A leading light in Ballycastle for its music and craic, The House of McDonnell is one of only a few architecturally safeguarded pubs in ireland. It was most famously in the caring hands of the late Tom and Eileen O’Neill from 1979 until Tom's death in 2018, and in Tom’s mother’s family for generations before that - they could even tell you not just the year, but the month the pub first opened (April 1766).
Tom and Eileen delighted in sharing the history of their long, narrow premises with its tiled floor and mahogany bar: it was once a traditional grocery-bar, and is now a listed building. The only real change in the last hundred years or so, according to Tom, was the addition of a toilet block.
There's 'no TV or loud music' but there's always been a good traditional music session every Friday (and perhaps other evenings as well) with musicians welcome to come along and join in.
Tom and Eileen rightly took pride in the fact that this is the only old bar in Ballycastle to have resisted ‘refurbishment and makeover’, and now that it's thriving again, you can rest assured that any changes needed will be completed with a very light touch.
