Smithfield and Union

INEN HOSTEL LINEN HOSTEL CENTRAL LIBRARY KRE ELFAST TELEGRAPH CLEMENTS ELEPHANT TATTOO A IDENTITY ALLERY ST. PATRICKS NATIONAL SCHOOL PATRICKS ODELER’S NOOK FRAMES SNOOKER GOOD VIBRATIONS ONGREGATIONAL NORTH STREET IRISH NEWS FRUIT’ INDIVIDUAL LD TYME FAVOURITES SWEET HAYMARKET UNION BA STREET CLIFTON HOUSE FRONT PAGE BACKPACKERS URPUS KREMLIN BELFAST TELEGRAPH PETER’S HILL OLD BELFAST ODELER’S NOOK FRAMES ART LAUROTHEANTIQUES SNO NEW VISION HEART OF OLD BELFAST, TO THE CITY’S OLDEST OODVIBRATIONS CONGREGATIONALHOME NORTH CLIFTO BUILDINGS, ITS NEWSPAPERS, MAIN LIBRARY ANDVINYL A M ATRICKS ROYAL AVENUESMITHFIELD RARE SMITHFIELD MARKET. . PATRICKS NATIONAL SCHOOL MODELER’S NOOK ALL T. PATRICKS NATIONAL SCHOOL PATRICKS ROYAL AV AELEPHANT CLIFTON HOUSE CLARKES DANCE STUDIO ODELER’S NOOK FRAMES SNOOKER GOOD VIBRATIONS THOUGH NEWLY CHRISTENED, SMITHFIELD AND UNION HAS EXISTED FOR GENERATIONS. ITS AND ITS EXISTENCE HAS NEVER BEEN IN QUESTION, GIVING IT A NAME GIVES IT A HEART. ALWAYS BEATING TO A DIFFERENT RHYTHM THAN ITS NEIGHBOURING COUNTERPARTS, SMITHFIELD AND UNION CELEBRATES THE THE DIFFERENT, THE SEPARATE, THE IDIOSYNCRATIC AND THE ECLECTIC.

Design/Art Direction: l.mccomish@ulster.ac.uk

SMITHFIELDANDUNION.COM

Smithfield and Union is a local partnership for regeneration resulting from the ReSTORE initiative funded by the Department for Social Development and supported by Belfast City Centre Management and Belfast City Council

SMITHFIELD AND UNION

ALTOGETHER INDIVIDUAL Photo: Amy McAuley

Photo: Liam McComish

AFTER YEARS OF DECLINE, THERE IS A NEW SPIRIT OF OPTIMISM IN THIS UNIQUE PART OF BELFAST. A PLACE WHERE YOU MEET ALL KINDS, YOU DO ALL SORTS, YOU BUY ANYTHING

all the way from Smithfield Market to Frederick Street,

Smithfield&Union contains some of Belfast’s oldest and

RUNNING

most iconic buildings, each one with enduring stories to tell. The Belfast Central Library, Clifton Poor House, century old newspaper publishers, historic churches and Smithfield Market.

Though newly christened, Smithfield and Union has existed for

generations. Its identity and its existence has never been in question, giving it a name gives it a heart. Always beating to a different rhythm than its neighbouring counterparts, Smithfield and Union celebrates the individual; the different; the separate; the idiosyncratic and the eclectic.

Diversity is its crown.

ARMY SURPLUS DRAGON TATTOOS TARANTULAS MIDGET GEMS MCCANNS ARMY SURPLUS SMITHFIELD MARKET

DEIGHANS’ MARKET TRADERS WINETAVERN STREET

YOU BUY ANYTHING

SHERMAN TANK ANTIQUE WATCH FILIPINO DELI JOY DIVISION 12’’

OLD TYME FAVOURITES WINETAVERN STREET

at the end of Winetavern

Street and you’ll find

TURN RIGHT

yourself facing Smithfield Market. “Like the souk in an Hibernian Casablanca” is how Robert Johnstone described the covered 19th century marketplace. Originally it was home to clothes dealers, auctioneers, theatres and a handball alley.

