Cellar Bar takes top award

The bar was awarded the top accolade for providing customers with a great family experience in a setting where children are treated as individual customers, are spoken to as customers, provided with their own specially designed menus and their own entertainment.

Co-owner Trevor McCann puts it down to his recently acquired status as a family man.

"It's good for the town to have a bar that can compete on a national level," he said.

Trevor and his sister Lesa own and run the family pub inherited from their parents Paddy and Anne.

"The way the trade's moving you have to be offering something for everyone," said Trevor, who has 16 years experience in the bar trade.

Commenting on the award, Trevor said: "It was only really when I became a family man with two young kids that I realised what makes a fun, relaxing and comfortable atmosphere for other families. Things such as mother and baby parking, colouring menus to keep the little ones occupied and a great choice of kids meals.

"It's surprising how much your own kids can help further your business," added Trevor.

Commenting on the awards, Colin Neill, Chief Executive of Pubs of Ulster, said: "The Pub of the Year Awards are a great opportunity to reward and recognise the excellence that exists in the local pub industry and to celebrate the best pubs right across Northern Ireland and act as a benchmark for the industry as a whole.

"The Cellar Bar is a leading example of the high standard so many pubs in Northern Ireland deliver and the judges were delighted to award them the coveted title."

The Pub of the Year awards is the culmination of an extensive search for the best pubs across Northern Ireland."