56. Ashburn Hotel

Behind the rather unprepossessing front exterior of the Ashburn Hotel, nestles the Armagh 1989 Bushmills Bar of the Year, a luxurious lobby-style open bar with couches, divans, and two whirring ceiling fans that seem a little superfluous in this cool, blue, and refined ambiance.

What was once an old townhouse and the surgery of a Doctor Ryan, is now a superior thirteen-bedroom hotel, the only one in town, as it so happens. The hotel owes its name to a previous owner, a Mr. McCrory, who hailed from the village of Ashburn outside Dublin, and brought the name of his home with him when he moved north.

The present owner, John F.McConaghy, one of the five brothers mentioned elsewhere in the Lurgan coverage, has been in control here since 1974, and since then he has introduced a continuing series of improvements, innovations and extensions.

The Reflections Night Club, for example, with its super honeycomb-effect ceiling, brand new turquoise seating, and matching 37 carpet (specially made to blend in and to feature the monogram A H), and its combination of live bands and disco evenings, is a major nite-spot in mid- Ulster. Most impressive of all in this roomy nightclub is the series of brilliant mirror paintings done by local artist Malachy Cormac.
Looking down at you from the plate glass are large, perfectly caught colour paintings of James Dean, Marilyn Monroe, Humphrey Bogart, Laurel and Hardy, Groucho Marx, and that famous Clark Gable/ Vivien Leigh embrace that drew millions to see Gone With The Wind.

The crowds are still flocking in today, this time to the Ashburn Hotel, where they can let these great stars of the thirties, forties and fifties watch how people enjoy themselves at the start of the last decade of this century.