The club was founded in 1885 and enjoyed senior status between 1924 and the Second World War.
Historically having played at Ward Park, leased from Bangor Borough Council, in 1968 the club purchased eleven acres of land on the southern outskirts of Bangor and opened a new ground named Upritchard Park (after chairman Joe Upritchard) in September 1969, coinciding with the regaining of senior status.
Bangor were inaugural members of the All-Ireland League in 1990, but the club went into decline and were relegated back into junior rugby in 2002.
The club did regain senior status in 2016 with promotion back to the All-Ireland League, but were relegated at the end of the 2023/2024 season.
[1] Three Bangor players – Roger Clegg, Billy McCombe and Richard Milliken – represented Ireland in the 1975 Five Nations Championship.