Days Out NI
Live music Cushendall

Johnny Joe's McCollam's Bar

Johnny Joe's: no screens, no radio, no games machines. Just turf fires, two pianos and the best-known traditional session in the Glens of Antrim.

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Open all week in…open all week in summer, Thursday to Sund…
Free inOver-18s in the evening
CushendallLive music
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Live musicGigs & sessions
Over-18sEvening
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Johnny Joe's McCollam's Bar — Johnny Joe's: no screens, no radio, no games machines. Just turf fires, two pianos and the best-known traditional session in the Glens of Antrim.

  • Who it's for: adults by default and no food is served, but the quiet character and early sessions make it possible with older children under the NI licensing window that allows an accompanied under-18 in the bar area until 9pm. Phone first.
  • Music: traditional sessions. The Glens of Antrim Comhaltas session is here on the third Friday of the month. Friday and Sunday are the most reliable nights in winter, and in summer music can happen any night. Ring ahead for the current week.
  • Tickets: free to walk in.
  • Food: no food served.
  • When: open all week in summer, Thursday to Sunday in winter.
  • Accessibility: accessible toilet on the premises.
Plan your visit

The rooms

The house is a set of small rooms rather than one bar, and each has its own character. The dim back kitchen holds a wood-burning stove and a big wooden table, and that is usually where the session lands. A front parlour has windows and a piano. Another back room has a high ceiling, a huge open fire and its own tiny private bar. The building dates to the early nineteenth century and keeps its Georgian frontage, original shelving, counters and an 1896 kitchen range.

Home of the Glens of Antrim Comhaltas branch No screens, no radio, no games machines Turf fires and an 1896 kitchen range Two concert pitch pianos in the house Same family since the mid-1800s
Good to know before you go:

The monthly Comhaltas session on the third Friday is the fixed point in the calendar. Beyond that the bar hosts music, poetry and literary evenings, and the summer months in the Glens bring visiting musicians who simply arrive and play.

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
traditional-music pub
Who it's for
adults by default and no food is served, but the quiet character and early sessions make it possible with older children under the NI licensing window that allows an accompanied under-18 in the bar area until 9pm. Phone first.
Music
traditional sessions. The Glens of Antrim Comhaltas session is here on the third Friday of the month. Friday and Sunday are the most reliable nights in winter, and in summer music can happen any night. Ring ahead for the current week.
Tickets
free to walk in.
Food
no food served.
When
open all week in summer, Thursday to Sunday in winter.
Accessibility
accessible toilet on the premises.
Address
23 Mill Street, Cushendall, County Antrim, BT44 0RR
Questions

Before you go

Can we bring the kids?
adults by default and no food is served, but the quiet character and early sessions make it possible with older children under the NI licensing window that allows an accompanied under-18 in the bar area until 9pm. Phone first.
What's the music like?
traditional sessions. The Glens of Antrim Comhaltas session is here on the third Friday of the month. Friday and Sunday are the most reliable nights in winter, and in summer music can happen any night. Ring ahead for the current week.
Do I need a ticket?
free to walk in.
Do they do food?
no food served.
When is it on?
open all week in summer, Thursday to Sunday in winter.
Getting there

Johnny Joe's McCollam's Bar is at 23 Mill Street, Cushendall, County Antrim, BT44 0RR. Tap below for directions.

Directions on Google MapsOfficial website See it on our map
Nearby

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More days out around CushendallSee what else is close by More live music across NISessions, gigs and music centres
The story

Four or five generations of one family

Johnny Joe McCollam gave the bar its working name. He was John, son of Joe, and in a village where half the surnames repeat you get identified by your father. The family has held the licence since the mid-nineteenth century.

What makes the place matter beyond Cushendall is Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann, the organisation set up in the 1950s to keep traditional Irish music alive when it was genuinely at risk of thinning out. The Glens of Antrim branch is based here. That is why the sessions have a rota, why musicians treat the room with a bit of respect, and why the ban on screens and background radio is not an affectation.

It also explains the two concert pitch pianos. A house that keeps two pianos in tune is a house that expects people to play them.