WORK to redevelop one of Newcastle’s oldest businesses, extensively damaged when fire ripped through it early last year, is under way.
The Anchor Bar, which has been closed since the January 2022 blaze and was over a century old, was demolished last week. Plans lodged seven months after the accidental fire, and subsequently approved, revealed that proposals for the Bryansford Road site include a new public house and five apartments.
A planners’ report noted that that the blaze left the premises ‘well beyond use’. It added that the fire ‘started in the kitchen, and, while it was brought under control without impacting neighbouring buildings, fire and water damage have meant that it has been left structurally unsound’. The document also highlighted ‘a desire to return some of the site to its historic residential use and to improve the streetscape along this section of Bryansford Road’.
In the immediate aftermath of the overnight blaze, one of the bar’s owners spoke of their gratitude to those who fought to save both it and surrounding premises. “To be woken up in the early hours of Friday morning and informed that the bar was on fire was just devastating to us all, a nightmare,” Rob Manley, speaking at the time, added. However, Rob was keen to stress that “the outpouring of support from local businesses, patrons and the community as a whole has lifted our spirits no end.” “The influx of goodwill from the community as a whole has been absolutely overwhelming and heartening – we couldn’t be more grateful to everyone for their good wishes and offers of help,” he told the Mourne Observer.
It was also acknowledged that the large-scale emergency operation, which included eight fire crews, prevented the fire from spreading to Central Promenade businesses which back on to the bar’s site.
