I explored the area back in March 2019 and I planned to return again in 2020 but did not get the opportunity because of Covid-19 travel restrictions. In 2021 and 2022 I concentrated on other parts of the city.
Described as a lovely pub in the heart of the East Belfast community, Established in 1890. The Megain Memorial Church of the Nazarene is nearby on the same side of the street and I visited the area to photograph the church rather than the pub.
The A20 is a road in County Down in Northern Ireland. It runs from Belfast to Newtownards and on to Portaferry.
Beginning as the Newtownards Road at the junction of Bridge End close to Belfast city centre, the road runs in an easterly direction through east Belfast. The early parts of the road are mainly working-class Protestant districts with strong links to the nearby Harland & Wolff shipyard. After the junction of the Holywood Road, it becomes the Upper Newtownards Road and enters the middle-class areas of Ballyhackamore, Knock and Stormont, where it passes the Parliament Buildings.
After leaving Belfast and passing through Dundonald, the road becomes a dual carriageway, passing through a mainly agricultural area before arriving in Newtownards.
After Newtownards, the road follows the Strangford Lough shore to Portaferry, close to the end of the Ards Peninsula. Here, a ferry service is available to Strangford. In Portaferry the road joins the A2 coast road.
The good news is that this building has not been demolished.
When I first photographed this building about ten years ago a waiter in a nearby restaurant told me that it was to be converted into a hotel but this proved to be untrue. It would appear that it has been incorporated into a larger 17-storey office complex. The historic building and the new build structure will be linked at first and second floor, grouped around a central courtyard.
The same waiter also told me that the Ewart building was originally a box factory but further investigation leads me to believe that the business in question was located at 35 Bedford street which is now the Bridge House JD Wetherspoon [a superpub].
Because of its size and location it is/was not easy to photograph this four-storey sandstone building, which as lain empty for about twenty years. It was designed by James Hamilton, also the architect of the Waring Street Ulster Bank, now the Merchant Hotel.
The building is/was described as follows “A large prestigious Victorian style building situated on the corner of Bedford Street and Franklin Street constructed in 1869 with further extensions in 1883 and 1937. A former linen mill the building has lay vacant for several decades which has resulted in the building falling into heavy disrepair. The three storey corner site has been provided with an impressive brown/grey Scottish sandstone façade including architectural sandstone detailing including circular columns, decorative arched window openings and a sandstone parapet wall detail at roof level. A dual pitched natural slate roof incorporating Georgian wire glazed roof light has been provided over the majority of the building whilst a dome roof structure finished in lead has been provided over the corner elevation.”
Note: In November 2015 it was announced that this former linen warehouse was to be transformed into a 21st century office development. The front of the building was to be retained [does front mean exterior?] but the rest was to be demolished if everything went according to plan. At the time the Ulster Architectural Heritage Society (UAHS) lodged an objection to the planning proposal, claiming the planned new build behind the remnant facade “appears unsympathetic to remaining characteristics in design, form, materials, techniques and detailing”.
Visiting Belfast in March was not my best idea ever because the amount of sunlight was way too limited
Every time I am in Belfast I visit the Zen Restaurant on Adelaide Street.
When I last visited in March 2022 A scheme to revitalise Adelaide Street to make Belfast a more “accessible and liveable” city had been substantially completed. The pilot project was funded by Infrastructure Minister Nichola Mallon’s Blue/Green Infrastructure Fund and was delivered in partnership with Belfast City Council.
The changes to the street involve seating and planting distributed along almost the full length of the west side of Adelaide Street. Lantern structures at a height of 6.8 metres were located outside Margarita Plaza, Zen restaurant and the Linen Loft and street furniture was placed on the newly extended part of the pavement.
The Linen Loft, a six-storey, red brick warehouse was formally known as the Ireland Brothers Building and was constructed in 1905. The building has been completely refurbished and redeveloped into the Linen Loft.
IN MARCH 2022 THIS RESTAURANT HAD NOT YET REOPENED
Deanes Deli Bistro & Vin Café 42-44 Bedford Street BT2 7FF Belfast
On the 23rd March 2020 Deans Belfast announced that they had suspended operations because of Covid-19 restrictions. More recently I came across the following: “During September 2022 Deanes will offer new employees a special incentive cash bonus! New recruits will benefit from a £500 net bonus payment after 6 months service and a further £500 net reward after 1 year in the Company on top of their competitive salary.”
Michael Deane (born 19 March 1961) is a chef from Lisburn, Northern Ireland.
Deane started his career at Claridge’s in London. In 1993 he moved back to Northern Ireland and opened Deane’s on the Square with his cousin, Haydn Deane in Helen’s Bay, County Down. It was there he won his first Michelin Star.
In 1997 he opened a two-storey establishment in Belfast’s city centre on Howard Street. It included Deane’s Brasserie on the ground floor and Restaurant Michael Deane on the first floor. In the same year the restaurant was awarded a Michelin Star. In 2007 the name of the restaurant was changed to the simpler Deanes. It held this for 13 years, making it the longest running and only Michelin Star holder in Northern Ireland however lost this accolade in 2011, because of a 4-month closure due to frost damage and severe flooding. Deanes has also been awarded four Automobile Association Rosettes. The Brasserie held a Bib Gourmand from Michelin. Deane now owns Deanes Meatlocker, Deanes Love Fish and Deanes Eipic, all of which are located on the ground floor of the Howard Street building with a private function room on the first floor. He also owns Deanes Deli on Bedford Street, located close to the BBC NI headquarters, Deanes at Queens in the Queens University area and Deane and Decano on the Lisburn Road, both in the South of the city.
CITY QUAYS AND CLARENDON DOCK AREA BELFAST MARCH 2022
I am not sure how people in Belfast would describe this area of Belfast especially as there are now many new elements such as City Quays 1, City Quays 2, City Quays 3 developments as well as the AC Hotel. There is also the Sailortown Area.
While walking around the area, mainly close to the river, I noticed lots of shells and as I suspect that the local birds were dropping shellfish from a height to break them open or even banging them on the hard surface.
When I visited the area in September 2021 two police officers questioned me in detail about my equipment. They were very friendly and I suspect that they were interested in photography and they did suggest some areas that I should visit maybe they were advising me to move on].
The oldest remaining docks in Belfast Harbour are the Clarendon dry docks, built in the 1800s, by Belfast’s first commercial shipbuilder, William Ritchie. He originally set his shipyard up at the Old Lime Kiln Dock (where Corporation St is now) but Ritchie needed a dry dock so Belfast Harbour agreed to build a dock which Ritchie built himself, completing it in 1800. Known as Ritchie’s Dock for years, it was later renamed Clarendon Dock No 1. The second Clarendon Dock was completed in 1826. The Victorian dry docks are no longer used but remain an important link to Belfast’s maritime past.
Sailortown was a working-class dockland community in the docks area of Belfast, Northern Ireland. Established in the mid-19th century on partly reclaimed land, it had a mixed Protestant and Catholic population. The 1907 dock strike called by trade union leader James Larkin commenced in Sailortown before spreading throughout the city.
Urban redevelopment in the late 1960s resulted in Sailortown’s eventual demolition. As of 2021, only two churches, one pub and three houses remain of the once bustling waterfront enclave. However, a combination of private investment in the greater Docks area and building of social housing by associations such as Clanmill has led to a growth in population since 2010 in the Pilot St area.
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