Former IRA members Gerard Hodgins and Richard O’Rawe returned to Crumlin Road Gaol with The Guardian to sample the food at the new Cuffs restaurant.

The pair said returning to the jail, which closed in 1996, was “surreal”.

Cuffs will cater for thousands of visitors - and both ex-prisoners agreed the food is a great improvement on the prison’s previous offering.

They dined in what was once the prison’s main kitchen.

Reflecting on his stay, Mr Hodgins said: “They always gave us fish on Fridays – probably because they thought we were all good Catholic boys and had to abstain from meat on that day. Actually the fish they served up was huge and I always looked forward to it.

“In fact the food in general in this jail was far better than the cold slop they often gave you in the H-Blocks, which sometimes would be adulterated, especially during the blanket dirty protest, when we refused to wear prison clothes and smeared our cells with our excrement in our campaign for political status. But in fairness the food was far better in here inside the Crum.”