Coleraine Old Courthouse

The Old Courthouse is a Grade B1 listed neoclassical building on Castlerock Road (at the corner with Captain Street Lower) in Coleraine, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It served as a judicial facility from 1852 until 1985 and is now a restaurant and bar.

Designed by Stewart Gordon (County Surveyor for Co. Londonderry, 1834–1860) in the neoclassical (Greek Doric) style, the foundation stone was laid on 24 November 1850 by local magistrate Charles Knox. Construction was completed in 1852. It replaced an earlier courthouse, sited at the Diamond, on the other side of the River Bann, that had been demolished around 1846. The building functioned as Coleraine’s main judicial centre for the town and surrounding rural district, handling serious cases (including murder, treason, robbery, and arson) and serving as a petty sessions courthouse. A small bridewell for temporary holding of suspects was added around 1859–1865, along with an enclosed circular rear wall that created a secure recreation area for prisoners.

In 1898 county councils were first elected and the building became a meeting place for Londonderry County Council, but by the 1960’s it was deemed to be too small for modern judicial use, and a new courthouse was planned and built on Mountsandel Road. The Castlerock Road building finally closed forecourt purposes in 1985, after 130 years of use. It lay empty and derelict until in 2001 the building was bought by JD Wetherspoon, and converted into a restaurant and bar.  It has since been resold, but continues in that purpose.

The building remains a prominent local landmark that contributes significantly to Coleraine’s town-centre character.