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Hill Street, a stoneās throw from St Anneās
Cathedral on the north edge of Belfast city centre, and seen from the outside with its metal security grills and blacked-out windows, you could be forgiven for thinking it was a condemned building. It had not escaped the Troubles unscathed ā¦ It might have been an absolute dump but The Harp kept punk alive, and indeed punk kept it alive.ā (
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244:) Brian Young, of the band Rudi, similarly recalls: āIt really was the first time I can remember that significant numbers of young people from all sections and classes of community, and from both sides of the sectarian divide were able to meet up and get to know each other, initially drawn together by their enthusiasm for this new music and lifestyle.ā (Brian Young,
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Sean O'Neill & Guy
Trelford report that: āBy the end of ā79, things had gone a bit stale. Bands started to get a bit fed up playing at the same venue and to the same old faces, and gigs began to get cancelled at the last minute. Frustration started to creep inā. The Harp stopped hosting punk gigs
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The Harp was a small venue badly in need of repair and modernization, but it became the centre of the
Belfast Punk scene. As Terri Hooley, of the label Good Vibrations, describes: āIt became blindingly obvious that if punk was to survive, it needed a venue of its own. Enter The Harp Bar. Located on
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The Harp was regarded as a rough venue. Stuart Bailie highlights this, describing how: āThe punks upstairs could also have rough-house tendencies. The daily aggression of
Belfast life was reflected in the upstairs bar, even if it wasnāt about religious sectarianismā (Stuart Bailie, Trouble Songs).
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The bar was situated in what was a rundown corner of a
Belfast city centre that was deserted at night due to the troubles. It became a relatively safe venue for both Protestant and Catholic punks to mix and listen to the large number of local bands that were forming, inspired by Punk. Terri Hooley
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The Harp Bar was functioning as a city centre bar and music venue at the height of the conflict and troubles in
Northern Ireland. Despite tensions in the city and occasional bomb attacks on the premises by
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The Harp opened its doors to punk bands in early 1978. Victim, supported by The
Androids, on 21 April 1978 was the first punk gig at the venue. Soon, it became a key venue for punk in Belfast.
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has also described how: āAt a time when the religious divide in
Northern Ireland was most pronounced, we had kids from both sides of the community coming together in the name of music.ā (
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and others appeared at the venue. It was quickly recognized as the premier punk rock venue in
Ireland and started attracting touring bands such as
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The original venue closed in the 1990s and a new Harp Bar opened elsewhere in Belfast in 2013 as a tribute to the original venue.
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was a public house and live music venue based in Hill Street, central Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is notable in the context of
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The Harp, as a punk venue, appeared in a number of documentaries and TV news clips, including the independent documentary film
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carried a report on the punk scene in Belfast, which featured footage and interviews from the Harp Bar. The
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192:. It was owned between 1977 and 1984 by Patrick (Patsy) Lennon who some years later built and owned the
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Roland Link (2009) ā³Kicking Up A Racket, The Story of Stiff Little Fingers 1977-83", Appletree Press,
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in Belfast broadcast on BBC2 in January 1980 can be found on YouTube courtesy of Spit Records
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clip of punks on the Harp Bar dance floor regularly appears in reruns of the BBCās
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Terri Hooley & Richard Sullivan (2010) "Hooleygan", Blackstaff Press,
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Terri Hooley & Richard Sullivan (2010) "Hooleygan", Blackstaff Press,
631:"Original Harp Bar site in Belfast set to be turned into boutique hotel"
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In 2019, there were plans to build a hotel on the Hill Street site.
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Life After Dark: A History of British Nightclubs & Music Venues
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in mid-1981 when it became a Country & Western themed bar.
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played at the venue three times, in May, July and August 1978.
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Middle-age kicks won't be hard to beat when Harp Bar goes live
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600:"Punk pub gives name to bar on site of pioneering restaurant"
431:. p.334, "Stiff Little Fingers, Live 1977-1983" chapter.
196:(two adjacent premises in Ormeau Avenue, Belfast).
522:Stuart Bailie (2018) ā³Trouble Songsā³, Bloomfield,
478:Hooleygan : music, mayhem and Good Vibrations
404:Hooleygan : music, mayhem and Good Vibrations
385:Stuart Bailie (2018) ā³Trouble Songsā³, Bloomfield,
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513:pp.141-142, "The Harp, Brian Young" chapter.
73:promotes the subject in a subjective manner
50:Learn how and when to remove these messages
709:Former music venues in the United Kingdom
549:, 5 July 2012. Retrieved 29 December 2017
481:. Richard Sullivan. Belfast: Blackstaff.
414:. p.140, "The Harp, Brian Young" chapter.
406:. Richard Sullivan. Belfast: Blackstaff.
168:Learn how and when to remove this message
150:Learn how and when to remove this message
95:Learn how and when to remove this message
337:, 27 August 2013. Retrieved 11 July 2015
294:as representative of the punk movement.
284:Something Else broadcast in January 1980
564:https://www.spitrecords.co.uk/links.htm
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255:Many local punk rock bands including
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216:made their Harp debut in May 1978.
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292:Top Of The Pops The Story of 1977
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194:Limelight nightclub and Dome Bar
132:guide to writing better articles
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347:Haslam, Dave (13 August 2015).
39:or discuss these issues on the
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541:The Godfather of Ulster Punk
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558:The complete edition of
282:. The youth BBC TV show
699:Music venues in Belfast
475:Hooley, Terri (2010).
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353:. Simon and Schuster.
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261:Stiff Little Fingers
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639:Archived
608:Archived
567:Archived
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