Curry's Fun Park: Portrush rocks once again as amusements reopen
The town’s iconic landmark, Barry’s, has been saved and renamed, with amusements and rides opening for Easter. The Belfast Telegraph returns to the fun fair and checks out what visitors can expect
Amusement parks are a rite of passage for any child, and with Portrush promenade basking in the glow of neon lights once again, future generations look set to make memories that will last a lifetime.
A sense of anticipation had been building across Northern Ireland since news broke that the old Barry’s Amusements would be saved, albeit under new ownership and a new name.
For many, the Easter Bank Holiday marks the official return of merrymaking and frivolity along the north coast.
The only currency in town will be amusement tokens as kids seek out the newest rides and revisit their old favourites.
Parents and grandparents, come on down! And prepare to lighten your pockets.
Having first opened as Barry’s Amusements in 1926, the Co Antrim venue has a unique blend of fairground attractions and amusement arcades.
Celebrating its upcoming centenary year in style is back on the cards after locals feared the fun factory would be replaced by an incongruous housing development.
To their relief, the reopening of this site signifies a change in fortunes. It heralds the return of thousands of holidaymakers and day-trippers which will be a major boost for the local economy.
Beaming from ear to ear as she strolls in front of the venue with her three young children, Claire Louise McBride tells the Belfast Telegraph that the community was devastated when Barry’s closed in 2019.
She says: “Having it back is fantastic, I’m so excited. I thought Portrush was becoming dead but now we have something giving me hope and there are lots of plans for the future so I’m excited again.”
“I’m so happy. I’m going to be broke,” she jokes.
“We have something to do again, it’s great.
“My children have a lot of exciting things ahead of them, it won’t be the boring old Portrush which seemed inevitable.
“Businesses in this area needed the boost. I was worried it was going in the same direction as Bangor which was buzzing when I was a child but isn’t so much any more.
“I grew up here. Barry’s was the most amazing place and I remember going down the Helter Skelter and being terrified.
“All the young kids living here will be able to have those same experiences. Those memories are priceless.”
The place is a hive of activity once more and that is a sight to behold.
One of the rides inside the complex. Credit: Martin McKeown
Most children in Northern Ireland have fond memories of Portrush.
They revolve around amusements, followed by the biggest stick of luminescent rock they can chomp on for the whole way home.
True to form for Northern Ireland, the weather was ever-changing as I journeyed to Portrush for a glimpse of the new-and-improved offering, from snow en route to sunshine and rainbows on departure.
Memories of childhood come flooding back.
At the quaint seaside setting, a Ferris wheel and towering Helter Skelter greet you, while in the distance Atlantic waves come crashing in.
And then, the main attraction — that famous glass-fronted building newly emblazoned with Curry’s Fun Park — a family business established in 1946.
The new drifting bumper cars at Curry’s. Credit: Martin McKeown
Inside, you can’t help feeling nostalgic. The last time I set foot inside I was probably nine years old.
It’s a sensory overload, you’re immediately transported back in time; neon lights, circus sounds emanating from rides, ‘ice cream dream’ and slushie machines, the carousel, ghost train and bumper cars.
To the rear of the site is the main attraction, The Big Dipper, the train filled with children whooshing around the track once more as their screams of delight disappear over the Atlantic Ocean beneath them.
In other words, a child’s idea of paradise. The buzz of young feet and voices about the place is music to the ears of the new owners, because they bring it all to life.
Busy organising his new workplace, Owen Curry from Eglinton explains why his family decided to take on the project: “We’re just down the road and have been in this business for generations.
“So we know how important this is to the resort of Portrush, the businesses in the area and the whole of Northern Ireland.”
Good times: Owen Curry from Curry’s Fun Park. Credit: Martin McKeown
Mr Curry quipped that there must be over 1.5 million caravans in Portrush because everyone he’s met claimed they own one.
The new owners also run a fun park at Salthill, on the northern shore of Galway Bay — another coastal destination popular with holidaymakers (including my own).
Comparing the two resorts on opposite sides of the border, he says: “There are massive similarities between Portrush and Salthill.
“Once the beginning of March comes it’s like winter is over, spring has come and the days longer, the weather is brighter and people are feeling more positive.
“It’s part of that seaside lifestyle.
“The sentiment has been amazing, the whole country is behind this whether it be businesses, kids, grandparents, they’re all excited about getting this open.”
Property developer and ex-KFC tycoon Michael Herbert, who bought the site which will be run by Curry’s, is one of Northern Ireland’s richest people.
For Mr Herbert and his wife Lesley, the site holds sentimental value as a place they visited over the years with children and grandchildren.
Mr Curry explains: “It was a lot to do with Michael’s wife and her love for Barry’s that they purchased the site.
“There’s a lot of anticipation, people wanting to get in and see what we’ve changed and modernised.
“We’ve kept the same kind of mix of rides for adults and children, thrill rides for teenagers.
“We’ve brought in the new version of The Cyclone which was here from the 1950s or 60s and replaced it with The Sizzler.
“The carousel is a newer version but keeps the traditional look.
“And we have brand new Italian bumper cars with a drift system which is the first set in the UK and Ireland.”
Barry’s first opened in Portrush nearly a century ago, after members of two circus families — Evelyn Chipperfield and Francesco Trufelli — met in Ireland and later married.
Evelyn had been in Ireland performing with her four sisters, while Francesco, a former trapeze artist, was director of the touring Royal Italian Circus.
Evelyn became the agent for the circus. They continued to tour Ireland together before, in 1926, they were invited by the Railway Company to set up a permanent site in Portrush.
The name Barry’s was chosen because Chipperfield’s was too long and Trufelli’s too foreign, and the first delivery lorry at the site had the name Barr on it.
The 2.23-acre site in the seaside town was put on the market in November 2019.
However, it was remarketed as a development opportunity in May 2021.
It is understood to have attracted significant interest from developers and made more than the asking price.
Stepping aside, old owners the Trufelli hoped the charm of the seaside park would live on for future generations — and that Barry’s would continue to help create fond family memories.
To the relief of local businesses, those aspirations have been realised.
A short walk across the road from the fun park to family-run Jasper’s Gift Shop, cheerful worker Jaime Lee Ross says it would have been a “waste” to turn the site into flats.
Jasper’s Gift Shop worker Jaime Lee Ross is delighted the fun park is reopening
“The 100th year is approaching so it would be criminal not to have it back. Kids love it and it’s a big tourist attraction. I’m from the town so of course many a year you couldn’t wait for it to open. You’d get in at Easter time, summer time and even get in to get your milkshakes.
“It’s an indoor activity for families and a lot of my customers were very upset when it wasn’t open.
“But it’s back and they’re here.”
Equidistant in the opposite direction is another business popular with visitors to the area, Maud’s ice cream parlour, which is happy with the decision to bring it back and conscious of the benefits that come with increased tourism.
Like everyone you speak to in the area, there is a personal connection. Worker Amie Scott says it brings back lots of childhood memories and is “excited” to see it back.
Before setting off home I pop into Tom Tom’s Bakery. A worker explains that her teenage daughter was just having her induction at Curry’s Fun Park.
Asked just how important the venue reopening for the area is, she is unequivocal: “It’s just brilliant.
“The whole community is delighted to see it back.”
