Belfast Newsletter - Well well well. There is a whole different side to Belfast that I suggest many people have been totally unaware of - to their loss. So you are familiar with city centre shopping, Belfast City Hall, The Cathedral Quarter, the Ulster Museum and Botanic Gardens, the Golden Mile, the Victoria Square and environs, Lisburn Road and the Troubles Tours in the west of the city?
But what about the Titanic Quarter as a weekend leisure designation?
Never thought of it? Me Neither.
But that all changed with a stay in the delightful Titanic Hotel.
One of Ireland’s largest privately held companies, Harcourt Developments, has unveiled the results of the first phase of a €20 million investment in its hotel portfolio - The Harcourt Collection, at County Donegal’s five-star Lough Eske Castle.
The new additions are named “The Donegal Suites” and showcase furnishings, artworks and amenities sourced and created by local craftspeople and businesses. Overseen by Harcourt Developments Creative Director, John Doherty, interior features include working with world famous local tweed weavers Magee 1866.
A short film about the amazing artist Angela Conner FRBS who created a series of large kinetic sculptures for Park West Business Park in Dublin including the 40m (129ft) high, 20-tonne 'Wave' - the tallest kinetic sculpture in Europe, which is powered only by the wind. Our chairman Pat Doherty was delighted to be interviewed by the filmmakers Laura Warner and Dreweatts 1759.
Hollywood, Los Angeles - the team at Titanic Belfast were delighted to accept a THEA Award for Outstanding Achievement – Visitor Experience Re-envisioned at the ‘Oscars’ of visitor attractions.
The THEA Awards, organised by the Themed Entertainment Association (TEA), recognise achievement, talent and personal excellence from those who bring incredible experiences to life for people around the world. This is the first time an attraction has won twice in its 30-year history.
Belfast City Council - He sums up its work as bringing “step changes” to Northern Ireland, such as the emergence of a new film and TV industry in the 2000s after Harland & Wolff’s old Paint Hall was transformed into Titanic Studios.
It's among the milestones for Titanic Quarter witnessed by James Eyre since he joined Titanic Quarter Ltd, the company behind the massive seafront development, as a surveyor in 2006.
James, who studied estate management at UIster University, was last week named its new chief executive – the first at the company since a restructuring in 2015.
Irish News - For Derry man Mickey McLaughlin, it was a long drought.
As he downed his first pint of draught Guinness at The Harbour Bar in Buncrana yesterday, it was everything he had been dreaming of for three months.
“The days couldn’t go in quick enough. It tastes even better than I remember,” the Creggan man said.
The Taste - I have to admit I was fairly sure Belfast had exhausted every Titanic related revenue opportunity conceivable. With thousands of tourists flocking to The Titanic Quarter in Belfast on a daily basis it seemed odd that this neck of the woods was poorly served however when it came to accommodation options.
The Titanic is a monument to Belfast’s maritime heritage on the site of the former Harland & Wolff shipyard in the city’s Titanic Quarter where the now infamous RMS Titanic was built. Being one of the busiest visitor attraction in Northern Ireland it makes perfect sense that when an opportunity to acquire an old shipbuilding office right next door presented itself the company behind this mammoth attraction saw it as a chance to really transform the space.
Tatler - If you're anything like me, you're fed up with making decisions. What are we going to call the baby? What soup are we going to eat? Where should this lamp thing I bought go? Who's coming for supper? Should I give up sugar or gluten? I'm DONE with deciding stuff. It's all I do, all day long...
The Times - A luxurious winter break in the Caribbean provided the perfect opportunity for Julie Burchill to indulge her passion for hotels.
Maybe it’s something to do with being one of Mother Nature’s runaways, but I’ve never understood why so many otherwise sensible people have a problem with hotels - more specifically, why people who could afford to stay at gorgeous hotels choose to hire villas instead.
I grew up in a working-class family, yet when we went to the seaside it was to a B&B - never a flat - and when we went to Butlin’s it was full-board, never self-catering. My parents regarded those who chose to do their own cooking on holiday as uptight, penny-pinching freaks, and as in all things they were so right.
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