Elections to Ards Borough Council were held on 15 May 1985 on the same day as the other Northern Irish local government elections. The election used three district electoral areas to elect a total of 20 councillors.
<small>Note: "Votes" are the first preference votes.</small>
|- class="unsortable" align="centre" !rowspan=2 align="left"|Ward ! % <br /> !Cllrs<br /> ! % <br /> !Cllrs<br /> ! % <br /> !Cllrs<br /> ! % <br /> !Cllrs<br /> ! %<br /> !Cllrs<br /> ! %<br /> !Cllrs<br /> !rowspan=2|Total<br />Cllrs<br /> |- class="unsortable" align="center" !colspan=2 bgcolor="" | <span style="color:black;">DUP</span> !colspan=2 bgcolor="" | <span style="color:black;">UUP</span> !colspan=2 bgcolor="" | <span style="color:black;">Alliance</span> !colspan=2 bgcolor="" | <span style="color:black;">NILP</span> !colspan=2 bgcolor="" | <span style="color:black;">UPUP</span> !colspan=2 bgcolor="white"| <span style="black;">Others</span> |- |align="left"|Ards Peninsula |bgcolor="#D46A4C"|31.3 |bgcolor="#D46A4C"|2 |27.7 |2 |10.1 |1 |0.0 |0 |13.7 |1 |17.2 |1 |7 |- |align="left"|Ards West |bgcolor="#D46A4C"|42.9 |bgcolor="#D46A4C"|3 |39.3 |2 |17.1 |1 |0.0 |0 |0.0 |0 |0.7 |0 |6 |- |align="left"|Newtownards |bgcolor="#D46A4C"|44.3 |bgcolor="#D46A4C"|3 |25.7 |2 |10.6 |1 |16.3 |1 |0.0 |0 |3.1 |0 |7 |- |- class="unsortable" class="sortbottom" style="background:#C9C9C9" |align="left"| Total |39.3 |8 |30.5 |6 |12.4 |3 |5.6 |1 |4.9 |1 |7.3 |1 |20 |-
1985: 2 x DUP, 2 x UUP, 1 x UPUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Independent
1985: 3 x DUP, 2 x UUP, 1 x Alliance
1985: 3 x DUP, 2 x UUP, 1 x NILP, 1 x Alliance