The Northern Whig Club Is Founded in Belfast

The Northern Whig is a bar housed in a historical building in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

It is in the Cathedral Quarter, just to the north of the Belfast City Centre. At various times during its history it has been a gentleman’s club and a newspaper and is currently a bar owned by the Horatio Group.

The Northern Whig Club

In 1795 members including Theobald Wolfe Tone and Henry Joy McCracken met at Cavehill to the north of Belfast, a meeting that was a pivotal step towards the 1798 Rebellion. In 1819 construction began on the current Northern Whig building in Bridge Street, taking its name from the original club.

The foundation stone was laid on St. Patrick’s Day, and the building was completed in 1821 as a hotel and gentlemen’s club. In 1798 McCracken had been tried and hanged at the Belfast Assembly Rooms, across the road from the building. The Assembly Rooms building was used as a branch of the Northern Bank during the 20th century but is currently vacant.