Belfast's new creative scene
Matthew BuckAn insider's guide to Belfast, Ireland
There's a fresh new face to this tough-as-boots old town. E Jane Dickson returns to her roots to find a dynamic energy boosting the city's trademark lively spirit.
What do you call a person from Belfast? It's a serious question. Glaswegians, Brummies and Mancunians know who they are. Ask locals and suggestions fall back, as Belfast traditionally has done, on flinty humour ('Belshafters', 'Belfastards'), but this does not disguise the humming optimism you can feel on the streets as the city heaves off its troubled past. Belfast was always a great place to come from. Following a decade of energetic and sensitive regeneration, it's a great place to go.
A new clutch of high-end hotels and restaurants make it feel worthy of inclusion on the European city-break trail. Nightlife, diverse and distinctive, has returned to the town centre where, not so long ago, security gates clanged shut at dusk. There are smart shops where schoolgirls in hitched-up skirts laugh out loud at the price of handbags and nobody shoos them away. But it's not the shining-glass towers now fronting the River Lagan, nor the sudden availability of ciabatta, that have transformed Belfast; it's the shift in mindset, a determination to have a good time, which is aeons away from the city that once chained up playground swings on a Sunday.
Pictured: a barista at Established Coffee
Matthew BuckAn insider's guide to Belfast, Ireland
And it's the spirit of the people that most delights visitors to Belfast. 'Craic' here is not advertised on pub slates. Belfast can't be bothered with the easy, charming blather of the Irish South. Nor - unless you stray badly off-piste - will you encounter the gantry rhetoric of bowler-hatted Unionists. But there is, in Titanic Town, a solid women-and-children-first decency which erupts, with or without a drink, into periodic bouts of unhinged hilarity. This town of hard grafters knows how to party. 'Keep 'er lit!', an opaque and universal exhortation to keep the fun going, is now the unofficial motto of the city.
Sectarian faultlines that carved the heart of Belfast can still be traced, but they're softened, blood-enmity parlayed into cultural diversity. The historic lineaments have been redefined, creating quarters: the Cathedral Quarter, the Titanic Quarter, the Gaeltacht Quarter, where the past is not something to be feared. For some of us, the burgeoning industry of Berlin-style Troubles tourism stirs mixed emotions - 'the Peace' still feels so recent, so fragile - but maybe that's just the nervous memory of the returner. For the first time since its industrial heyday, more people are coming to live in the city than are leaving it. And for those of us who struck out 'across the water'? Belfast still feels like home. Only better.
Pictured: a booth in the Crown Liquor Saloon
Matthew BuckWhere to stay in Belfast, Ireland
WHERE TO STAY
OLD-WORLD OPULENCE A converted Victorian bank in the heart of the trendy Cathedral Quarter, The Merchant Hotel is a monument to Mammon, gilded and tasselled within an inch of its life. And it's wildly popular with Belfast's new generation of lotus-eaters. Champagne nail bar, rooftop hot tub, Christian Louboutin concession: the Merchant shrieks in the face of Presbyterian austerity. Rooms in the Deco-inspired new wing have a more restful aesthetic (Eileen Gray chairs, Tiffany-blue bathrooms) than the full-on Victoriana of the original building. High tea, taken in the cherub-encrusted Great Room, goes the extra mile, with home-made banana bread, almond cake and cranberry loaf augmenting the scone course. In the cocktail bar, the punch-bowl tradition has been revived, with noisy friends ladling from vats the size of a baby bath. 16 Skipper Street (+44 28 9023 4888; www.themerchanthotel.com). Doubles from £140
MODERN MOVER AND SHAKER Monochrome marble and contemporary Italian furnishings set the tone for The Fitzwilliam Hotel. This sleek new high-rise, slotted in beside the Edwardian Grand Opera House, looks like a runaway from the Milan catwalk come to visit her overfed and ebullient Irish cousin. The penthouse suite offers butler service and fabulous views of the city for £1,500 a night. The less plush standard rooms are big and comfortable. Great Victoria Street (+44 28 9044 2080; www.fitzwilliamhotelbelfast.com). Doubles from £120
