The Bridge Inn, 53 Upper Water Street, (formerly 53 Abbey Way), Newry, Co Down, BT34 1DJ

The Bridge Inn is a three-storey rendered public house located on the east side of Upper Water Street in Newry (formerly numbered 53 Abbey Way). Dating from between 1820 and 1839, it consists of a main block with a lower two-storey addition to the right. The building has a long history of use as a licensed house, documented as operating as a public house since the later 1800s.

The main block has a pitched roof with artificial slates and is topped with two cement-rendered and coped chimneys, one to each gable. The lower block to the right has a flat roof. Plastic semicircular rainwater goods run around the building, with a cast metal downpipe featuring a decorative hopper to the left of the main block and another cast metal downpipe to the right of the lower block. All walls are finished in smooth cement render.

The ground floor shopfront of the main block features a pair of central four-panelled timber doors with raised and fielded bottom panels and multi-colour glazed top panels with rectangular panes of coloured glass. These are flanked by single shop windows, each divided into seven vertical panes of multi-colour glazed glass set within a pair of plain timber pilasters. The pilasters support a raised render fascia running the full length of the main block. To the right of the shopfront and below the fascia is a six-panelled stop-end chamfered timber door providing access to the upper floors.

The first floor of the main block contains two pairs of 2/2 horizontally divided sliding sash windows with exposed boxes, horns, and painted cills. The left pair have lost their top glazing bars and are now 1/2 windows; the right window's top pane has been infilled with timber and fitted with an extractor fan. Similar windows, diminished in height, are positioned at second floor level, aligned with the openings below.

The two-storey addition to the right has matching cement-rendered walls and a flat roof. Its ground floor shopfront comprises a modern door to the right and two shop windows to the left, the main window boarded up. The left window is narrow and partially infilled with timber panelling, while the right window is boarded up. There is no fascia to this shop. At first floor level is a pair of 2/2 sliding sash windows matching those of the main block's first floor. The right façade wall continues as a yard wall containing a gateway to the rear yard, with large tongue-and-groove sheeted doors opening onto the street. The rear elevation shows considerable alteration and is of no architectural interest.

Historical records show that in 1835 three separate buildings occupied this block; the present three-storey building was the most valuable property in the 1838 valuation at £25 (compared to £15 and £10 for the others). The building was confirmed as three storeys high in 1863. The adjoining properties have been subsequently modified, and the third building on the site has been cleared in comparatively recent times. The address was changed from 53 Abbey Way to 53 Upper Water Street following street realignments in the area. The building lies within a conservation area.