The owner of the Queens Arms pub in Coleraine celebrated his birthday in style on Monday evening with a joint party in the bar for the second inauguration of President Donald J Trump.
Terence (fondly known as Terry) O’Neill explained that his family-owned business has been in the heart of the Co Derry town for nearly 70 years.
While the stalwart publican usually commemorates his birthday quietly with his loyal and local customers, this year they decided to take on a stars-and-stripes motif for the incoming initiation ceremony of President Trump’s second term in the Oval Office.
“We’re the last remaining pub in Coleraine town centre, and all the big show bands used to play in here,” Terry told the Belfast Telegraph.
“We always have chats and talks in the bar and always have a bit of controversy, so I became a Trump supporter just to be controversial. That’s the reason why we’ve done this party.
“I thought: ‘We’ll sit and have a few drinks for my birthday and we’ll sit and watch the inauguration too.’
“We can talk about who likes or who doesn’t like Donald Trump. That’s why people come to the pub — you come to enjoy the chats, the craic and enjoy the atmosphere.”
Terrence O’Neill, owner of the Queens Arms in Coleraine, during Trump’s inauguration on January 20, 2025 (Photo by Luke Jervis / Belfast Telegraph)
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Trump — a contentious political figure, to say the least — usually polarises opinions and ideologies worldwide.
However, Terry stressed that his bar is “a good, mixed community” and that it’s all “just a bit of craic”.
“I like some of his policies,” he said when asked why he has taken such a shine to the newly renamed leader of the free world.
“They say what he’s doing is he’s ‘bringing the work’ back into America again. I like that.
“I worked in America myself before, in San Francisco. My brother worked in Philadelphia, and my father was actually working in Philadelphia for nearly 20 years, so we’ve always been going to America as a family and I’ve always had an interest in it.
MAGA cap decorates the Queens Arms during Trump’s inauguration on January 20, 2025 (Photo by Luke Jervis / Belfast Telegraph)
“We have a lot of Americans coming here for the golf too, and we’ll have plenty of Trump supporters passing through during The Open in summer, which is all good for me.”
With plenty of press attention on the Queens Arms for its US-themed shindig, the bar staff noted that the local media are probably either “covering history in the making, or they’ve just realised that strong drink is the only way to get through it”.
Melvin Stewart was one of the revellers attending Monday’s soiree.
Customer Norman Gilmore at the Queens Arms during Trump’s inauguration on January 20, 2025 (Photo by Luke Jervis / Belfast Telegraph)
“I’m here to support my partner — she’s a huge Trump supporter,” he said.
“I’m a Trump fan myself. Not a fanatic, but I am a fan.
“I think that what he did last time [in office] was good…
“I think he will be good for the world because he stands up for righteousness and stands up against tyranny, terrorism and sheer wokeness.”
In his historic inaugural speech, Trump said he “was saved by God to make America great again”, adding that “the golden age of America begins right now”.