Derryhirk Rd, Aghagallon, Craigavon BT67 0BD
There are many surprises and points of interest in this rural pub and entertainment centre outside Lurgan on the Lough side of the town, but its position is a conversation piece on its own. The pub is in Co. Antrim, about a mile from Co. Armagh and half a mile from that small stretch of Lough shore where Co. Down touches the waters. Honestly now, did you really know that Co. Down touches Lough Neagh? In the games room upstairs you are about a mile from the Lough shore, standing in one county, and a few miles from the two others you are looking down upon. The Derryhirk Inn takes its name from the townland and was formerly the ‘I-go’ Inn, a quirky title that present owner Patrick Downing was eager to replace. He is the seventh generation of Downings to run a pub which his family took over in 1837. The licence in Victorian days was for the back yard in which many a pig has been killed, many a bottle of poteen distilled and many a cock-fighting meeting held. One corner of this famous, or infamous yard is now part of the new small lounge, Rose’s Lounge, named after Patrick’s grandmother. It has material components that take your breath away. The ornate, elaborately carved wooden bar front used to be, wait for it, the judges’ seating in the old Dail Eireann, and the same distinguished woodwork, inverted this time, goes to make up the showcase cabinet in the adjacent Doc’s Bar.
By the way, Doc’s Bar is named after the nickname of Patrick’s father who owned the bar for many years and who got the name Doc because many customers would come to him for cures for a variety of minor ailments. This little bar, named in his honour, used to be the byre where the cows were milked and indeed the stalls where the docile creatures used to stand have been partly retained as seating dividers. The dairy connotations are continued in the old churn which, with its circular wooden top, makes a most unusual bar table, and in the old pump in the corner which was used to wash down the stalls and clean the buckets. There were three wells to supply the farmhouse in former days. Back to the distinctive timberwork in the bar – the wooden counterface is made from the sides of several confession boxes, so church interiors have played a major part in the furnishing of The Derryhirk Inn.
The restaurant room in the complex incorporates the old spirit grocer’s which operated here for many years. In those times the pub used to bottle its own stout and some of the old labels are still in the present owner’s possession. Upstairs the former bedrooms have been converted into a pool and snooker room and it’s here that the very successful local football team, Derryhirk United, socialise. Their football pitch and changing rooms are part of the Inn’s property so the connection is a very deep one. Plans are in hand for an aerobics room, a gym with weight training equipment and a sauna, so the Derryhirk players have no excuse not to be among the fittest in the league. Then there’s the Middle Lounge, which has been going now for about 25 years, and boasts a valuable Lennox Robinson mural of the area, including the pub, the eel and salmon fishing, duck shooting and other activities of the Lough Neagh area.
Finally our tour ends with the Chasers function room, a nightclub and disco that is also used for weddings. There’s a beautiful Church pulpit complete with steps, lectern and reading lamp, beside the D.J.’s lighting and sound console. An interesting feature here is the video camera which focuses on the raised area where the wedding cake is cut so that guests can see on screen in close-up the cutting ceremony as it is being recorded. Look at this attractive room, with its lantern style lamps, wrought iron work, and herring bone table lay out and it’s hard to visualise the meal room, pig styes and cowyard that used to occupy this space. Let’s leave the last word to Patrick Downing in response to our enquiry if he owned these expansive premises: ‘Yes, me and the Northern Bank.’