Our first series explores how local chefs, restaurateurs, artisans, brewers and distillers are crafting some of the best food and drink you may or may not have heard of, furthering Northern Ireland’s culinary scene and adapting to serve local communities over the pandemic period.
There’s something wonderful about drinking in the afternoon. A not-too-cold pint, absolutely alone at the bar – even in this fake-ass Irish pub.
Anthony Bourdain
We can assure you there’s nothing fake about the Morning Star – it is the quintessential Belfast bar. Owned and operated by the McAlister family, this pub has survived the trials and tribulations of Belfast city centre since 1810 and has promoted ‘local’ before ‘local’ was cool. While the rest of Belfast city centre is increasingly becoming a slave to trends, this pub remains popular by staying the same.
This is what General Manager, James McAlister, had to say about it:
*Note: This interview was conducted during the first lockdown. Now that we’re in lockdown 2.0 their online shop, takeaway options and more are available again. They’re also offering their #SexyBurgers, pub grub and takeaway pints at their pop up stand on Friday & Saturdays. #SupportYourLocal*
What are the pub’s origins?
It was founded in 1810 here in Pottinger’s Entry as a stopover for stagecoaches travelling between Dublin and Belfast. You could say this area may have had a bit of a ‘seedy’ reputation in those days, where people would engage in maybe some elicit activities – sailors coming off the boats and spending all their money – but that just adds to the allure of the place today. Now it’s a stopover for shoppers and those out for a day out in Belfast. It’s one of the city centre pubs that has survived and we’re proud of that aspect of our tradition.
No one used to be in the city centre after 5pm, but that’s all changed now with the rejuvenation of the Cathedral Quarter – it’s great to see. The pub has been in our family for 30 years and its traditions have largely carried on. It’s great to be involved in something so iconic. It’s hard work, of course, but we enjoy it together as a family.
How are you keeping things ‘local’?
We do good food, we do good drink.
Our food is as ‘local’ as it can get. In fact, most of it is made within the family. We have our own farm in which we grow most of our own vegetables and herbs. The rest of our meat and other products either come from one of my uncle’s and auntie’s farms or from fresh, local producers and fishmongers. We’ve had the same chicken man that’s been delivering here for 30 years.
Our parents have been in the farming industry for generations. My grandfather was a cattle dealer and owned pubs and hotels at different stages. If we’re not getting products from within our own family, we are getting them from other families across NI. These are people we’ve been doing business with for generations, way before ‘local’ was trendy.
I don’t think many other places have been able to develop these long lasting relationships with different people across the industry. As you get more into this business, you appreciate what we do well here in Northern Ireland more and more. The food and drink we produce in this country should be a point of pride for us. ‘Local’ is a rising tide.
And what about the drinks?
We’re a traditional whiskey bar, predominantly. My family would have been involved in bottling whiskey, so promoting local whiskey is a big part of what we do.
We’ve quickly adapted to Ireland’s resurgent gin market, as well. Those Celtic, copper pot still gins are one-of-a-kind. Their emergence is bringing life back to a tradition and part of our indigenous culture that had gone away for a time. This island has been making Poitín and whiskey for hundreds of years and, now that gin has come along, we are becoming even more dynamic.
What’s changed about running a pub in the city centre?
Belfast is a destination now. We had tourists the last couple of years. We never had tourists before – it’s class!
For us, “The more things change, the more they stay the same.”
You see some of these new bars adapting to new trends and it’s great – that’s just not what we do.
People visiting here want to see the real Belfast and that’s what we are.
Tell us about Pottinger’s…
While I say all this, we have somewhat adapted to ‘hipsterdom’ with our other venture, Pottinger’s Café, just across the street. You can get your locally produced coffee, a bowl of pho and a vegan wrap and start you’re day or afternoon off right.
So I’m not saying we aren’t versatile. But, as for the pub itself, we aren’t changing.
What’s the craic like in here?
You get the lads during the day reading the paper; they may have a bet on and are just watching the horses. They’re great banter! You see some of them a day or two a week; others every day.
