THE EXCITING NEW BELFAST! A city changing - a city you MUST visit!

So Belfast is my own city. I grew up here during the Troubles when it was a much darker place than it is today. However, as you can perhaps see in this video from the construction work going on, it’s still a place that I would describe as being in transition.

A lot of work goes into these videos as you can well see! You can now buy me a pint as a means of appreciation for my work on Naked Ireland, no obligation, obviously - only if you can afford it... I appreciate it. Cheers.
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Behind the cranes and the scaffolding there’s a new Belfast emerging, a Belfast full of hope and optimism and that offers a much more positive environment than I could ever have imagined.

Everywhere I look these days there’s bright new business’s emerging. Lovely pubs and eateries, housed in great old red bricked Belfast buildings.

The old Belfast Great Victoria Street bus station is one of the most significant indicators of positive change in Belfast. Because just across the road from that substandard bus depot that we all put up with for so many years, is the glamorous new Grand Central Station. It’s still a work in progress as I make this film and it’s not without it’s controversy as it necessitated a total reimagining of part of the periphery of the loyalist Sandy Row area - there was opposition to the removal of a bridge, however legal challenges by local residents failed, and so her we are now with this spacious concourse leading to a station that the people of Belfast are very deserving of.

Inside the station is a veritable cathedral with its lofty ceiling and cavernous interior. It is now the biggest public transport station on the island of Ireland and it finally pulls together our Belfast bus and rail services for the first time since the old railway station at the location we saw a moment ago was relocated back in 1976 and the old Victorian GNR building demolished. A decision I’ll never really understand.

Round by the city hall too, we see, not so much new builds as much as beautifully refurbished older buildings. In the front of the city hall we have the old Robinson and Cleaver’s department store reimagined as more fancy restaurants.

And what was once the old Anderson and McAuley’s Dept store, burnt to the ground in a tragic fire in 2018. Here it is, risen literally from the ashes, it could almost be a metaphor for the city itself. But as I’ve been saying - this metamorphosis is far from complete. Belfast’s re-imagining still requires.. well…imagination.

North Street has been a blot on Belfast’s landscape as long as I can remember. In fact I worked in this street at the end of the 70’s and nothing much has changed since then. However, this is the next chapter in the story of Belfast’s regeneration. This area is earmarked for a £500 million transformation. The new project will include homes, shops, leisure and public spaces. Disappointingly it has been named Tribeca. The name demonstrates a lack of confidence in ourselves if we have to reappropriate the name of a New York neighbourhood, rather than drawing on our own rich heritage. We’re a unique place and should take pride in that.

Just around the corner is an area that’s already had its makeover - The Cathedral Quarter. Hill street - empty now in the mid day rain, but come here in the evening and you’ll find a bustling quarter bursting at the seems with revellers and people out for a great night out. It has many pubs, restaurants and entertainment areas and is a great example of how these urban regeneration schemes can really transform a city.

We visit The Mac (The Metropolitan Arts Centre). This is Belfast’s flagship arts centre containing theatre and gallery spaces, bar and restaurants as well as offices to some of the cities cultural organisations. It’s the centrepiece of an Italian style piazza, again featuring a range of eateries with residential spaces on the upper floors. And again, in the evenings this is a hive of activity.

And only meters away again we have the impressive new campus of the University of Ulster including the Art College.

So Belfast is undergoing something of a renaissance - well worth a visit if you’ve never been here.