312-320 Ormeau Rd, Ormeau, Belfast BT7 2GE
You can’t miss the Errigle on the Ormeau Road, as it straddles an entire block. Back in 1934 this was a simple, small bar on the outskirts of Belfast, consisting of two rooms with a nice garden at the back with apple and plum trees. It was then known as Miss Black’s. Charles McQuaid, who then owned the Ava in Bangor, bought it for the sum of £2,400, and the present owner, Tommy McGurran, originally from Derrymacash near Lurgan, was sent down to manage it. Ten years later, Tommy bought the bar from his boss for £12,000, and it’s been in the McGurran family ever since.
It’s a large complex, capable of holding 1,000 people, and it’s made up of a warren of bars, all called after trees or wood. The old hanging lamp outside originally came from the railway station in Lurgan. The public bar is called The Pinewood Bar, clean and bright. Off Sales is adjacent, and beside that is the very attractive Appledore restaurant with two large stained glass dividers, pinewood and open flowered stained glass lighting . . . colourful, yet relaxing. On the street level is the grill bar for quick snacks. Upstairs is the Marble Cedar lounge, while on top of the house is the Arbele lounge, or the main Cabaret Bar. Over the last few years some of the star acts who played here were: Van Morrison, Jim Armstrong and his band, Don Baker – Blues Singer, Jim Daley Blues Band, Frank Carson, David Nixon, Georgie Fame, and that outstanding drummer from the Big Band era, Eric Delaney. Joe McGannon, the friendly and informative manager cum philosopher kindly showed me around, quoted a little bit of Dennis Wheatley for me. ‘Your soul leaves your body when you sleep and it wanders the Earth – if it doesn’t return to your body by morning, well that’s the end of it.’ He is convinced that all the Souls that pass through this room leave something here which gives it its atmosphere. When you think of it, he could be right.