LAURENTIC BAR IN LINSFORT

HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY THE LAURENTIC BAR

It doesn’t seem like a year ago that the Laurentic Bar in Linsfort first opened its doors to the public. How has the past year been for this exciting new business venture on the road to Dunree?

“It’s been a fantastic year,” says manager Jim Porter. “One year on and we have gone from strength to strength, building up a loyal customer base from all over the peninsula and further a field.” The Laurentic staff pride themselves on custom service and Declan and Danny, the two in-house chefs who have been with them from the start, are always adding to the mouth watering choices of food that are available every day. “We have some real delights on the menu.” Begins Declan. “The black and white stir fry with chicken and beef, stir fried in a wok is proving to be very popular. We also offer a sea bass infused with lemon and parsley to keep with the sea faring theme of the pub.”

STEEPED IN HISTORY
The name of the bar has strong links with the sea. The SS Laurentic, which inspired the name, was chosen to carry forty-three tons of gold bullion from Great Britain to Canada. On 25th January 1917. The ship struck a mine and sank within an hour in 40 metres of water. An incredible salvage feat between 1917 and 1924 recovered 3186 gold bars of the missing 3211 with a further 5 being recovered in 1932 by another salvage operation, leaving 20 gold bars still unaccounted for at the bottom of Lough Swilly worth some €15 million at current prices. So if you have a spare afternoon you could have a look around the coast of any that have washed up before going to the pub for a bit of refreshment.

POPULAR SPORT
If you are in the need of some relaxing sporting activities, how about a game of darts? The Laurentic is proving to be so popular for the game that they have had to install a second board in the taproom.

LIVE ACTS
Over the coming week s the Laurentic bar has an impressive line up of live acts to get the feet tapping. Hugh McGonagle, Damian Harkin, Sharon Nixon, Brian Mulland, Robbie Cunningham, Danny McCarron, Kevin McLaughlin and the band Tullagh will all be appearing between now and the New Year. And if you fancy a bit of a flutter, the Dunree Rovers are having a night at the races on the 30th of December.


HERE’S TO THE NEXT YEAR!
Jim puts customer service on the top of his most important list and realises it is the support of his customers that has made this year so successful “The Laurentic has had a wonderful year and I would like to thank all of the customers from here and around the world that have graced our doorway in that time. Here’s to the next year!”


WHAT’S ON LIST

5TH OF DECEMBER- Hugh McGonagle – ANNIVERSARY NIGHT

6th of December – Damian Harkin.

12th of December – Sharon Nixon.

13th December – Tullagh

19th December- Brian Mullan.

20th December- Robbie Cunningham.

21st of December – Hugh McMonagle.

26th of December – Danny McCarron.

27th of December. Brian Mullan

28th of December- Sharon Nixon.

29th of December- Tullagh

30th of December - Hugh McMonagle.
And the Dunree Rovers Night at the races.

31th December – Kevin McLaughlin

THE ORCHARD BAR - GLENEELY

EDITORIAL FOR THE ORCHARD BAR IN GLENEELY

The Orchard bar in Gleneely is a bright and cheerful family run pub, owned for three generations by the McLaughlin’s. First Grandfather Hugh then Patsie and now Darren. The building is steeped in history and had been sympathetically modernised recently, reflecting the original character of the building in the 1930’s with a long sweeping bar leading through the three spacious, open plan rooms.

A warm welcome
It is very much home from home and as soon as you walk past the sweet smelling roses and hanging baskets at the door you are made welcome by the staff. High standards of cleanliness are needed in a place that serves food and Darren’s eye for detail in the rest rooms and bars means that all you have to do is relax and take in the old charm atmosphere. The smoking area has a pool table and even a map of Inishowen painted on to an outside wall to show visiting tourists places of interest when they decide to leave the comfort of their surroundings.

Bar Menu
A picture on the wall shows an aerial view of the village taken this year, showing that the Gleneely community has grown considerably in the recent past and the Orchard Bar has seen the number of locals increase. The choice of good quality food on the menu is a step above the usual too because on offer are wraps, baguettes, paninis and their special mouth watering 12” inch stone baked pizzas. It was also refreshing to see that the menu also caters for vegetarians.

Food is served on Friday, Saturday and Sunday between 5 and 10 pm. If you fancy a great breakfast The Orchard Bar does a great fry on Saturday and Sunday too.

Live music
Live music comes from bands around Donegal and Derry. Phil McCafferty from Letterkenny is playing soon and other regular are Sean Rae, The Cavanagh Brothers and Inspiration. If you don’t want to wait for the bands to come on then on the wall next to the giant bottle tops and picture of the Guinness Toucan, is a guitar. Feel free to pick it up and start singing.

Check out their bebo page