Located in Belfast's Cathedral Quarter, The John Hewitt first opened its doors in December 1999. The bar is unique in its ownership as it is owned by The Belfast Unemployed Resource Centre. The Resource Centre's managers had always relied on various grants to fund its work, when in the mid ninties, they came up with the idea of generating some of their own funds by going into business... And why not a pub! John Hewitt, the late poet, socialist and Freeman of Belfast officially opened the Resource Centre on Mayday 1983, hence the name of the bar.