A North Belfast man has spoken of his joy at welcoming people from home to his bar in New York.
Tom O'Reilly has been living in the city for 23 years after deciding he wanted to travel the world but once he arrived in the Big Apple to visit a friend, he fell in love with the place.
Now he runs Banc Bar Café, located in the Murray Hill area of Manhattan, and while it isn't a traditional Irish pub it still has a pull for people from here, which Tom loves.
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Speaking to the Irish Star, the Antrim Road man said many people come in to see him either because they grew up together, or through word of mouth back in Belfast.
"When people come in, if they're from Belfast, there's always somebody in common," the 43-year-old said.
"I love to see them coming in from Belfast, I'm straight over to see them. If you're from Antrim Road, it feels like everybody knows everyone.
"Anytime I say to my staff, 'make sure to get them a drink on the house, they're from my road' - and this has been going on for years - my staff sometimes say to me 'how big is your road?'
"My mother would meet somebody in town and they'd tell her they're going to New York, and she would say 'my son is in business with a bar and restaurant'. It's a good way to advertise!
"There's boys from school you wouldn't see in years, and you connect with them again because they're over and they come in. You just click again.
"I think that's the thing about the Antrim Road and Cavehill, when you meet people from there years later, it's just mad. I love to see ones from the road coming in. Even if I'm not here, if they mention me, my staff do know they're definitely from Belfast."
Set in a 1920s bank building in New York City, Banc Bar Café serves a wide variety of cocktails and food from around the world.
It was founded by three Irish men, from Dublin, Co Meath, and Co Mayo respectively, before North Belfast man Tom became a partner and took the reins around 10 years ago.
Tom's career in hospitality first started when he worked at his cousin's Mexican restaurant on the Lisburn Road in South Belfast. The restaurant, located close to Queen's University, meant he was meeting students from around the world who inspired him to get traveling.
Before coming to New York, Tom thought he was going to become fully immersed by surrounding himself with American people and building friendships that way. But he soon found out it was the Irish community in the city that would make him want to stay.
"I thought I was gonna come out and do this whole big American thing, the American way, I was gonna have an American boyfriend and meet all these American friends. But it didn't happen that way," he told the Irish Star.
"I actually ended up in an Irish bar, meeting people from all 32 counties of Ireland, and that's what actually made me stay. Over here in the Irish community, once you meet somebody in a job, if you fall out of that job, there's always someone letting you know where to go next.
"You were always guaranteed to get a job and it was the Irish - they come together as a community and really help each other. That's what really made me stay.
"But it's a struggle at the start, it's very intimidating and I was definitely by myself, but once I started meeting people from Ireland I was like - I'm loving this. You make your own circle of friends, and I'm still friends with many of them to this day."
Tom said running the bar is hard work but worth it. He said the staff is "like a family," with a very tight-knit feel and many staff members being there for years.
They're known for their cocktails, well-crafted food of high quality, and their Vault whiskey bar - located in what was the old bank's vault, and featuring over 100 different whiskeys.
Tom said he would encourage young people from Belfast, and throughout Ireland in general, to travel if they can to see more of the world and put themselves outside of their comfort zone.
One thing he noticed when he moved to New York, he said, was the complete difference in culture, particularly when it came to doing things outside of work during the week.
He said: "The suicide rate in Belfast is huge, and when you go home you can feel it sometimes. As much as we are a great city and a great bunch of people, we do still have our problems. You can see a little bit of a depression there. When I go home, I feel a little bit low.
"Here, you're always on a buzz, you're in New York City, and everyone wants to come out and see you. But back home, you say to someone about meeting on a Monday night and they'll say 'oh no EastEnders is on.'
"So everybody lives for that weekend. They work Monday to Friday and are straight home, whereas here, there's always a buzz - you're always doing something.
"Definitely for young people, if you get a chance to go out somewhere, definitely do it. It just changes your perspective of everything in Belfast. Again, I love getting home, but I think if there's an opportunity to travel a little bit more you should take it."
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