Barry's Amusements was an amusement park in Northern Ireland. Located in the centre of

Portrush Portrush () is a small seaside resort town on the north coast of County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It neighbours the resort of Portstewart in County Londonderry. The main part of the old town, including the Portrush railway station, railway stati ...

County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, County Antrim, Antrim, ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, located within the historic Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the c ...

, on the north coast, it was founded in 1925. The owners offered it for sale in 2019 and it was reported to be sold for redevelopment in 2021. In April 2022, it reopened under lease as Curry's Fun Park.

Park

The amusement park occupies in the center of Portrush; it was the largest amusement park in Northern Ireland. It has a mixture of traditional and modern amusements and was normally open from

Easter Monday Easter Monday is the second day of Eastertide and a public holiday in more than 50 predominantly Christian countries. In Western Christianity it marks the second day of the Octave of Easter; in Eastern Christianity it marks the second day of Br ...

until the first week in September. Barry's employed many teenagers and university students from the area.

History

Barry's was founded in 1925 by the married couple of Francesco Trufelli, a former

trapeze artist A trapeze is a short horizontal bar hung by ropes, metal straps, or chains, from a ceiling support. It is an aerial apparatus commonly found in circus performances. Trapeze acts may be static, spinning (rigged from a single point), swinging or ...

and manager of the Royal Italian Circus, and Evelyn Chipperfield of the

Chipperfield's Circus Chipperfield's Circus is a British family touring show, continuing a 300-year-old family business. Chipperfield's Circus originates with James Chipperfield with his performing animals at the River Thames frost fairs, Thames Frost Fair of 168 ...

family, and remained a family business; , when the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

broadcast a documentary on the park, it was run by sisters Lisa and Kristina Trufelli, the fourth generation. It became the longest-running amusement park in Northern Ireland. The couple toured with the circus and then opened the amusement park in 1926 after being invited by the local railway company to permanently locate on a site beside the

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

; according to the company history, rather than use either of their family names, they named it 'Barry's' after the first supplier to arrive on-site, Barr. The family at one time also operated Barry's amusement parks in

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

and Bangor. The park was offered for sale in November 2019 as a going concern, but was unable to open for the 2020 season because of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. In May 2021 it was offered for sale as a development opportunity. An online petition was launched protesting against development. In early August, Barry's was reported sold to property developer Michael Herbert. In September 2021, the new owner sought a tenant to operate it as an entertainment or leisure venue; in March 2022 the Curry family, who operate Curry's Fun Park in

Salthill Salthill () is a Coast, seaside area to the southwest of Galway city centre in the west of Ireland. The area is home to a number of tourist amenities and there is a 2 km long promenade, locally known as "the Prom", which overlooks Galway ...

, in

County Galway County Galway ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Northern and Western Region, taking up the south of the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht. The county population was 276,451 at the 20 ...

, announced that they had signed a long-term lease and planned to reopen Barry's at Easter, also as Curry's Fun Park Portrush. It reopened on 9 April 2022.

Attractions

Incomplete list

Current Attractions

Former attractions

In Popular Culture

Barry's Amusements, specifically The Big Dipper and Ghost Train, was featured in season 3, episode 3 of television series '' Derry Girls''. This was prior to its closure in 2019 and before the redevelopment of the park.

References

Further information

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External links

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Official websitearchived
on 6 March 2019) {{Authority control 1925 establishments in Northern Ireland Tourist attractions in County Antrim Amusement parks in the United Kingdom Portrush Amusement parks closed in 2019 Amusement parks opened in 1925 Amusement parks opened in 2022