Crown Bar in Belfast says 'odd man, out' to Nigel Farage

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/may/14/crown-bar-belfast-odd-man-out-nigel-farage-ukip

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One of the most famous pubs in Ireland rebuffed the Ukip leader, Nigel Farage, on a visit to Belfast on Wednesday.

The Crown Bar, a tourist trap for generations of visitors to the city, refused Farage a filming opportunity in the pub, the interior of which was recreated for director Carol Reed's classic black and white 1940s thriller, Odd Man Out.

Farage and his entourage had been hoping to film inside the famous Victorian bar but the National Trust-owned pub turned him down.

He was in the city to drum up support for Ukip candidates standing in local government elections across Northern Ireland.

Earlier Farage held a press conference directly facing the Crown Bar at the Europa hotel, which until the siege of Sarajevo, had been the most bombed hotel in Europe since the second world war.

As well as claiming that an influx of foreign workers into the UK had driven down the pay of British families, Farage also appealed to Catholic and nationalist voters to support Ukip's anti-EU message.

"We have approached politics in Northern Ireland as a non-sectarian political party. We absolutely welcome Catholics as members and activists," he said.

However, a number of Ukip candidates, including Stormont Assembly member David McNarry, are members of the Orange Order and former members of the Ulster Unionist party.

The Crown Bar was taken over by the National Trust in 1978 after a campaign by admirers of the pub's interior decor, which features mosaic tiles, carved wooden snugs and an altar-style bar.

As well as Carol Reed's acclaimed 1947 film about an IRA fugitive hiding out in the bar while on the run, the pub has been the location for other movies including David Caffrey's version of the Colin Bateman novel Divorcing Jack.

In relation to being banned from filming inside the Crown Bar, Ukip later tweeted that "UKIP members & Leader WERE NOT refused entry to Crown Bar #GreatPub #GreatBeer"."