29. Bull’s Eye

“The Bull’s Eye Good Time Emporium,” to give its full title, is one of the most attractive pubs in Coleraine.
It’s certainly one of the busiest with a clientele of young and old and is renowned for its high-quality home-cooked food, which earned it high praise from celebrity Ann Hailes.

The hostelry goes back to the early 1800s, when it was first licensed, and in its time it has been The Star Hotel and The Nest.

There’s a snug today called The Nest, which was the name given to the bar by a previous owner called Nesbitt – it’s an Imagine life without BP ON THE MOVE contraction of the name.

On account of its position beside the cattle market, in one of the oldest streets in the town, the pub became the Bull’s Eye in the 1950s, and when the present owners took over in the early eighties, they undertook a thorough refurbishment.

All the furniture, paneling and fittings were handpicked by Anne McWilliams, with most of the woodwork coming from a monastery in the south of Ireland.

Wooden carvings from Italy, pony hair and hide seats from Brazil, and a very distinctive floral wallpaper that looks handpainted, create a decor that imitates the Imbibing Emporium style of the Victorian age.
Add to this a series of unusual three-dimensional carved wooden advertisements, items such as an old horn gramophone, and a lovely little curio shop next door under the same roof, and you can see why the Bull’s Eye is one of the most interesting and frequented pubs in the town.