Halfway House

The Halfway House has stood on the Carnlough Road in Broughshane since 1838, midway between Ballymena and Carnlough at the foot of Slemish. Pat Hamill and family have held the pub since 1995, running it as a free house rather than tied to any single brewery. The kitchen sources Glenarm Shorthorn beef, Glenarm salmon, Carnlough Bay crab and Rathlin scallops for a menu served alongside the regular drinks range, with food concentrated at weekends. Its motto, come as a guest, leave as a friend, sums up an approach built around conversation between regulars and strangers at the bar rather than turning tables quickly. In 2026 it was named Highly Commended in the rural pub category at the Countryside Alliance Awards, recognition for a business that has changed hands only once in generations. The building keeps its nineteenth-century bones rather than a modernised interior.