Days Out NI
Live music Belfast

The Errigle Inn

Ninety years on the Ormeau Road, with an intact 1936 art deco lounge, food from half ten, and an upstairs music room.

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Open from 10.30am…Open from 10.30am until 1am on the day ch…
Free inOver-18s in the evening
BelfastLive music
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Over-18sEvening
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The Errigle Inn — Ninety years on the Ormeau Road, with an intact 1936 art deco lounge, food from half ten, and an upstairs music room.

  • Who it's for: The most family-workable of the Belfast music pubs during food service, with accompanied under-18s allowed until 9pm under NI law. The late music nights are adults only.
  • Music: Traditional Tuesdays, free entry from 10pm. Tribute bands and disco nights across the week. The Arbele Lounge upstairs is the main live room. Check the events page for current line-ups.
  • Tickets: Free entry for Traditional Tuesdays. Some gigs and tribute nights are ticketed.
  • Food: Monday to Friday 12pm to 9pm, Saturday 10.30am to 9pm, Sunday 10.30am to 8pm.
  • When: Open from 10.30am until 1am on the day checked; confirm current hours before travelling.
Plan your visit

The Oak Lounge

This is the room to ask for. It opened on 11 December 1936 and still has its original art deco glasswork, panelled walls, Irish oak floor and 1930s Lloyd Loom tables and chairs. A carpet covered that floor for decades and was taken up again in 2007. There is a story the pub still tells about its first manager, TJ McGurran, staying up all night hand-polishing the boards before opening. Walk in, look up and around, and you are looking at a nearly intact pre-war Belfast interior, which is rarer than any pint on the list.

The Oak Lounge, opened 1936 and largely unchanged Food served from 10.30am at weekends Traditional Tuesdays, free entry, from 10pm The Arbele Lounge upstairs music room Tribute bands and disco nights across the week Ninety years of trading on the same site
Good to know before you go:

Live music runs through the week across the Arbele Lounge and the main bar, from the free Tuesday traditional session to tribute acts and disco nights, plus quizzes and live sport. Private functions and weddings use the Marble Cedar Lounge.

Before you set off

What to bring

  • 🎟️Your ticketBigger gigs sell out — book ahead rather than chancing the door.
  • 🪪IDIt’s an over-18s room, so bring photo ID if you look anywhere near it.
  • 💷A bit of cashHandy for the door, the cloakroom and the taxi home.
  • 📱The what’s-on pageThe listings change weekly — check who’s playing before you go.
Good to know

Everything before you go

Type
Large neighbourhood pub with dining rooms and live-music rooms
Who it's for
The most family-workable of the Belfast music pubs during food service, with accompanied under-18s allowed until 9pm under NI law. The late music nights are adults only.
Music
Traditional Tuesdays, free entry from 10pm. Tribute bands and disco nights across the week. The Arbele Lounge upstairs is the main live room. Check the events page for current line-ups.
Tickets
Free entry for Traditional Tuesdays. Some gigs and tribute nights are ticketed.
Food
Monday to Friday 12pm to 9pm, Saturday 10.30am to 9pm, Sunday 10.30am to 8pm
When
Open from 10.30am until 1am on the day checked; confirm current hours before travelling
Parking
No dedicated car park listed. On-street parking on the Ormeau Road and surrounding streets, busy at peak times.
Address
312-320 Ormeau Road, Belfast, County Antrim BT7 2GE
Questions

Before you go

Can we bring the kids?
The most family-workable of the Belfast music pubs during food service, with accompanied under-18s allowed until 9pm under NI law. The late music nights are adults only.
What's the music like?
Traditional Tuesdays, free entry from 10pm. Tribute bands and disco nights across the week. The Arbele Lounge upstairs is the main live room. Check the events page for current line-ups.
Do I need a ticket?
Free entry for Traditional Tuesdays. Some gigs and tribute nights are ticketed.
Do they do food?
Monday to Friday 12pm to 9pm, Saturday 10.30am to 9pm, Sunday 10.30am to 8pm
When is it on?
Open from 10.30am until 1am on the day checked; confirm current hours before travelling
Getting there

The Errigle Inn is at 312-320 Ormeau Road, Belfast, County Antrim BT7 2GE. No dedicated car park listed. On-street parking on the Ormeau Road and surrounding streets, busy at peak times. Tap below for directions.

Directions on Google MapsOfficial website See it on our map
Nearby

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The story

Opened on Friday the 13th, 1935

There has been a public house on this ground since the 1800s, first as the Old Ballynafeigh Inn, known locally as the Miss Blacks. Charlie McQuade, who also ran bars in Bangor and on Berry Street, built the Errigle on those foundations and opened the doors on Friday 13 December 1935 with TJ McGurran as manager.

The name is not, as people assume, taken from Mount Errigal in Donegal. It comes from a townland in County Monaghan, where Mrs McQuade was from.

In 1935 the place was two rooms: the public bar and the bar parlour. The Oak Lounge followed a year later. In 1998 a refurbishment uncovered the original 1935 date stone hidden inside a wall, and a new bar was built and named after the first manager.

The Errigle was the first bar in Belfast to be granted an entertainments licence, which is why live music here is not a recent addition but the thing the building has been doing almost from the start. It passed ninety years on the Ormeau Road in December 2025 and is still a working neighbourhood pub rather than a preserved one.