The Lobster Pot

I WROTE THIS PIECE ABOUT THE LOBSTER POT RESTAURANT BAR IN AUGUST, 2008, AS RECOLLECTIONS OF THE LOBSTER POT DURING THE 1970s.

I HAVE RECEIVED A NUMBER OF MESSAGES SINCE THEN. THERE IS CLEARLY A MEASURE OF SENTIMENT ABOUT THE OLD PLACE. I'M PUBLISHING THE ARTICLE AGAIN, FOR THE BENEFIT OF NEW READERS. 

STRANGORD, COUNTY DOWN, IS ONE OF THE MOST PICTURESQUE VILLAGES IN NORTHERN IRELAND.

HERE HE GOES again, I hear you groaning. Timothy Belmont has wandered down Memory Lane and dived into the pond of Nostalgia.

I am, after all, permitted a spot of nostalgia now and again.

Heaven knows how many gallons of gin I have consumed since the mid-seventies; a fair amount of it within the walls of the revered Lobster Pot in the picturesque village of Strangford, County Down. 

Those were the days indeed.

A perfect day started with the sun rising and waking me from my slumber very early on a Saturday or Sunday at Castle Ward.

Our boat, the Dolphin, was ship-shape and ready for action.

The tide was right and a day was spent on Strangford Lough, the sea as calm as a mill-pond, perhaps visiting an island and having an Ulster Fry or fillet steak - from Duffy the butcher - whilst basking in the sunshine.

Incidentally, the Hon William and Mrs Ward (now the Viscount and Viscountess Bangor [Sarah Bradford]) beat us to it, on one occasion, by buying a whole fillet of beef, thereby leaving young Duffy with nothing. 

They were served just before us in the shop.

Evenings were invariably spent in the Lobster Pot.

Here are some memories of that wonderful place:-

• Driving down in our Mums' Minis, with petrol costing 70 pence a gallon
• Celebrating exam results in the lounge-bar
• The lounge-bar was carpeted, with brown or blue velour buttoned banquettes lining the walls and down the centre too, crescent-shaped
• Memorabilia on the walls like stuffed game-birds in cabinets, a ship's wheel, port and starboard lights, a lobster-pot, lifebelts
• A telly high up in a corner & inconspicuous
• Spirits served in french-style wine glasses
• Really large, fresh scampi - langoustines - & chips cost £3.65; tartare sauce in minute, sealed plastic packs but...
• In the Dining-room sauces were served in stainless-steel dishes with spoons
• A grand a la carte menu enclosed within a leather padded A4-size folder
• The main menu was exhaustive in terms of choice; vegetables ranged from asparagus tips to sweetcorn or cauliflower, fresh peas, sauté mushrooms, leeks - almost everything
• The main dining-room was at the front and a second one was at the rear
• Great staff like Ann the head waitress and Jim the bar manager, both defecting to the rival across the Square when Walter became Mine Host
• Two pretty waitresses in the bar in 1976 when I was sixteen and I fancied Julie. I sent her a Valentine card and addressed the envelope to "Julie the Sensuous Barmaid". Julie, if you're reading this now you know the secret; I know it's been preying on your mind for thirty years (!)
• The Chicken Maryland was great; my favourite dinner was scampi, french-fried potatoes, french-fried onion rings, asparagus tips, perhaps sauté mushrooms too
• We ate in the main dining-room occasionally; it was a toss-up between the LP or Aldo's in Ardglass (the late Samuel (Sammy) Crooks, a former Dean of Belfast, always recalled Aldo's green curtains!).

I have written about our last meal here.

I still hold many fond memories of former times spent there with friends and family in the 1970s and 80s.

First published in 2008.