The CrosskeysInn

The Crosskeys Inn is a whitewashed, thatched pub on the Randalstown to Portglenone road outside Toomebridge, dated to before 1654 by dendrochronology testing carried out by Queen's University Belfast in 2010. It began as a coaching stop between Belfast and Derry and takes its name from the crossed keys carved above the door, thought to reference an old Augustinian abbey nearby. Vincent Hurl has owned the freehold since July 2001, after restoring the building following a fire the previous year. Traditional Irish music sessions run most Saturday nights, with looser, unbooked sessions turning up on some Fridays and Sundays, and regulars settle by the open fire with a Guinness rather than crowding a bar area built for a much smaller village trade. It remains a family-run free house rather than a brewery-tied pub.