23-27 Malone Rd, Belfast BT9 6RU
…then E. Collins in 1913 and finally Charles Mooney bought in in 1919 and it has been in the Mooney family ever since. The present owner is Jim Mooney.
Over the years many famous people have called there including Blair Mayne, Joe Louis, one of the great heavyweight champions of the world. He called in for a drink during the 2nd World War. Professor Theodore Flynn also used the inn. He was a lecturer in Zoology at Queen’s University, was a world expert on the sex of whales and was awarded an M.B.E. in 1945. He was better known as the father of Erroll Flynn and it was at his father’s house in Stranmillis Road that Erroll received a cable from Hollywood offering him the lead in ‘Captain Blood’, the film that made him a star. A more recent visitor was Senator Joe Kennedy from Boston (Eldest Son of assassinated Bobby Kennedy).
This is an extremely busy bar at lunchtime and in the evenings. Being so close to Queen’s University it’s the local for students and academics.
Decorative exuberance is very much the hallmark of this pub, so it’s not surprising that it won an architectural award for design back in 1985. Ferguson and Wheeler were the designers. Mr. Mooney’s instructions to them were that he wanted a bar that was convival, comfortable and modern. He certainly got that and more . . . With an original and vigorous design featuring a traditional mahogany bar treated in a modern fashion, mirror glass to decorate the walls and ceilings, pink and blue carpet, silver luxaflex blinds, large globe lights suspended below circular mirrors, pink and blue marbled wall covering, pink upholstery and imaginative lighting throughout.
Back in 1985 Jim Mooney hoped to lure the young and trendy into his new ultra modern web. His calculated gamble has paid off handsomely as he beguiles his trendy drinkers into a state of euphoria.
He that buys land buys many a stone; He that buys flesh buys many a bone; He that buys eggs buys many a shell; He that buys Guinness buys goodness as well.