You have the evening trade, where people may want a nice surf and turf or top notch pub fare. Or maybe they just come in for a pint. We’re getting young people – even hipsters – coming in and drinking pints of Guinness. Guinness is trendy now – who knew?! So, we’re appealing to a wide range of people and they’re all able to mix comfortably here and enjoy themselves.
Speaking of Guinness…
Guinness is a good analogy for who we are:
Many breweries are trying to duplicate Guinness, but it simply can’t be done. Trends come and go – we may tweak a thing here and there, but we like us. We want to give people what they want, which, more often than not, is just a relaxing place to sit down and have bit of craic.
Tell us about the food specials and events…
Our lunchtime carvery is great value. You can basically pile your plate to the brim with fresh, local food for less than £6 in Belfast City Centre. You can’t beat that!
We also have a Beef Club event, which is a favourite of mine. We’ll bring it back in February once the pandemic has calmed down.
Beef Club is a ‘nose to tail’ menu. We have all different cuts and types of beef showcased by the best local farmers. Basically we ask ourselves, “What can we do with this whole animal?” We don’t want to waste anything. It’s disrespectful to the animal and to society.
What’s it like working with the family? Who’s the boss?
My mum and my wee sister are the boss – I just work here. It’s easier just to do what they say. My sister plays rugby for Ulster and my mum probably could have, too, so I don’t question them much.
Any mad stories in the pub?
Jimmy Nesbitt came in one afternoon and the lads were giving him ‘dog’s abuse’ about his haircut. It was great banter and he was giving it back.
That being said, the norm is that whenever we’ve had famous people in here, nobody cares – they don’t even notice them when they come in. The ‘leaving them alone’ thing is quite an Irish trait and the mark of a good pub.
But, on that occasion, it was great to see them give Jimmy a good slaggin’!
How have you gotten creative during Covid?
We were lucky, in some respects, in that we were in a fairly stable position prior to the pandemic. However, we weren’t able to avail any of the grants, so we had to get creative and find new revenue streams.
We said to ourselves, “We have to be able to come out of this and still be able to operate.”
We knew people would want fresh pints – this is probably something people missed the most over the pandemic. So we opened a wee window into the beer garden and sold pints for takeaway out the back of the pub. We didn’t really think anybody would come. There was nobody in the city centre during the coronavirus. But, sure enough, there were people queued up here for pints from the very beginning we opened that bloody window.
We just thought, “We have the licensing and we have the beer, so let’s do this!”
It was great for the first week until we ran out of beer. People loved it!
What were people supposed to do? You couldn’t go to the pub, you couldn’t see your friends. People wanted a bit of normalcy. Our morning crowd would normally consist of regulars, but during the pandemic we were getting people from all walks of life.
How else did you get creative during the pandemic?
We also opened up an online shop and delivery service. We were busy enough! Because we have our own farm, we had plenty of fresh produce, bottled beer, wine and spirits to sell and people were buying!
We just thought, “What do we do with all this? We can’t let it go to waste. Let’s see if there’s a market for it.”
At the height of it, we were doing 60 deliveries a day. We were selling everything – really whatever we had.
We opened Pottinger’s for takeaway, too, to keep some of our staff employed, serve workers and selling some essential products (even toilet roll).
How has reopening been?
For the most part, it’s been good. We knew going into it that it wouldn’t be quite the same, but we’re making do with what we have. We’ve had to remove about 30% of seating inside the pub. We’re very lucky we have the outside space, which we’ve been able to expand.
We sold out of our weekly supply of Guinness in the first two days. A lot of people just wanted a pint after not having one for so long. I was running around frantically going, “Where the hell can I get Guinness?!” We ran out of a few other things, too, but a pub without Guinness isn’t a pub!
There’s a lot more to consider on the service side of things now. It’s more labour intensive, as if hospitality workers need more to worry about on their shifts! It was difficult to get the staffing right and gauge how many employees we needed at different times and on different days. It’s about balance and we’ll continue to work out the kinks and adapt to the ‘new normal’ until the old normal comes back.
What’s your message for the community at this time?
I just want to say to our guests that the support has been amazing. We have great customers who have remained loyal through this long, difficult period. We’re very glad to be pouring pints again, especially for our regulars. It’s a great social outlet– a link, if you will – that’s what a pub is.
My message?
“Get out and support your ‘local’!”