From Union Tavern to Harbour Bistro

Built around the years 1780 - 1810 the building currently home to The Harbour Bistro was originally the private residence and business premises of the Sayle family. They were concerned in trade with North West France where relations of the family known as "French Christians" resided.

In 1833 Captain Thomas crawford purchased "Sayle's Concerns" which included the building, for the sum of £180.00 at a Coroner's auction. He was the eldest son of James Crawford and Christine Crawford (nee cannan) of Peel, from where they had moved to Ramsey some time before 1815, this was the year in which James Crawford died. A headstone in the little cemetery of Ballure Church marks his final resting place. Thomas Crawford, before settling for a life ashore, had been Master of the sloop "James Crawford". On acquiring the house he set about refurbishing and modernising it. In 1837 it first appears as the "Union Tavern" a harbourside Inn, an addition to the already flourishing and growing number of hostelries in the town of Ramsey. Thomas died in 1838 and in his will left equal shares of his estate to his only daughter Dorothy, and his two step daughters Esther and Catherine. His stepson Edmund Kerruish (who was later to acquire the property) was left a quarter share in the smack "Dee".

Catherine married William Joughin and together they ran the establishment until in 1847 a mounting number of debts, which they were unable to discharge, led to a Coroner's auction. For the sum of £121.00 stepson Edmund Kerruish became the new owner of the property, remaining so until the end of the century. During this time he leased the premises to a succession of tenants, notably in the 1860's Tom Smith of County Cavan in Ireland, Smith was enterprising and besides the hotel ran a successful coaching venture. Smith's widow, Margaret, succeeded him, until in the 1880's William Pilkington became the licensee. Thomas Crawford died in 1903 and for a time the Union Hotel (the title "Union Tavern" had been changed) once more became a private house.

Following the Second World War it became a Board of Education Training Centre where trade apprentices learned their craft. Ramsey Pottery then acquired the building and for a time produced a wide range of attractive giftware, they were followed by a firm of Naval Architects, Burness, Corlett & Partners.

In 1999 brothers Kenneth and Patrick Devaney from County Mayo in Ireland, who had previously run the "Harbour Bistro" in East Street in Ramsey, purchased the property. They set about re-establishing their award winning restaurant on the site which abuts Ramsey's busy shipping area on the East Quay. Since that time its popularity has grown to the extent that it enjoys an unrivalled position as the premier restaurant in the north of the Island.