Why this one is different
The John Hewitt opened in December 1999 at 51 Donegall Street, by St Anne’s Cathedral. It is owned by the Belfast Unemployed Resource Centre. The centre needed income that was not only grants; a pub was the plan. John Hewitt the poet had opened the resource centre on May Day 1983, so the bar took his name.
That ownership is the useful fact. Profits go back into the centre’s work. It is not a themed “literary pub.” It is a room with decent beer, a lunch menu, and bands most nights — often free.
Food and hours
Kitchen is a lunch service. Discover NI lists food Monday–Thursday noon–3pm, Friday and Saturday noon–5:30pm, and no food on Sunday. Bar hours run long (they publish something close to 11:30–1am most days; Sunday can be shorter). Always check thejohnhewitt.com. Phone 028 9023 3768.
Who it is wrong for
A dinner booking at 8pm. A stag that wants pitchers and a DJ. Anyone confusing “named after a poet” with “quiet reading room.”
On the same streets
The Duke of York is the louder alley. The Sunflower is the cage-door music pub. The Dirty Onion if the group wants a yard.
Sources: thejohnhewitt.com, Discover NI. Last checked September 2026.