When you walk through the doors of this long-established Co Antrim pub, you almost feel like you’re being transported back in time. The subtle ‘ding’ of the bell above the door greets you at the same time as the friendly staff behind the bar at The Crown & Shamrock Inn.
The pub, located on the Antrim Road in Mallusk close to the busy Sandyknowes Roundabout, is only 20 minutes outside of Belfast city centre but feels worlds apart. For its owner, Aidan McAlinden, it feels almost like stepping into a proper rural pub in Donegal.
Since the 1930s, the bar has been in Aidan’s family, while there has been a bar on the site since at least 1872. It was originally a halfway house between Antrim and Belfast, and has kept close to its traditional roots since then.
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Speaking to Belfast Live, Aidan said the pub is a really special place. Looking back on its history, he said: “As a halfway house back in the day, people would stop halfway on the way home. Sometimes I think people didn’t make it the rest of the way, and would spend their earnings and keep their horses in the barn next door and stay over.
“The bar then changed hands quite a few times, and you can see all the deeds on the wall in the back bar. We have all the records of every time it’s changed families, or stayed within the family.
“Joseph Bigger bought it in 1901, and tried to reform it so it was less about alcohol and spirits, and more about Bovril and stew. It was about taking people in and looking after them.
“My great-grandfather, Neal John O’Boyle, bought the pub in 1930 and passed it down to his son, then to my grandmother, then my auntie. My wife and I moved back from Scotland to buy the pub in 2017 and we’ve been here ever since.”
It’s been almost ten years since Aidan took over ownership of the pub, with him and his family initially living upstairs as they took the reins.
“When we took it on in 2017, it was quiet. There was a small set of regulars,” he explained. “We were able to get planning to extend it, and with that and the beer garden we were able to double its size.
“I grew up in the bar. At the weekends when I was about 10 I would have come down and would have started emptying ashtrays and lifting glasses for a bit of pocket money, and slept upstairs in one of the spare rooms.
“So from a young age, there was always something about the bar I enjoyed. I enjoyed talking to people and pouring pints, it’s something I was reasonably good at.
“Whenever we moved back here, we moved upstairs when we bought the bar. We lived upstairs and raised our son Dylan, then Marley was born here, so we lived upstairs for three years as we put everything into the business.
“Having lived here is a bit of a bonus because I know how to fix it. It’s an old building so if isues come up like pipes get blocked up, which can happen sometimes if it’s busy, I know where to look and pinpoint the problems to fix it.
“I don’t see working here as a job, it’s more of a lifestyle for me, it’s something that’s great.”
Different pubs have their own personality, and for Aidan, it’s hard to recreate the traditional originality on display at The Crown & Shamrock Inn.
Many of the walls are wooden and adorned with old photos, articles about the pub’s history, and artifacts including a number of swords that were found in the attic in the 1930s.
“It’s been kept the same way it always has been,” he said. “We came in and the idea was not to change it but to add to it as such.
“It feels like stepping into a pub in Donegal. It’s got that character and warmth. It’s been in the same family for 96 years, we’ll be celebrating 100 years in 2030.
“A lot of pubs you see opening up in Belfast now are basically trying to base their looks on bars like this. If you look around, it’s all original stuff, the pictures on the walls haven’t changed and I’m sure some of them go back a couple hundred years.”
When the pub first opened, the area around it was mostly empty, with none of the housing estates and industrial sites that surround it today.
Aidan said over the years they’ve been able to become the local pub for many people moving into newly built developments nearby, and are proud to welcome everyone from all sides of the community, as their name suggests.
He said: “Old photos show this pub stood by itself. There were no houses in this area, no buildings, no industry around it.
“Over the years it’s really built up and there’s now developments still popping up, the Blackrock development was fantastic, the people in those places now have a community pub they can come to. People are able to come into a homey, warm pub environment right on their doorstep.
“From the developments around here we have great customers from all sides of the community, hence the name, so that’s something we push and are proud of.”
For anyone who hasn’t paid the pub a visit yet, Aidan lined up what you can expect. He said: “The staff are great and always give everyone a warm welcome when they come in. There’s loads of space, you’ll always find a seat.
“We’re a free house so we sell a bit of everything. We have brilliant gins and whiskeys, as well as craft beers from the likes of Our Brewery and Bullhouse, which are made within a sort of 10 to 15 mile radius of the pub. People have really appreciated being able to try new things and having that option for the drinks.
“Belfast Pizza Lads have been here since after coronavirus, and they do great pizzas. They work really hard to deliver good produce and they make everything in-house. You don’t see any crumbs coming back from the pizzas, so that’s always a good sign that the pizzas are great quality.
“If you’re visiting, you’re always guaranteed to have a great night, with a great atmosphere.”
Video by Belfast Live videographer Justin Kernoghan.
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