Ben Madigan’s team snaps up Sailortown venue
The team behind Ben Madigan’s Bar & Kitchen on Belfast’s Cavehill Road has bought McKenna’s bar in the city’s Sailortown area.
The pub went on the market last November and has now been acquired by Kelvin Collins’ company which took on the Cavehill Inn in summer 2019
“We’re delighted to confirm that the Ben’s family is expanding,” a social media post said.
“We’re the new owners of McKenna’s bar in the historic Sailortown area of Belfast.
“A refurb and rebrand will take place in coming months and we look forward to making the venue a destination in north Belfast once again”
After deciding to sell the Garmoyle Street pub in late 2023, Brian McKenna (63) – who bought the pub when it was known as Buffer McMahon’s – said: “I just want to retire, as I’ve been in it now for 10 years.
“Business is OK, nothing fantastic — you have to work at it, and I always have. But retiring is just one of those things — you get tired and fed-up.”
He said he thinks the pub has a healthy future as a venue for students who are now living in blocks of apartments in locations like Great Patrick Street and York Street.
He added: “It needs a younger person to go for the student market, and I haven’t the patience or the interest to do that.
“It will be sold as a going concern, and I can’t see any other reason to buy it, and I think the whole area will eventually become some sort of student quarter.”
Before taking on and reinventing the Cavehill Inn, Kelvin managed Molly Brown’s Bar & Kitchen in Newtownards for five years and spent seven years at the Devenish Complex during which he oversaw its refurbishments along with that of Wolf and Whistle.
He also opened two GymCo’s and the Dirt Bird peri peri chicken on Belfast’s Ormeau Road.
