Brief History Of Lavery's Bars in Belfast
The Lavery family bought Lavery's bar in 1918 from two brothers called Kinahan; indeed the bar was then known as Kinahan's. Kinahan's was a spirit grocer's and a stage coach stop for the Belfast to Dublin coach.
The stores at the rear of Lavery's were originally stables and fresh horses would be changed at Kinahan's allowing the travellers time for refreshments. At this time the Lavery family owned 30-40 bars mostly bought over for their stock due to the shortages created by the First World War.
After the war only five bars remained operational and four brothers, Tom, Patsy, Charlie and Donal ran them. Due to death duties and the troubles only Laverys remains.
In 1972 Lavery's was also hit by the troubles and was burnt out; nearly killing Tom who lived in the flat above the bar. By this time the bar was jointly owned by Tom and Patsy and was rebuilt in 1973.
Tom's son Charlie and Patsy's son Patrick took over ownership of the bar in the late '70s. Business was brisk and in the mid '80s Charlie and Patrick converted the upstairs apartment where Tom lived into the Middle Bar and Attic Bar, also adding a kitchen.
Business flourished and three years later a second renovation was carried out, this time knocking down the old Cobbles Bar (now the back Bar and previously called Cobbles as the entry way behind it was once a cobbled street). This section was rebuilt and the Middle Bar and the Attic Bar extended out over the top of the Back Bar.
A few years later an adjacent shop was purchased and the bar was extended for a third time, increasing the size of the bars and kitchen plus adding several new offices.And this is Lavery's in its present incarnation, with a capacity on all floors of 1500 people.
In 1996 the Pavilion Bar on the Ormeau Road was purchased. A major extension and refurbishment of the bar was carried out in late 1997/98. This involved gutting out the entire premises, rebuilding new stores to the rear of the building and adding a new store to the first floor level in addition to extending the size of the Public Bar, Middle Bar and installing a new bar (The Pool Room) and kitchen on the top floor. The top floor had previously been derelict. Extensive work was carried out on the ceiling of the Public Bar, reinstating it back to its former glory after it had been severely damaged in a fire some years earlier.
