961 the property was leased to Northern Bank, who occupied it until around 1974 when it became a branch of Trustee Savings Bank. By 1980 it housed an insurance broker, later succeeded by estate agents. The ground floor adopted its present modern appearance around 1961 when it became a bank branch. The building remains a local landmark despite significant alterations to its ground floor.