Fort Bar

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Two storey with attic end terrace late Victorian public house with tapering plan form, two storey pitched rear return and two storey flat roofed extension to rear is located at the junction of the Springfield Road and Colligan Street.

Pitched natural slate roof with angled ridge tiles and clipped and corbelled eaves; moulded gable chimneystack with clay pots. Cast iron rainwater goods. Walling is painted smooth render with continuous plinth, ground floor sill course and string courses to first floor. Windows are replacement timber casements on projecting masonry sills.

The principle elevation faces south and is almost symmetrical. It comprises six openings to ground floor, each separated by paired pilasters supporting a continuous flat fascia (slightly breakfront over entrance) with dentilled overhanging cornice and paired bracketed gablet ends. Entrance is left of centre and comprises paired timber panelled doors with square headed overlight of etched glass. The entrance is flanked by two identical bays comprising large replacement timber windows (two diminutive panes surmount a large bottom pane) over aprons embellished with geometrically designed moulding. To far right is a doorway with a paired louvred overlight.

First floor comprises a large tripartite window slightly left of entrance door; bowed 12 pane timber window flanked by six pane windows and separated by fluted mullions. Entire opening flanked by fluted pilasters rising to string course and surmounted by moulded and fluted surround. To left is a blocked up opening; to right is a 1/1 window.

Setting

Set at the end of a commercial terrace directly off the Springfield Road at the junction with Colligan Street in a residential area. Two and a half storey terrace to south; two storey dwellings to north.

Historical information

Buildings first appear on the site on the 3rd edition OS map (c.1900); however it is impossible to identify the pub clearly. According to the Campaign for Real Ale it dates from 1885, however a painted sign above the entrance door states that it was established in 1865. It was run by the McGuigan family for 77 years, hence the 'C & P McGuigan' mosaic in the doorway.

According to the Campaign for Real Ale it has the ‘the second finest historic pub interior in Belfast to the Crown for the quality and exuberance of its late Victorian interior’.

A local informant states that the cubicles in the bar were built by the same Italian craftsmen employed in the interior of the near-by Clonard Monastery in Belfast.

Primary Sources
1. Ordnance Survey 3rd Edition (1900)

Secondary sources
1. Mosaic in entrance
2. Campaign for Real Ale
3. Local information
4. Internet sites http://www.heritagepubs.org.uk/pubs/national-inventory-entry.asp?pubid=231;
http://www.thebestof.co.uk/local/belfast/business-guide/feature/the-fort-bar/41979

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
H-. Alterations detracting from building
I. Quality and survival of Interior

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Two storey with attic end terrace late Victorian public house. Much original fabric survives although various modernisations have compromised its historic appearance and character. This is one of very few 'traditional' public houses surviving in Belfast; primarily of interest for its original bar interior.

General comments

Building Preservation Notice served on this property on 23 January 2013