In my work as a photographer in the Sandy Row area of South Belfast; a base where I could shelter, think, take notes, have a couple of pork pies and a Guinness and generally ‘get my head’, became a necessity. I found myself instinctively attracted to the Klondyke Bar, perhaps because it was not an especially famous, handsome or notorious – unlike many others in Belfast.
Situated on the corner of McAdam Street, the Klondyke Bar was very typical in architecture and interior décor of the older style of Belfast public houses. The buildings housing the bar – numbers 53 and 55 Sandy Row – were originally built in 1872 and accommodated a spirit grocer’s business. Hearsay has it that a German, returning rich from the Gold Rush, came to Belfast in 1906, took out a sub-lease on the premises and converted them to a full public bar, which he called the Klondyke. The pub’s first appearance in Belfast street directories as the Klondyke Bar was in 1906, which seems to lend substance to the story. But the ‘German’, if he existed, had quite a short term of business, for by the time the valuation books of 1910 were compiled, the occupier had become Robert Wasson. He ran the bar until 1938, when he sold it to Samuel B Evans. Mr. Evans, in turn, ran the bar until April 1973, when it was bought by the Northern Ireland Housing Executive as part of the redevelopment of Sandy Row. For a period of some 63-years, therefore, the bar had only one change of owner, and perhaps part of the Klondyke’s unassuming, but very warm and welcoming character, came from this continuity.
At first sight, the Klondyke seemed to have changed little since it was built, and, compared to many pubs in Belfast whose interiors were ripped out to make way for plastic seats, dim lights and high prices, it was relatively untouched. Over the years, however, changes took place; in 1938 the little snugs (which were a feature of the days when it was regarded as indecent for women to be seen drinking alcohol in a public place) were removed, although the remnants of these wooden structures could still be seen in the pub. When the Housing Executive acquired the premises the bar’s future seemed in doubt, but happily the new owners of the business had the confidence to extend the bar at the rear.
The photographs in this book have been selected from many taken in the bar since May 1974. In my choices, I tried to avoid giving an idealised and over-romanticised picture of the place – although the fact remains that, when one enters into the life of a bar charming and delightful things just seem to keep happening of their own accord. The spirit of the Klondyke can be sensed in many little things; small animals were a common sight there – an Alsatian pup, a couple of kittens in a cardboard box on pay night (I missed the picture!), a mother with a small child on her knee, two friends playing draughts in a corner, an old man fascinated by the conversation and looks of the young. Such things could be experienced in thousands of ‘locals’ throughout Ireland and Great Britain. That they survived, and flourished, in troubled Belfast was a source of hope for the future of the city and its people
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