Old Barn History

The building which houses the Old Barn Steakhouse and Grill has a lot of history attached to it; this is its’ story.

The Old Barn and the neighbouring buildings were built by the 3rd Earl of Gosford, beginning in the 1860s, and completed in 1871. The first occupier was Mr George Glassey, and the building was valued at 4 pounds.

In 1876 the premises were rented by Joseph Mallagh, who established a grocery business at one end, and used the remainder of the building for agricultural storage. What is now the Old Barn was a grass seed store, with the seed being taken by external pulley to the top storey, then sorted and graded as it moved down the building, to be packed ready for sale at the ground floor level. The building was still the property of Lord Gosford, until Mallagh purchased it from the Gosford family in the late 1880s.

In 1920, Mr Mallagh retired and leased the grocery shop to Joseph Davis Hunter who stayed there for 6 years, until in 1926 he moved to the Square. The premises have changed hands several times since then until in 1995 The Old Barn was bought by the Hunter family

Many of the original features can be still seen in the building, and it is in this historical place that we now find the Old Barn Steakhouse and Grill.