Cushendun
What colour scheme would you expect to find in a bar called the Blue Room? What colour would you expect to find in a room panelled with mahogany? Wrong on both occasions, because the Blue Room has nothing notably blue about it, and its mahogany walls have, unaccountably, been painted white. The explanation for both these anomalies is at best a little vague.
Apparently the room got its ‘blue’ codification from some American soldiers who drank there during the Second World War, and named it in loving memory of some popular saloon back home in Minnesota. Even today some war evacuees and the occasional U.S. soldier turn up and reminisce about the days spent in Cushendun almost half a century ago.
As for the white mahogany, well there’s a real beauty there. The original mahogany panelling and fireplace were taken from the Red Star Line Ship, the Minawasha, which was broken up in Glasgow in 1935. After this fine carved and patterned mahogany panelling was in place in the Blue Room, somebody decided to paint it white.