Here’s to a proper bar

Veteran Belfast bar man, Gerry White, was delighted in June when The John Hewitt pub in Donegall Street claimed the title of LCN Bar of the Year despite some challenging competition. He’s been talking to Russell Campbell…

In a city that’s bursting at the seams with a host of atmospheric pubs, it’s really no one thing that sets the John Hewitt apart from the competition.

Located in the heart of the arty Cathedral Quarter, The John Hewitt looks, at first glance, like any traditional city centre bar – one that appears to have occupied its spot on bustling Donegall Street for generations.

Yet that wonderful atmosphere of time-worn comfort is a benign and carefully-crafted illusion. The John Hewitt has been trading in its present spot for just the last 14 years, although in that time it has established for itself a reputation that easily sets it on a par with some of the city’s best-loved establishments.

During this year’s Licensed & Catering News Awards at The Europa in June, The John Hewitt’s achievements were recognised when it beat strong competition from an array of successful bars – including Tates in Holywood and The Anchor Complex in Portstewart – to claim the title of LCN Bar of the Year.

The venue’s long-serving manager, Gerry White, was delighted with the win, describing it as a “pat on the back” for staff:

“It shows that that they are appreciated, especially in these times when it’s getting that little bit harder,” he said recently. “It’s very much a team effort here and that’s one of the things that makes the bar so successful.”

In terms of its ownership, The John Hewitt is also entirely unique. The bar belongs to the Belfast Unemployed Resource Centre next door. The Centre has always relied on grants for its funding, but The John Hewitt has been a proactive attempt to generate some revenue of its own while providing a venue that the community can use in all sorts of ways.

Hewitt himself was a poet, a proud socialist and a Freeman of Belfast who opened the resource centre in 1983. The bar stands as a tribute and reminder of the way of life and the ideals that Hewitt stood for. It’s a regular live music venue and very often, it’s the setting for literary events such as book and festival launches.

“The thing about The John Hewitt is that it’s a proper bar,” remarked Gerry. “We’re not a scene bar, but we have live music, we have excellent food and we have some of the best customer service in the city centre.”

Gerry himself is a well-known face in the Belfast pub trade. A former sales rep in the Newsletter – which ironically, once occupied the premises that now house The John Hewitt – he has managed city centre pubs for much of the last three decades.

For eight years, he looked after historic White’s Tavern in Winecellar Entry, but he’s also worked in a variety of venues including The Mermaid, off High Street, and Bar Nicholl, formerly known as The Boreen which, at seven feet wide, billed itself as the smallest pub in Belfast. He also worked for a time at The Northern Whig.

Gerry said that working at The John Hewitt, however, has been the “happiest” experience of his career:

“This is a unique bar to work in and one of the things that makes it very different is its ownership,” he added. “The profits from here don’t go into some fat cat’s pocket, they go to the Resource Centre next door and get used for community projects, so it’s giving something back and that’s good, it’s like a feel good factor, just to now that people are benefiting from this.”

There is live music at The John Hewitt six nights each week, much of it geared towards promoting aspiring local musicians, and the venue is heavily involved in all the festivals which take place in the Cathedral Quarter annually. This year, for the fourth time, it will hold the John Hewitt Birthday Poetry Night as part of the Belfast Festival at Queen’s in October. That event will involve readings of the poet’s work by four guest writers.

There’s also a monthly art exhibition at the bar which normally concentrates on showcasing the work of budding local artists, but next year as part of the Cathedral Quarter Festival, there will be an exhibition by artist Stephen Shaw, who will be celebrating 10 years of working in Cathedral Quarter.

“All of this very much goes back to our roots, to our ethos from the early days of the bar,” explained Gerry. “It was a deliberate decision not to have gaming machines in here, not to have a TV blasting in the corner…and people tell us that they love the place, that they don’t want it to change. They love being able to come into the bar for a beer or a coffee. A woman could easily come in here on her own, have a glass of wine and read a book and feel completely comfortable. It just has that type of atmosphere, it’s completely relaxing.”

Food is another of The John Hewitt’s attractions. It’s only available at lunchtimes and up to 5.30pm on Fridays and Saturdays, but chef, John McComish, delivers a small, restaurant-quality menu that is constantly changing:

“Food is one of the things that we’re known for,” said Gerry. “We only have seven items on the menu with two daily specials, everything is done fresh and nothing is frozen. Say on a Friday, when the seafood chowder is on, we have people that come from Newtownards and Bangor just for that. Just look at Trip Advisor and the remarks that are on there. “

There are few local venues that can match the sheer variety of beers that The John Hewitt can offer – with 15 beers on draft at the bar and a further 30 or so available in bottles, its nearest rival would perhaps, be The Hudson in nearby Gresham Street.

“Business has been steady of late,” confirmed Gerry. “There’s lots of new bars around here, the likes of The Dirty Onion, The National and The Harp Bar and they have certainly brought more people into the area. The good thing is that all of these bars tend to appeal to the same type of clientele, so you can really enjoy a good pub tour around Cathedral Quarter with all these venues within five minutes’ walk of each other.”

As for the future, Gerry does have some plans for new facilities at The John Hewitt, but he’s staying tight-lipped at this stage. The bar’s land-locked position on Donegall Street makes any kind of expansion a difficult proposition, although some minor improvements earlier this year allowed them to increase the capacity of the venue from 100 to 130.

Also, there’s a move to establish the bar as something of a specialist in gins – there are currently more than 16 varieties on offer at The John Hewitt, including a couple of local concoctions and Gerry is confident that the range will grow going forward.

“Our priorities now are simple,” he added. “Customer service is paramount. We always make a point, no matter how busy we are, of acknowledging our customers straight away. People are making the decision to come here and there is a lot of choice nowadays, so we’re lucky that they decided to come to us and they don’t deserve to be ignored.”

As for the more distant future, Gerry is clear that protecting the ethos and character of the bar will remain a priority, although he is focused on increasing the level of facilities available to customers:

“You have to stay on top of things,” he added. “If you stand still, then you go stagnant, so change is very important and it is ongoing here at The John Hewitt.”