IN THE HEART OF THE ACTION Right behind the City Hall, Ten Square has 22 boutique rooms (for 'boutique' read 'slightly bonkers styling', in which wallpaper and Lichtensteiny artworks abound). There's high-spec comfort and a high reputation, locally, for friendly service. The downside of an unbeatably central location is expensive and limited valet parking: you'd be better off in the multi-storey on nearby Dublin Road. 10 Donegal Square South (+44 289024 1001; www.tensquare.co.uk). Doubles from £105
Pictured: The Fitzwilliam hotel penthouse
Matthew BuckWhere to drink in Belfast, Ireland
WHERE TO DRINK
BOHO BRUNCH Behind its Art Nouveau shop front, Harlem has vintage china, shelves bursting with busts, bottles and books, and floor-to-ceiling paintings. During the week the café is busy with office escapees, but it comes into its own at weekends when brunch can slide into a cream tea (with optional Cuban cigar just for the hell of it). 34 Bedford Street (+44 28 9024 4860; www.harlembelfast.com). About £20 for two
RAISING THE BARISTA You can't miss Mark Ashbridge, the 29-year-old owner of Established Coffee. He sports a 10-inch beard of which an 89-year-old would be proud. His slick, new, glass-walled café has added specially brewed shots to the city's growing caffeine scene. 54 Hill Street (+44 28 9031 9416)
PARTY LIKE IT'S 1899 The mother of all Victorian gin palaces, the Crown Liquor Saloon is a byzantine riot of glittering mosaics and fantastically carved mahogany. Fitted out in the era of Catholic emancipation by moonlighting church builders from Italy, it is now owned by the National Trust. 46 Great Victoria Street (+44 28 9024 3187)
KEEP IT TRADITIONAL Roughly the same vintage as the Crown, Robinson's is the opposite of a showcase saloon. Shoulder your way through crowds roaring encouragement at footballers on the big screen to the back room, Fibber Magee's, where there is a peat fire, live trad music that gets wilder as the night wears on and, eventually, dancing. 38 Great Victoria Street (www.robinsonsbar.co.uk)
MUSIC AND VERSE Named after Belfast's socialist revolutionary poet, The John Hewitt is a good place for local and global bands (Mumford and Sons played their first Irish gig here), and it hosts thoughtful literary events. 51 Donegall Street (www.thejohnhewitt.com)
Pictured: a couple at Established Coffee
Matthew BuckWhere to eat in Belfast, Ireland
WHERE TO EAT
FAMILY FAVOURITE Tucked into the corner of the elegant, neoclassical St Anne's Square in the Cathedral Quarter, The Potted Hen offers perfectly judged if pricey bistro food in a big, bright and buzzy room. Visitors are given the same warm attention as regulars, and on Sundays children eat for free. Edward Street (+44 28 9023 4554; www.thepottedhen.co.uk). About £45 for two
THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE... A highly praised pop-up gone permanent, Home Restaurant delivers fresh, modern flavours at speed. Its 'skinny dinners' (sea bream with fennel, tomato and butterbeans) are especially popular among ladies who lunch. 22 Wellington Place (+44 28 9023 4946; www.homepopup.com). About £40 for two
NEW ON THE SCENE In an airy waterfront space beside the large metal sculpture known locally as 'the thing with the ring', OX has been hauling in awards since it opened last year. With a daytime menu from which pretty starters and desserts cost just £3 (shellfish bisque; chocolate and blood-orange millefeuille), and mains £10 (sea trout with salsify), it's the most delicious, light-on-your-pocket lunch in town. 1 Oxford Street (+44 28 9031 4121; www.oxbelfast.com). Abou**t £30 for two
Pictured: Home Restaurant and a dish at OX
Matthew BuckWhere to eat in Belfast, Ireland
WHERE TO EAT
CATCH IT IF YOU CAN A collaboration between local fisherman Bob McCoubrey and chef Andy Rea, Mourne Seafood Bar has cut out the middleman, delivering first-class produce and cooking at reasonable prices. Rea knows when to let his ingredients speak for themselves (oysters are served plain or with shredded ginger) and when to mix things up a little (gurnard, scallops, crab claws and fennel undergo a near-alchemical process in his signature casserole). You would be lucky to nab a dinner reservation, but lunches are first-come-first-served. 34-36 Bank Street (+44 28 9024 8544; www.mourneseafood.com). About £40 for two
LEARN FROM A PRO Pristine napery (as befits a former linen mill), white walls and one excellent landscape painting are the backdrop for Niall McKenna's appreciation of local colours and quality at James Street South. Uncluttered menus bring out the flavours of game (wood pigeon with beetroot and orange; venison with celeriac and walnuts), and vegetables (fricassee of parsnip) are good enough to stand alone as main courses. Upstairs there's a cookery school offering single-issue lessons in which you master the perfect tart, stew or bread etc. 21 James Street South (+44 28 9043 4310; www.jamesstreetsouth.co.uk). About £60 for two