Today Smithfield presents an equally eclectic array

GOOD VIBRATIONS WINETAVERN STREET

of interesting oddities that no High Street would entertain. Toy museum, Filipino deli, army surplus, seamstress, boxing regalia, Caribbean foodstore, organic growing equipment, exotic spiders, scorpions and reptiles. There is also a buy and sell approach to retail here that echoes the pledge of the Photo: Amy McAuley

celebrated Joe Kavanagh, ‘I buy anything’.

Photo: Chris Barr

STUDENTS LIBRARIANS JOURNALISTS SWEET TOOTHED COMIC COLLECTORS

STEPHEN LIBRARIAN CENTRAL LIBRARY

STEPHEN, TATOO ARTIST NORTH STREET

BACKPACKERS BOXERS PERFORMANCE ARTISTS TATTOO ARTISTS

YOU MEET ALL KINDS

this seems an odd and intriguing place.

And so it is. You should go and see for yourself.

ON PAPER

Because Smithfield and Union is also a community of faces and places, both new and familiar, together tessellating the colour and humour that make up its make-up. People like Terry Hooley and his legendary record shop ‘Good Vibrations’ catering for every music genre fan. Pilgrims travel from far and wide to Mickey Donnelly’s Old-Tyme Favourites sweet shop for a quarter of Jakemans Throat Lozengers. And Modellers’ Nook – a place where model collectors pin their best hope on finding the elusive

Photo: Chris Barr

wargame figure, coveted since childhood.

Smithfield & Union

Royal Avenue

City Hall

From architectural icon to a gay icon, the area boasts all the splendour of the Bank of Ireland’s art deco facade and all the glamour of The Kremlin Bar. In their own way, every one of these buildings speak volumes about Belfast’s past.

They also hint at the potential for what might be in the future.

Further along Clifton Street is the historic Clifton Street Graveyard 1770, Belfast Orange Hall 1889 and Carlisle Memorial Methodist Church 1875.

Just beyond Carlisle Circus is St. Malachy’s College, 1865 and Crumlin Road Gaol 1846

Clifton House 1770 St. Patrick’s Church 1874 St. Patrick’s School 1828

CLIFTON STREET

A STROLL AROUND SMITHFIELD AND UNION PROVIDES A RICH MIX OF URBAN FLAVOUR STRETCHING BACK THREE CENTURIES BUT ALSO LOOKING FORWARD TO THE NEXT

Irish News Est. 1891 Congregational Church 1860 University of Ulster campus

MacElhatton’s Front Page Bar Kremlin Nightclub Union Street Bar Frames Leisure complex & Library Bar

Belfast is an industrial city. In the mid 1800s, the north side of Belfast was in its ascendency. Belfast shipbuilding was entering its golden era. Workman and Clark’s yard became the focal point for the rapidly expanding port. Cotton and later linen manufacture also flourished – industries that thrived on water power provided by the streams running down from the Belfast Hills. By the end of the nineteenth century the north end could claim the largest linen mill in the world at York Street Spinning Mill. Neighbouring Gallaher’s tobacco factory was also the largest of its kind in the world at that time. population grew rapidly from 20000 to 350000 people The pace of progress rapidly affected the nature of the district. Most notable was the opening of Royal Avenue in the 1880’s and the widening and re-development of North Street in the 1890’s. The major public buildings in the district reflect an air of extraordinary confidence and expansion.

NEW UNIVERSITY CAMPUS DEVELOPMENT

DONEGALL STREET

UNION STREET Linen House Backpackers Hostel

Smithfield Market Mall Winetavern Street shops

YORK STREET

WINETAVERN STREET Belfast Telegraph Central Library

NORTH STREET

GRESHAM STREET

ROYAL AVENUE

Hay Maket Bank of Ireland

But as with any boom, a downturn was inevitable. And the great depression of the inter-war years particularly affected local industry. Workman and Clark’s shipyard closed forever in 1935. The north end of the city was severely affected by the war time blitz of May 1941.

