'The Murlough Tavern', 143-145 Main Street, Dundrum, Newcastle, Co Down, BT33 0LX

The Murlough Tavern is a two-storey terraced public house on the north side of Main Street, Dundrum, situated at the eastern end of a short terrace. The building assumed its present form in 1898, though it may incorporate an earlier structure dating from around 1862. Alterations carried out around the time of listing in 1980, and a further extension in the late 1980s, have reduced its overall architectural and historic interest, though the building remains significant within the streetscape of Dundrum and as part of a group of listed buildings along Main Street. A scheme to restore character to the front elevation was approved in 2008, and the listing is due to be reviewed once those works are complete.

The front elevation faces roughly south and is asymmetrical. To the far left at ground floor level is a panelled timber door with a plain rectangular fanlight, which leads to the upstairs apartments. Directly above it is a window with a top-hung frame made to resemble a 2-over-2 sash. To the right of this door and window, the façade steps slightly forward and is finished in rusticated render, in contrast to the plain render to the left. At ground floor level in this section is another panelled door, similar to the first but with a taller fanlight, with a matching window directly above.

Further to the right is a large single-storey square bay housing a recent off-licence shop front, with plate glass window and panelled timber door. Directly above the door is a small recent signboard. This single-storey bay merges to the right with a larger two-storey square bay, and above the single-storey section is a wholly glazed first-floor lean-to conservatory with a slated pitched roof and small top-hung window openers.

To the immediate right of all of this is a broader, full-height square bay with a slated hipped roof that follows the pitch and matches the height of the main roof. The ground floor of this bay is occupied by a relatively recent pub front with large acid-etched plate glass windows, each with small top-hung upper openers. Between the windows is a boarded-up space that may once have been a doorway. Below the windows and the space between them runs a long plain rendered apron. At first-floor level is a window similar to those at the far left, though slightly broader and with a simple plain rendered surround. Above the ground-floor pub front and the adjacent shop front to the left runs a long recent signboard with projecting spotlights; at the right-hand end of this signboard is a recent projecting internally lit plastic sign. To the immediate left of the first-floor window is a large projecting signboard.

At the right-hand side of the full-height square bay is a large flat-arched vehicle entrance with timber-sheeted double doors. Immediately above this entrance is a small plastic signboard, possibly internally lit. At first-floor level above is a window similar to those further left. To the immediate right of the vehicle entrance is a short rendered wall with a painted stone coping, to which a period-style light fitting is attached.

The front elevation is largely finished in plain painted render. The full-height square bay has bevelled quoins arranged in an in-and-out pattern on its short east face; in-and-out quoins also appear at the right-hand edge of the main elevation and on the short west face of the single-storey square bay. The east gable is blank and finished in plain unpainted cement render.

The rear elevation is dominated by a very large single-storey flat-roofed extension, which is plain and modern in character with various modern windows and doors and an asphalted roof. On its north face is a small timber lean-to shed with a corrugated iron roof. To the left of this extension, at the far left of the original building's rear elevation, is the rear of the large vehicle entrance, fitted with metal-sheeted double doors. At first-floor level on the original section are four windows with modern frames; the window to the far left is smaller than the other three, which are all the same size and evenly spaced. Between the first and second of these windows is a doorway with a recent partly glazed door. The rear elevation of the original building is finished in plain unpainted cement render.

The gabled roof is finished in natural slate to the front and fibre cement to the rear. There are three rendered chimneystacks rising from the ridge. The central and western chimneystacks are larger than the one at the east gable.

The site has a documented history stretching back to at least 1834, when two newly built two-storey properties here were recorded in the first valuation, both in the hands of a Hugh McClatchy, one of them a public house. These do not appear to have survived long: by the second valuation of 1862, two properties on the site were recorded as being in progress, that is, under construction. These apparently new buildings were in the hands of the King family from 1862 to 1888, before passing to John and Mary Letitia Savage. By 1898 the Savages are noted in the valuation list as constructing a new building on the site. The accompanying valuation map shows that this single property, a public house, was slightly larger than its predecessors, extending further to the east over what had previously been an open laneway, and with a return to the rear. It is possible, however, that the 1898 works involved a remodelling of the earlier buildings rather than a complete rebuild, since certain features of the front elevation — the square bay and the rusticated render — correspond to those of the house at the other end of the terrace. Alternatively, the 1898 building may have been entirely new but designed to blend with the rest of the terrace, though the degree of apparent redevelopment on this site over a relatively short period does seem notable.

The building was listed in 1980, and repairs at that time were grant aided by the Department. Sash windows were removed between the initial survey and the final listing and were not reinstated despite encouragement. In 1988, an application was approved for alterations, extension and change of use of a dwelling to form an enlarged licensed premises and off-licence; these works were mainly internal and to the rear, though railings to the front were removed without authorisation. In 2008, proposed alterations to the façade — including new shop fronts and signage, provision of an external smoking area, and an associated beer garden — were agreed. These works are intended to reinstate the sash windows and provide new shop fronts that complement the building. An early 20th-century extension to the front of the building is also to be removed, to the benefit of its overall character.