04. The Fort Inn

 You wouldn’t mind at all being left to hold the fort if you could prove the phrase meant the ownership of this fine pub in Scotch Street, Dungannon. It’s been a pub since around the last war, but a soldier returning from the front would have trouble recognising it in today’s style.

The old draper’s shop next door has been incorporated into the premises and is now a comfortable lounge bar, a popular meeting place in the evenings for the young crowd.

Then there’s a bookmaker’s next door on the other side, which makes The Fort a punters’ bar during the day, as the photos of racehorses all round the wall might well confirm.

The owner’s father owned racehorses for many years, so the photos are also a kind of commemoration of that interest and experience.

At one time there was an off-licence in operation too, but it has been absorbed into the public bar.

There are some very nice touches in the decor, such as the concealed red lighting above the public bar showcase, which illuminates the flowers and leaves to create a very pleasing effect.

Then, in the lounge, a carriage wheel has been suspended from the ceiling and is prettily decorated.

Notice also the massive coloured glass mural which takes up the entire back wall of the lounge bar.

It shows, as you might guess, a scene featuring a fort as its centre, and came from Dickie’s ballroom in the town.

Lit up, this glass mural is a real eye-catcher.

The Fort has its own soccer team, active in the Summer League, and a different kind of activity takes place the year round at weekends in the large upstairs disco bar.

The Saturday night ‘6()s and ’70s disco has been a big success.

It might well be said that The Fort is holding its own in the pub entertainment life of Dungannon.

Closed September 2012