House of McDonnell, Ballycastle (Wee Tom's)

Built in 1744, this is a great classic among Irish pubs which has been in the same family ownership since 1766. It shows a typical arrangement for a spirit-grocers where you could combine a shopping trip with one to the pub until such dual-purpose establishments were banned by law in 1922. The interior was refitted in around 1885 and the only change since then was the adding of a pitch pine bar counter that runs the length of the room and the oak and frosted glass partition half-way down the room which are believed to have been added in 1921. Normally, there is a notable difference in the height of the counters in the grocery shop part of a spirit grocers and those in the bar part, the latter being much higher but here they are at the same height. Shortly after the Partition of Ireland in 1922 there was a change in Northern Ireland licensing law and ‘mixed trading’ was outlawed so it became illegal for pubs to also have grocery, hardware or any other non-alcohol trading counter on their premises. There are still a number of these spirit-grocers left in the Republic of Ireland but the opening of hundreds of Tesco, Aldi and Lidl supermarkets means there are few active grocery parts remaining there nowadays.

The wording on the front of the pub was ‘The Store’ and it was only changed to ‘The House of McDonnell’ when present owner Tom O’Neil inherited it in 1969 from his aunt Mary McDonnell, whose family have now run the pub for fourteen generations. The porch has a Victorian colourful tiled floor and through the twin doors is the public bar where the grocery and drinking areas are separated by the screen halfway down the bar.

The front former grocery part of the bar has a black and white diamond quarry tiled floor, panelled bar counter, and on the panelled walls there are two large mirrors - an ‘Old Bushmills Pure Malt Whisky’ and a ‘James McAllister & Son’s Fine Old Irish Whisky’ one. Drinkers on the bar stools are able to rest their feet on a brass rail salvaged from HMS Drake, a British war cruiser torpedoed off Rathlin Island in 1917. Alternative seating consists of Bentwood chairs and some African hardwood three-legged stools scattered around. On the left is a tiny dimly lit snug with a Victorian window of red and blue panes.

Beyond the partition dividing the grocery and the bar is a room of similar size with a brown and cream quarry tiled floor, and another similar panelled counter. The impressive bar back fitting features two pairs of end-on spirit casks that dispensed spirits in olden days and a pair of gold and silver embossed ‘Wilson’s Old Irish Whisky Belfast’ mirrors. On the rear wall within the servery is a fine large mirror advertising ’10 Years Old H C Coleraine Pure Malt Whisky Robt. A Taylor Ltd. Distillers’ mirror. HC? It stands for House of Commons as Irish MPs are said to have been very partial to this brand. (Note that the ‘e’ in Whiskey to denote the Irish variety only became standard during the 20th century).

At the rear through a sliding door is a small room with a brown and cream quarry tiled floor, a late 1930s tiled fireplace and two sections of modern fixed seating. On the walls are a small ‘Cantrell & Cochranes Ginger Ale’ mirror, a framed advertisements for D’Arcy’s Extra Dublin Stout’ and prints of the St Albans Grand Steeple Chase of 1832. The ‘outside’ gents and the ladies and now accessed along a covered walkway – the gents retains its terrazzo floor and dado. Upstairs is a lounge which is only used at busy times such as the Ould Lammas Fair – see Boyds Arms for more details.