32 Malone Rd, Belfast BT9 5BQ
I had to smile when I first gazed at this very attractive building with its stained glass windows, mock Victorian lamps and lovely olde worlde sign. It is certainly olde worlde in looks but I can assure you it was as old as a new born babe when I visited it in the first week of October 1990. When I last saw it in June only the shell of the building was standing so what you are looking at now is a sparkling new bar. The closed strong wooden front doors would give the impression that the bar was closed but a firm push will lead you into the very spacious bar. The bar is comprised of carpeted tiered areas on either side whilst in the centre a large expanse of gleaming creamy tiled floor leads you to a rather plain but practical bar area. Colourful paintings of local landmarks by R.G. Mulree adorn the walls. A separate outside entrance leads up to the first floor bar. This is most definitely built with the younger trendier drinker in mind. Again it is two tiered, the upper with its very serviceable pine wooden floor, 7 comfortable nooks and unfamiliar 4 legged tables. But what makes the bar unusual is its exceptionally large standing area around the bar broken up by standing mock Victorian lamps.
The assistant manager informed me they stocked the largest selection of continental beers (the new posers ‘in’ drink, by the neck) in the country, 20 so far but soon to be increased to 30. Another unusual drink to be found here is Tetley’s Bitter on draught. On the top floor a small disco capable of holding 200 completes the picture.
It’s hard to describe this bar. I feel the name is a misnomer but this could be the ‘look’ to come. My youngest son Garvan told me it reminded him of some of the modern American ‘trendy’ bars he visited in the United States. This would account for the American black and white prints of the twenties period dotted around the first floor bar.
The Old Eglantine Bar used to be an old posting inn and here at the turn of the century and before, you were able to hire a number of horsedrawn vehicles in which to take a saunter round the adjacent and open countryside. A large embossed, antique mirror in the Public bar is a lovely momento of this elegant era that has long since gone. The writing on the mirror speaks for itself:
YE OLDE EGLANTINE INN — POSTING ESTABLISHMENT — Brougham – Landaus – Victorias — Phaetons – Wagonettes – Cabs – Cars — Vans etc.
There was a licence here in 1884 when it was an old Coach House known by the odd name of Orr’s Row Inn of Clink Hill, (Orr being the original owner). I have lived for the last 30 years on the Malone Road and I never knew this little incline was called Clink Hill. You learn something every day. The Inn passed into the ownership of Edward Moore in 1892,