120 Brustin Brae Rd, Carncastle, Larne BT40 2RL
Six miles south-east of Carnlough and one mile west stands Cairncastle and at the crossroads stands THE MEETING HOUSE with commanding views over the North Channel and the Mull of Kintyre beyond. How old is the bar? Even the cordial owner Nat Moore wasn’t sure, he thought it was at least 125 years old. He told me his great grandmother sold it in 1887. His grandmother bought it back in 1907 and it has been in the family ever since. Why was it called THE MEETING HOUSE? Again Nat couldn’t tell me for sure. It could be it took its name from the days of the circuit Judge when they held court here or maybe it was from the time when the local Presbyterians held service in this house back in the 1800s after they had split with the Unitarians. When you think of it, it’s a good name for a bar for that’s what a bar really is. The Meeting House is a lovely little bar with two small public bars on your left as you enter. The first one measures only six feet wide, nine feet in length (not far away from the record held by McBrides in Cushendun) while the second measures the same width but a little longer 10½ feet. Both are served by a long Mahagony counter but I must stress again they are definitely two rooms separated by a stone wall and not a divider. Behind the counter are two large barrels which use to contain Rum and Whiskey, and on the shelves are rows of dusty looking full bottles some of them going back to the turn of the century. Nat showed me three pint bottles of beer, each bottled by Bass to celebrate a Royal occasion; King’s Ale…1902, Prince of Wales…1929, Princess Ale…1978. There’s a nice model of THE MEETING HOUSE on one of the shelves made by the late Ernie Ramsey an undertaker from Larne. To the right as you enter there’s a small drinking room which used to be the parlour, while at the back a new lounge was built on. Looking up at the long narrow window stretching the entire length of the room, I expected to see a view of the Antrim hills but to my surprise I stood looking as far as the eye could see at fields of ducks and geese. I kid you not, Nat’s hobby is collecting water ducks and he has over 90 in his collection including some rare species like the Hawaiian goose, the Empire, Red breasted geese, two types of Canadian geese and the white and blue snow geese. It’s the only bar I know can boast of a ‘Duck run’ in its own back garden.
As I was bidding farewell to Nat at the front door, he pointed out to me, that the blackstone we are standing on, is exactly level with Ballygally head which you can see about a mile away. It certainly doesn’t look level for you’re looking up at it; maybe it’s an illusion but I’ll take Nat’s word for it!
A most unusual little pub with lots of atmosphere, and well worth a stop off, on your tour of the Glens.