Where everybody knows our name…
Bringing with it a whiff of 19th century New York, The Five Points is an unpretentious and promising addition to the burgeoning entertainment line-up on Belfast’s Dublin Road…
The Five Points on the Dublin Road in Belfast opened its doors to the public in mid-October, finally signalling the direction of travel for premises that had, for many years, been home to the iconic Aunty Annie’s.
Since Aunty Annie’s closed its doors in 2014, the venue on the Dublin Road has traded very successfully as The Bar With No Name, but speaking to LCN this month, manager, Michael Borland confirmed that this had been intended very much as an interim arrangement:
“The Bar With No Name was only ever meant to be a pop-up when it opened its doors a couple of years ago,” he said. “It was really just a way for us to get the venue opened and trading while we decided where to go with it.”
The venue is owned by the Bachus group. It’s part of a sizeable local hospitality portfolio that includes Filthy McNasty’s, The Albany, Sweet Afton, Rita’s and many more popular Belfast bars.
It draws its name from a former district of Lower Manhattan in New York where many Irish immigrants made their homes in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Due to poor living conditions and a dearth of jobs, many of the newcomers joined cut-throat street gangs and contributed to the area’s growing reputation for crime, such as that depicted in the Daniel Day Lewis film, ‘Gangs of New York’.
Inside, The Five Points adopts a comfortable, back-to-basics approach with a big, practical wooden bar, plenty of leather seats and benching and a raised open fire that warms the whole interior.
“We’ve put a lot of effort into getting the right décor in place and creating the kind of atmosphere that we wanted for our customers,” adds Michael. “We really wanted to stay true to the idea of a traditional bar but also to introduce modern elements such as cocktails to the offering. Our main focus is and will always be traditional music and we want to be active on that scene seven-days-a-week.”
Michael, who comes originally from Bushmills, has been with the Bachus Group for the last seven years or so. Most of that time was spent at Filthy McNasty’s, just across the road from The Five Points, and he transferred across to manage The Bar With No Name when it opened up a couple of years ago.
“When we were doing our research for the Five Points project, we found that in Northern Ireland, we don’t mind drinking in the same pubs as the tourists,” says Michael. “In other cities that I’ve been in, that’s not always the case, you have tourist bars and then you have local bars, but when we were planning this venue, we wanted to create a place where everyone could feel at home.”
Since opening in October, Michael says that the group has been very pleased with the progress made by The Five Points – the level of business even on mid-week evenings has surprised them.
“In terms of the Dublin Road itself, I think that maybe a few of years ago, it had probably turned a little for the worse,” adds Michael. “But now, we have new restaurants and bars opening, we have a new apartment block going up with hospitality outlets on the ground floor and things are looking a lot better. The more businesses that open up here, the busier the area is getting. We’re all helping each other succeed and I’m very optimistic that this whole area is on the way up.”
Michael also revealed that there are plans in place to open the upstairs portion of The Five Points in time for December’s pre-Christmas party rush.
“We have an upstairs venue that we will be shortly be opening for the busier festive period,” he tells LCN. “Again, staying true to the ambience that we’ve created downstairs, the space upstairs will revolve around traditional and folk music; we’ll have great whiskeys and beers on offer and a warm, inviting atmosphere. It’s going to be a great place to come out and enjoy yourself this Christmas.”
The upstairs element of the venue will be known as Cow Bay, after a watering hole within the Five Points district where residents would bring their livestock to get water.
“In a year or twos’ time, we see ourselves being a major part of Belfast’s growing hospitality scene,” says Michael. “Trade is great here at the moment and we really only see that increasing as we develop this concept down the line.”
