Winecellar Entry
This one is in the hard-to-find category, but looking for pubs in Belfast can be a sport in itself, enabling you to traverse terrain off the beaten track, which gives you a chance at least to have a peek behind the large stores.
Running from High Street to Rosemary Street is Winecellar Entry, formerly called Biggart’s Alley. For over 260 years this little lane has mostly been associated with the Wine and Spirit business, hence its name. Towards the end of the 17th century, a family of English origin, called Bateson, was engaged in the Wine, Spirit and Grocery Trade. Thomas Bateson, the last of the family to be associated with the trade, was also one of three local West India Merchants who attempted to form the very first bank in Belfast, in 1752. His descendants were represented by the Lord Deramore in the UK Peerage. A member of a prominent Lisburn family, named Valentine Jones (who married at the early age of 16 years, and lived to the great age of 94), took over Bateson’s Wine and Spirit Co. The new firm became known as Val. Jones & Co. It was later purchased by William Park & Co., then passed on into the hands of Hugh White & Co. in 1850, and this company continued to trade as a wholesaler for a further 100 years, until it was purchased by George Lavery and Jack Hinds, directors of the Irish Bonding Co., who changed it back into an old inn.
Before exploring the old tavern let me first congratulate the Department of the Environment on the wonderful restoration job they performed on the old decaying lane . . . new cobblestones, old street lamps, a standing framed iron sign with a potted history of the Lane and a cannon embedded in the cobblestones. As you can imagine, this enhances the Old Tavern greatly. Sparkling in the sun is its white facade and brown-shuttered windows.
At first floor level are two small loading bays, included for their evident links with the past. The one on the left, between the 1st and 2nd floors, holds one barrel with block and tackle, and the other one on the right just above the door has 3 barrels stretching to the canopy at roof level. Above the main canopy doorway are two wooden figures, one sitting at a printing machine and below it the words “Printers Lounge”, while to the right is an 18th century gentleman with a long pipe sitting at a small desk with a feathered quill and the name underneath it: “Merchant’s Bar”. It really is an impressive frontage, and yet it’s not a familiar sight to the passing pedestrian in nearby High Street.
It was probably about 7 years ago since I was in White’s, and I suppose I expected to see once again the old Tap Room, with its rare collection of swords, the old original beams and handmade bricks. What a transformation I beheld! Modern Olde Worlde throughout, imaginatively restored, with its intimate upholstered snugs, reclaimed brick arches behind the bar, and a large brick fireplace in the middle of the bar. The entire bar is carefully furnished and decorated to preserve a cosy traditional atmosphere.
I found the Printer’s Lounge upstairs every bit as nice as the Merchant’s. Look out for the inside of the warehouse door which we saw earlier, and facing it, a stand-up snug with 4 high stools if required. Large copper measures adorn the mahogany bar, and around the walls is quite a large collection of advertising mirrors. I liked the one which advertised Red Hand XX Stout at 3d. a bottle. Framed copies of the Daily Mercury (est. 1783) whose newspaper offices were situated close by at 4/6 Winecellar Entry, can be seen around the staircase. Adverts in the papers make interesting reading:
“Monday, February 15th, 1858. Forward passage to New York …. £8.8.0; Boston …. £9.2.0; Toronto …. £9.0.0; Liverpool, New York and Philadelphia Steamship Co.”
In the same paper The Russfurley Arms Hotel in Dungannon advertised: “Breakfast 1/3 to 1/6, Lunch 1/-, Tea 1/-. Whiskey and Gin 8d. a glass.”
I must say, I liked this old tavern. It’s smart, cosy, and at times sophisticated, in keeping with its long history.
There is a sign on the wall outside, which states, “White’s Tavern of Winecellar Entry — Belfast’s Oldest Tavern since 1630.” This, I’m afraid, is not quite correct. There is no doubt that since 1630 various wine merchants have carried on business in this building, but not necessarily could they call themselves tavern owners. It is recorded that it was rebuilt in 1790 by one named Valentine Jones, whose trade was a Wine and Spirit and Grocery wholesaler. And so, for the next 160 years, the premises were used exclusively as a wholesale business, until the 1950s, when it was changed back to a tavern by the fathers of the present owners. Unquestionably, White’s Tavern was granted the first Tavern Licence in the city, but it cannot lay claim to being the oldest tavern in continuous use. That honour most definitely belongs to Kelly’s Cellars of Bank Street.