Central Bar, 30 William Street, Cookstown, Co Tyrone, BT80 8NB

Central Bar is a terraced three-storey house and pub at 30 William Street, Cookstown, County Tyrone, originally constructed in the early 18th century. It is a good example of a commercial building in an urban vernacular style that evolved over time into a middle-sized townhouse and late Victorian pub, refurbished in the 1930s but retaining the atmosphere of a small, local drinking establishment. As an intact and rare survival of a type of premises once common in county towns throughout the Province, it contributes greatly to the individuality of Cookstown and stands as a record of the changing social circumstances of its owners and inhabitants, representing an important aspect of local history.

The building is roughly rectangular in plan, with a three-storey pitched return to the rear and a further two-storey extension attached beyond that. It sits on the east side of William Street within the commercial area of Cookstown. External walls to the front and sides are painted render; the rear elevation is unpainted render. The roof is covered in natural slate, with a simple rendered chimney to the north. Rainwater goods throughout are cast iron.

The front (west) elevation faces directly onto William Street. At ground floor level there is a traditional shopfront featuring a large single-light shop window to the left, set on a rendered stall riser with a painted timber sill. To the right is a square-headed recessed double doorway with a painted timber door and an overlight above; the inner porch has glazed and panelled timber double doors. Panelled pilasters frame the shopfront and rise to support a painted fascia, above which sits a projecting carved timber cornice. At the upper levels, the windows are 2/2 timber sliding sash frames set on painted cut-stone sills.

The rear elevation is largely obscured by the returns. The three-storey pitched return has square-headed 2/2 timber sliding sash windows to the rear east elevation, and an assortment of timber windows to the north. Its roof is slated with a rendered chimney at the apex of the rear east gable. The two-storey rendered pitched return has an irregular assortment of square-headed timber sash windows, a natural slate roof, and a central replacement brick chimney. Rainwater goods to the returns are also cast iron.

The building fronts directly onto William Street, which largely comprises a mixture of two-storey and three-storey Victorian buildings within the commercial district of Cookstown.

The site is shown as developed on Ordnance Survey maps of 1833–34 and 1857. In the first valuation of 1835 the building — which appears to be the structure still standing today — is described as a 'not new' structure in the possession of a Doctor Young, with recorded dimensions of 18ft × 20½ × 35ft for the main section, two returns measuring 12½ × 20 × 22½ and 14 × 20 × 14, and outbuildings of 27½ × 20 × 15 and 43 × 20 × 10, the latter being thatched. The building was given a rateable value of £10-11-5, rising to £14 in the valuation revision of 1838. By 1859 the property was in the hands of a Mary White, with a Robert Harkness as immediate lessor, and the building rated at £24. In 1862 a William [surname uncertain] is recorded as occupant, followed by Joseph McAleer in 1863. In 1868 the property was subdivided, with a Jane Newberry noted as having use of one of the outbuildings, which remained a separate concern for some years. James E. Treanor became occupant of the main building in 1874, succeeded by Elizabeth McGivern in 1884, James Malone in 1885, and Anne Jane Malone in 1888.

The valuation revision book of 1889–99 records the property as a public house for the first time, though it may well have functioned as one for some years prior to this: both Joseph McAleer and James E. Treanor are recorded in 1870s and 1880s directories as publicans and spirit and porter dealers on William Street. Thomas McGurk became tenant in 1913, followed by Robert Turner in 1921, Jane Turner around 1940, and Geraldine Turner (later Geraldine Green) around 1955. Geraldine Green acquired the freehold in 1963, by which stage Patricia McCann is recorded as occupant, a situation that appears to have remained the same until at least 1972.