Booming Belfast

This month Marty O’Neill explores Belfast’s burgeoning food scene and discovers why sometimes there’s just no place quite like home.

I’ve spent the last year showcasing my travel destinations, both abroad and in Ireland but I’ve never thought of shouting about my home city of Belfast. Until now that is! I’m actually from Newtownards, Co. Down, at the northern most tip of Strangford Lough – a stunning protected area of outstanding natural beauty. I think it’s a perfect location; you’re by the water and next to quiet villages and hamlets, great seafood and friendly market towns and still only a 15 minute drive into my home city of Belfast.  The city has changed so much over the last 20 years. You can’t turn a corner without a new hotel in front of you, and along with the new accommodation comes the tourists. I love to hear the foreign accents and seeing the packed sightseeing buses driving around.

Read more in the November issue…