Pictured: a display at Avoca shop
Matthew BuckWhat to do and see in Belfast, Ireland
WHAT TO DO AND SEE
THE WRITING ON THE WALL Belfast's dual culture and political history is proclaimed on gable-end murals across the city. Images of Armalite-wielding paramilitaries and death or glory slogans are shocking to outside eyes, but the artistry involved in this grass-roots custom is remarkable. Of late, the tradition has taken an encouraging non-sectarian turn. Contemporary paintings are as likely to feature local heroes such as George Best and CS Lewis as hooded gunmen or hunger strikers, and the Peace Wall on the Falls Road extends its message to the Spanish Civil War, the Arab-Israeli conflict and the war in Iraq. The best murals are often found in areas less visited by tourists, but Belfast Mural Tours, run in black taxis, give a gripping account of what it was like to live through the Troubles on both sides of the political divide. www.belfastmuraltours.com
ART ABOUT TOWN The arts have long flourished in Belfast, but the inauguration in 2012 of The MAC has given the city a world-class showcase for its many talents. A fast rolling programme of theatre, dance, music and art with a high proportion of free events has shifted the cultural centre to the Cathedral Quarter. The Waterfront Hall hosts international opera, ballet and concerts. And the excellent Lyric Theatre has championed Irish writers such as Seamus Heaney, Brian Friel and Conor McPherson since 1951. The Falls Road, once a notorious no-go area, is enjoying a lively renaissance as the Gaeltacht Quarter, with a new centre, Cultúrlann McAdam O'Fiaich, promoting Gaelic culture and Irish-language events.
Pictured: The MAC
Matthew BuckWhat to see and do in Belfast, Ireland
WHAT TO SEE AND DO
PRIDE OF THE SEAS Belfast's attitude to the Titanic is neatly summed up on a T-shirt: 'She was alright when she left us.' The unsinkable ship that, er, sank was the glory of Belfast's Harland and Wolff shipyard, built to hitherto undreamt of standards of grandeur and craftsmanship. Titanic Belfast is a bells-and-whistles exhibition centre, housed in a glinting, quartz-sharp structure on the original slipway. The Titanic Experience (unfortunate name, you might think, given the history) is in fact realised with great imagination and sensitivity, charting the rise of Belfast from its growth in the wake of the industrial revolution to its early-20th-century heyday when it led the world in shipbuilding, linen manufacturing and rope-making. The mix of hi-tech attractions (there's a surprisingly exciting ride through a reconstruction of a naval gantry) and well-curated documentary keeps adults and children hanging on in there until the strangely elegiac IMAX voyage representing the ship's final hours. 1 Olympic Way (www.titanicbelfast.com)
Pictured: a Belfast shop assistant
Matthew BuckWhere to shop in Belfast, Ireland
WHERE TO SHOP
There has been open trading on the banks of the Lagan since 1604 and this year St George's Market, housed in Victorian-brick and cast-iron arcades on East Bridge Street, was named the UK's Best Large Indoor Market. From Friday to Sunday, fresh fish, speciality foods, antiques and high-quality local crafts are sold to the sound of live jazz and flamenco.
For original souvenirs, check out the embroidered street plans of old Belfast by Deborah Toner, worked, sampler-style, on linen, or the carry-on-sized oil paintings of dockers and spademakers by Mark Graham.
Avoca, in the city centre, is an eclectic woollen-mill-turned-gift-shop where you'll find neon-coloured mohair rugs and quirky children's dressing-up clothes in satin, as opposed to sweaty nylon.
Follow your nose to Co Couture, something between a chocolatier and a shebeen, where aficionados gather in a hidden basement to sip 80-per-cent Venezuelan hot chocolate and score Deirdre McCanny's latest creations; you may not pass a breathalyser test after trying her Bushmills Whiskey truffles.
Or head to the boho Queen's Quarter beside the university, the handsomest building in Belfast, and spend more time than you mean to at No Alibis, a bookshop specialising in crime fiction.
Envoy is surely the city's coolest boutique; friendly owner Ruth Spence has gained a loyal and arty following for clean-lined labels such as Dries Van Noten, Lanvin and Bags in Progress.
And it's worth the trek to East Belfast to find The Bureau, a menswear shop strewn with pop-bright album covers in a lovely old warehouse.
Pictured: The Bureau. Published in Condé Nast Traveller May 2014