Crown Liquor Saloon

Coordinates: 54°35′42″N 5°56′02″W / 54.595°N 5.934°W / 54.595; -5.934
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

54°35′42″N 5°56′02″W / 54.595°N 5.934°W / 54.595; -5.934

The façade, at 46 Great Victoria Street
The Crown bar, Belfast, picture from Europa Hotel

The Crown Liquor Saloon, also known as the Crown Bar, is a

Nicholson's
pub.

History

Restoration of the Crown in progress, August 2007

Opened by Felix O'Hanlon as The Railway Tavern, the pub was then bought by Michael Flanagan. Flanagan's son Patrick renamed and renovated it in 1885.[citation needed]

The Crown owes its elaborate tiling, stained glass and woodwork to the Italian craftsmen whom Flanagan persuaded to work on the pub after hours. These craftsmen were brought to Ireland to work on the many new churches being built in Belfast at the time.[citation needed] It was this high standard of work that gave the Crown the reputation of being one of the finest Victorian gin palaces of its time.

In 1978, the

National Trust, following persuasion by people including Sir John Betjeman, purchased the property and three years later completed a £400,000 renovation to restore the bar to its original Victorian state. Further restoration by the National Trust was done in 2007 at a cost of £500,000. This work is the subject of a BBC Northern Ireland documentary, The Crown Jewel, screened in 2008.[2]

A recognisable landmark of Belfast, The Crown has featured as a location in numerous film and television productions, such as David Caffrey's Divorcing Jack (1998) and Carol Reed's classic 1947 film Odd Man Out.[citation needed]

The Crown has been given a

Environment and Heritage Service.[citation needed
]

Features

Interior of the bar

The exterior is decorated in polychromatic

gas lamps on the highly decorative carved ceilings.[citation needed
]

The Crown has ten booths, or snugs. Built to accommodate the pub's more reserved customers during the austere Victorian period, the snugs feature the original gun metal plates for striking matches and an antique bell system for alerting staff.

fleurs-de-lis
and clowns.

References

  1. ^ "National Trust – Crown Liquor Saloon". www.nationaltrust.org.uk. Archived from the original on 23 January 2011. Retrieved 17 July 2009.
  2. ^ "BBC - BBC One Programmes - The Crown Jewel". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 17 July 2009.
  3. ^ Daugherty, Christi (26 December 2007). Frommer's Ireland 2008 - Google Books.
    ISBN 9780470175927
    . Retrieved 17 July 2009.
  4. ^ Middleton, Christopher (20 November 2009). "Belfast Pub Guide: The Crown Liquor Saloon, Belfast". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 4 December 2009.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Crown_Liquor_Saloon&oldid=1096438400"