Ireland (Lonely Planet, 9th Edition) - Fionn Davenport [553]
Uluru Bistro
* * *
SLEEPING & EATING
Whistledown Hotel ( 4175 4174; www.thewhistledownhotel.co.uk; 6 Seaview; s/d £80/120; ) This former guesthouse on the waterfront has been given a boutique-style makeover, with scarlet and pistachio crushed velvet, bathrooms with triple shower heads and large flat-screen TVs. It also has a stylish bar and restaurant (mains £9 to £19; open noon to 5pm & 7.30pm to 10pm Monday to Saturday, plus 12.30pm to 3.30pm Sunday).
Restaurant 23 ( 4175 3222; 23 Church St; mains £8-13, 3-course dinner £18; 12.30-3pm & 5.30-9pm Wed-Sat, 12.30-8.30pm Sun) Set in Bennet’s Bar on Warrenpoint’s main drag, the new kid on the block has already garnered a Michelin Bib Gourmand. It’s also helping turn this corner of County Down into a foodie destination with dishes such as Kilkeel crab and prawn cocktail with avocado sauce, and Fermanagh roast pork with apple chutney, black pudding beignet and calvados jus.
Copper ( 4175 3047; 4 Duke St; mains £16-18, 2-/3-course dinner Sun & Tue-Thu £22/28; noon-3pm Wed-Sat, 5.30-9.30pm Tue-Thu, 5.30-10.30pm Fri & Sat, noon-8.30pm Sun) A stalwart of Warrenpoint’s fine-dining scene, Copper is an elegant, white-linen-tablecloth kind of restaurant that combines food sourced from local farms and fish bought from the quayside at Kilkeel with Mediterranean and Asian flavours. There’s a separate vegetarian menu (mains £12.50) with inventive dishes such as sweet-potato pancake with shiitake mushrooms, scallions and black bean sauce.
GETTING THERE & AWAY
Bus 39 runs between Newry and Warrenpoint (£2, 20 minutes, at least hourly Monday to Saturday, 10 on Sunday), with some services continuing on to Kilkeel (one hour).
Newry
pop 22,975
Newry has long been a frontier town, guarding the land route from Dublin to Ulster through the ‘Gap of the North’, the pass between Slieve Gullion and the Carlingford hills, still followed by the main Dublin–Belfast road and railway. Its name derives from a yew tree (An tIúr) supposedly planted here by St Patrick.
The opening of the Newry Canal in 1742, linking the town with the River Bann at Portadown, made Newry a busy trading port, exporting coal from Coalisland on Lough Neagh, as well as linen and butter from the surrounding area.
Newry today is a major shopping centre, with a busy market on Thursday and Saturday; it’s invaded at weekends by shoppers from the South taking advantage of the euro exchange rate and the relative bargains available across the border.
INFORMATION
Coffee-Net ( 3026 3531; Newry BusCentre, The Mall; per 15min £1; 8.30am-6pm Mon-Fri, 9am-6pm Sat, 5-8pm Sun) Internet access.
Tourist information centre ( 3031 3170; newrytic@newryandmourne.gov.uk; Bagenal’s Castle, Castle St; 9am-5pm Mon, to 6pm Tue-Fri mid-Jun–Sep, to 5pm Mon-Fri Oct–mid-Jun, plus 10am-4pm Sat Apr-Sep)
SIGHTS
So fierce was the rivalry between counties Down and Armagh in the 19th century that when the new red-brick town hall was built in 1893, it was erected right on the border – on a three-arched bridge across the Newry River. The cannon outside was captured during the Crimean War (1853–56) and given to the town in memory of local volunteers who fought in the war.
Bagenal’s Castle is the town’s oldest surviving building, a 16th-century tower house built for Nicholas Bagenal, grand marshal of the English army in Ireland. Recently rediscovered, having been incorporated into more recent buildings, the castle has been restored and now houses the Newry and Mourne Museum ( 3031 3178; www.bagenalscastle.com; Castle St; admission free; 10am-4.30pm Mon-Sat & 1-4.30pm Sun), with exhibits on the Newry Canal and local archaeology, culture and folklore. The castle also houses the tourist information centre and an excellent cafe ( 9am-5pm Mon-Sat, 1-4.30pm Sunday).
The Newry Canal runs parallel to the river through the town centre, and is a focus for the city’s redevelopment. A cycle path runs 30km north to Portadown, following the route of the canal. Newry Ship Canal runs 6km south towards Carlingford Lough, where the Victoria Lock has