Ever since I was about four years old I really liked visiting Belfast and I now still visit at once a year to spend a week photographing the built environment. One thing that I have noticed about Belfast is that there are many once attractive buildings in the city but many of them are unoccupied or could even be described as derelict and this is especially true in and around Donegall Street.
To make things worse, about six or seven months after I last visited the area there was a major fire which resulted in a report by an engineer indicating that repairs following a major fire in the Cathedral Quarter are likely to take years and that a cordon may need to remain around the listed Old Cathedral Building on Donegall Street, restricting access for several business owners, pedestrians and traffic.
Over the years, Ulster Architectural Heritage has repeatedly voiced concerns about the degradation of Belfast’s built heritage and here is an example of what they have to say:
“Once probably the most completely Victorian city in the British Isles, many of Belfast’s 19th century buildings have been demolished for road schemes, housing estates and commercial developments. Many of the remaining historic buildings within the city centre lie vacant, some even open to the elements, and with all sense of pride or purpose gone they have become a backdrop for anti-social behaviour and vandalism. Too often, it seems, developers acquire properties without thought for their possible restoration, often evicting long-standing family businesses and either blocking the buildings up or demolishing them outright while they seek planning permissions, in the process further eroding Belfast’s sense of place and character. The problem does not just lie with buildings that are completely vacant. Looking up above the ground floor on any street within the city centre, including core streets like Donegall Place, Royal Avenue, High Street and Castle Place, the majority of the upper storeys lie neglected and vacant, a trend which has been accelerated with the rise in online shopping. At the moment there are few incentives for developers to see their empty buildings brought into use. Buildings are acquired for their land value rather than because the new owners want to see them restored, or even perhaps like them. The buildings are often neglected because of an inability to see their potential for re-use.”
Kelly O’Malley, one of the co-founders of Drop Dead Twice, has launched a Go Fund Me campaign in order to rebuild and reopen the popular Dublin bar, following last month’s fire. I hope that the campaign is a success.
Five units of Dublin Fire Brigade responded to the fire at Drop Dead Twice on Francis Street on Monday 11th July. The emergency services were alerted by an automatic fire alarm and smoke was also seen coming from the premises at around 4.30am. According to local media and other reports a well-developed fire had taken hold on the ground floor and a full evacuation of an adjoining property was necessary.
Here is a comment that I made in January 2018: ‘This was the Backstage or the Tivoli Backstage but more recently it was renamed Stage 19. Upstairs is [or was] Drop Dead Twice where you bring your own bottles of alcohol to be used by the bar staff to create wonderful cocktails [Euro 20 fee]. I do not visit pubs on a regular basis so I do not know is my description is currently accurate.’
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