Motorway construction cut it off from its most immediate neighbourhoods. The troubles also left its mark on Smithfield and Union, as it too suffered frequent bomb damage.

The re-development of the Central Library scheduled for 2011-15 has the potential to really enhance the district. The expansion of the University of Ulster’s York Street campus will lead to a major new influx of creative young people to the area. Progress and change are in the air once again.

Photo: Chris Barr

YOU DO ALL SORTS

CLARKES’ DANCE STUDIO DONEGALL STREET

IMPROVE YOUR SALSA COLLECT YOUR VINYL SHOOT SOME POOL TRY SOME FILIPINO DELI

HOLD AN EXHIBITION SAY YOUR PRAYERS READ YOUR BOOKS DANCE THE NIGHT AWAY

KREMLIN NIGHTCLUB DONEGALL STREET

And Union, a junction

where lifestyles converge and

SMITHFIELD

Bar along with the Kremlin are

at the core of Belfast’s gay scene,

UNION STREET

diverge. Perhaps it is this divergence that

FRAMES COMPLEX LIBRARY STREET

sitting cheek by jowl with Belfast’s newspapers and

best captures the essence of the area. The

Central ibrary. Venues, such as the Front Page,

default setting is ‘anything goes’ and you’ll

premiere many local bands, and the Linen House

recognise it in the local bars, the nightclubs

Backpackers Hostel are just moments away from

and eclectic retailers. And yet, there is also

Clifton Street’s historic cemetery, St Patrick’s

incongruity, where the subversive and the

Church and the Ulster University’s Belfast campus.

establishment happily co-exist . Renowned

Feel free to choose between boxing and ballroom

snooker emporium, Frames, is housed in a

dancing; studious research and drinking till dawn;

listed building.

eclectic dining and bohemian coffee shops.

In a nutshell, there is no nutshell.

Photo: Amy McAuley

LOOKING ONE AROUND TIME REFERRED

TO AS AN HIBERNIAN CASABLANCA, BOTH EXOTIC AND BELFASTIAN IN EQUAL MEASURE

SPENDING MONEY

GOING OUT

THERE CAN BE FEW PLACES WHERE YOU CAN LEARN HOW TO SALSA, DESIGN YOUR OWN TATTOO, HAPPEN UPON 'WAITING FOR THE SUN’ BY THE DOORS IN A RARE RED VINYL EDITION , HANDLE A PERUVIAN TARANTULA, STUDY HISTORIC BOOKS OR GET SUITED AND BOOTED COURTESY OF THE CZECHOSLOVAK ARMED FORCES

SPENDING TIME CAFES, BARS, CENTRAL LIBRARY AND THE ONLY CITY CENTRE BACKPACKER HOSTEL,

THE HEART OF OLD BELFAST, HOME TO THE CITY’S OLDEST BUILDINGS, ITS NEWSPAPERS, MAIN LIBRARY AND

OLD BELFAST NEW VISION Smithfield And Union is as much about difference as it is

about definition. It’s impossible to label. It doesn’t fit into

any kind of box. And as opportunity and development begins to breathe new life into its buildings and its personality,

Proposals to radically expand the University of Ulster York street campus are a vote of confidence in the future of the area.

its potential is still to be settled.

But already there are signs of what to expect.

New city apartments in Union Street, the green light for transforming the Frames building into a hotel and the pending redevelopment of the Central library – they will all have their role to play. Perhaps the biggest, most significant change will be in the expansion of the Belfast campus at York street, where facilities for an additional 10,000 students is certain to take dramatic and creative effect.

At present, Smithfield and Union is a frame of mind that maybe not everyone can share. Who knows though.

The unpredictable nature of this gritty and diverse corner of Belfast’s culture means it is certain to evolve.

Proposed hotel development at Frames on Union Street.