20 Harbour Rd, Carnlough, Ballymena BT44 0EU
[Photo: Londonderry Arms Hotel, Carnlough.]
Tired of plastic bars, phoney antiquity, reproduction furniture, synthetic materials? Looking for something genuine, solid, permanent? Look no further than the Londonderry Arms Hotel in Carnlough on the Antrim Coast, an establishment built in 1848 at the time of the great famine, by the Marchioness of Londonderry, and inherited in 1921 by her great grandson, Sir Winston Churchill, as a coaching inn.
It has changed hands on a number of occasions. In the twenties, Churchill sold it to the Lyons family, but since 1947 it has been in the possession of the O’Neil family, and Frank O’Neil is the present owner. The first innkeeper, or tenant publican, was a man called McVicker, and a poem in his honour, written in 1858 by David Hebison, the Bard of Dunclug, tells us:
‘Old Carnlough would be, was McVicker not near it, A black barren region with nothing to cheer it; A place where no mortal would e’er think of stopping Unless the blue lighting around him was popping.’
The whole poem can be read in the hotel where it shares space on the wall with some interesting equestrian items. The horse racing fraternity have long been associated with the Londonderry Arms, and the present owner is a great fan of the turf, so it’s perhaps no surprise to find a large picture of Arkle, which was presented by his jockey, Pat Taraffe, and one of Arkle’s actual horseshoes, worn when he won the Cheltenham Gold Cup in 1965 and presented by its trainer, Tom Dreaper. Also round the bar are some exquisite driftwood carvings, done by Whitehead sailor, John Henshaw.
From its ivy-clad Georgian frontage to its authentic Irish oak furniture, blazing open fires, and original oil paintings, the Londonderry Arms simply breathes out good taste, quality living and real substance.
‘May the roof above us never fall in And may we friends gathered below never fall ou.’