Northern Ireland’s foremost online historical archive related to the Second World War, WartimeNI, will be hosting an informal war history discussion with other local historians, accompanied by a healthy dose of Ulster’s most famous libation, whiskey, at the historic Garrick Bar this Friday evening. This is the first of many such WWII ‘War and Whiskey’ discussions WartimeNI will be hosting in a variety of Northern Ireland’s most historic pubs over the coming months.

Scott Edgar, founder of WartimeNI, will be joined by Jenny Haslett of the Northern Ireland War Memorial Museum. The museum features a range of artefacts and exhibitions dating from World War II, helping showcase the arrival of the American GIs, the Belfast Blitz and the effects of war on the home front. Jenny, along with the rest of the memorial’s staff, is one of Northern Ireland’s most acclaimed historians on the Second World War.

British soldier surveys the Belfast Blitz damage on High Street, Belfast. (Copyright Imperial War Museum)

While Scott’s goal is to draw more attention to the history and significance of WWII in Northern Ireland – a historic event that affected everyone throughout the region – it is also his objective to bring history out of the stuffy confines of the universities and lecture halls where its so often formally discussed and showcase it interactively in one of Belfast’s best pubs.

As part of WartimeNI’s desire to shed light on local history, the organisation strategically chooses the Garrick Bar as the site of its first ‘War and Whiskey’ event. Operating since 1890 and opened by famous Belfast publicans, Braithwaite and McCann, The Garrick has survived partition, the Great War, the Second World War and ‘The Troubles’ of Belfast City Centre. This history will also be incorporated in the event’s lively ‘bar room banter’ planned for the evening.

Briathwaite and McCann advert for Old Cromac Whiskey. (Copyright Belfast News Letter)

And what of the whiskey, you may ask? The Garrick will be offering its whiskey of the month, Roe & Co., on special – a blended Irish whiskey inspired by the Roe family, operating the Dublin-based Thomas Street Distillery from 1757.

If you were headed out next Friday night anyways to geek out on some history with your mates (like I usually do), why not bring the party to the Garrick for some interactive history and great craic?!

You can RSVP and purchase tickets here. Check out WartimeNI and more event information on its Facebook page. Additional organisational links included in hyperlinks above and links below.

 

Event details:

What:  War and Whiskey:  Ulster at War 1939 – 1945 | *RSVP Here*

When:  Friday, 27th September, 8:30pm – 11:30pm

Where:  The Garrick Bar, Chichester Street, Belfast

How much: £5 entry

 

Further information:

 

More from the archives:

Field Marshal Sir Bernard Montgomery at Belfast City Hall. (Copyright Belfast Telegraph)

Private Milburn H Henke becomes the official first American GI to set foot in Europe in Belfast. (Copyright Imperial War Museum)

Toilet air raid shelter on Chichester Street, Belfast. (Copyright LIFE Magazine)