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 Times - Security of tenure and more affordable prices allow families to look to their future with greater confidence
With a three-year-old daughter in a small flat, and a landlord about to sell the building, Bernardo Mba Mabaha and his partner Teresa Ebang really needed to find somewhere new to live.
“We had been looking since last November, but it had not been going well,”
Derry Journal - The Redcastle Oceanfront Golf & Spa Hotel, Inishowen is set to unveil the results of a complete refurbishment of 90 of their bedrooms in June 2022 representing a renewal of the entire bedroom stock.
With over half a million euro already spent and further investment due later in the year this represents a major project for the hotel. It is also a very bold and positive step forward for a hospitality business following the last two years that the industry has endured.
Belfast Live - One of only six life jackets remaining from the Titanic has gone on display to commemorate the 110th anniversary of the world’s most famous ship.
This is the first time the life jacket has been on public display on the island of Ireland and it is free for the public to view in the Grand Atrium of Titanic Belfast until Sunday 24th April.
Ulster University has bestowed an honorary Doctor of Science degree on Harcourt chairman Pat Doherty OBE in recognition of his “outstanding commitment to the economic and cultural development of the whole of Ireland”.
At a formal investiture ceremony in Saint Anne’s Cathedral in Belfast ten individuals comprising journalists, playwrights, leaders, and humanitarians received honorary doctorates by the internationally renowned artist Dr Colin Davidson.
A new report has revealed that Titanic Belfast has generated an estimated £430 million in direct spend for the Northern Ireland economy since it opened its doors 10 years ago today.
The report, carried out by Deloitte Northern Ireland, also revealed that in its eight to tenth years of operation, the combined economic impact of Titanic Belfast has been £79 million, highlighting the vital role the iconic building continues to play a decade on.
Titanic Hotels are jointly celebrating winning two prestigious awards in the past 6 months, with Titanic Hotel Belfast having been awarded the most sought-after title of ‘Northern Ireland’s Leading Hotel’ at the World Travel Awards 2021, and its sister hotel, Titanic Hotel Liverpool, having been awarded ‘Hotel of the Year’ at the Liverpool City Region Tourism Awards.
Irish News - A special photographic exhibition has been launched to mark the 10th birthday of Titanic Belfast.
The People Who Built Titanic Belfast includes 123 photographs and illustrations which tell the story of Titanic Belfast from its inception and design to the structure being fitted and built.
The free exhibition, which will be on display daily in The Andrews Gallery at the venue, includes pictures of the people who created it including architect, the late Eric Kuhne, who can be seen sketching and hand-drawing ideas for the design.
The Times - Ireland is as renowned for the warmth of its hospitality as for the beauty of its landscapes, and its five-star hotels deliver magnificently on both counts. Many are privately owned, and run by loyal staff who are as fiercely proud of their hotel’s history and setting as they are delighted to share their knowledge with guests — preferably over a whiskey by a roaring fire. And well they might be proud, for the houses of Ireland are fabulous, and their settings world-class, especially along the Wild Atlantic Way
We are delighted that Titanic Belfast Chief Executive Judith Owens has received an MBE in the Queen's New Year Honours for services to Tourism.
Judith was named Chief Executive of Titanic Belfast in December 2017, following on from her time as Director of Operations and Deputy CEO since opening in 2012.
RTE - It can be easy to forget that we live on the same island that once produced the largest moving object ever made by man, that generations of Harland & Wolff workers forged Belfast's reputation as the engineering capital of the world, and that its most famous ship – the Titanic – would go on to inspire the first film to break the billion-dollar mark at the box office.
So it's fitting that the Titanic Hotel and visitor attraction in Belfast was a world-leading tourist destination before they opened their doors, in 2017 and 2012 respectively.
Love Belfast - For the fourth consecutive year, since opening in 2017, Titanic Hotel Belfast has been awarded the most sought-after title of ‘Northern Ireland’s Leading Hotel’ at the World Travel Awards 2021.
Renowned as the most prestigious and comprehensive in the global travel industry, the World Travel Awards acknowledge, reward and celebrate excellence and are recognised globally as the ultimate hallmark of industry excellence.
Adrian McNally, General Manager, Titanic Hotel Belfast, said: “This World Travel Award is for the people of Northern Ireland who still believe in us and who have voted for us to win the title of ‘Northern Ireland’s Leading Hotel’ for the fourth year in a row.
BBC - As Kenneth Branagh's film Belfast opens, Beverley D'Silva explores how cinema has captured the unique essence of Northern Ireland's capital – in all its light and shade.
Northern Ireland – and its capital Belfast – has long provided filmmakers with rich material. Shining a light on the region's political history are many powerful films about the Troubles – the sectarian conflict between mostly Protestant unionists (loyalists) who wished to remain part of the UK, and mostly Roman Catholic nationalists (republicans) who wanted Northern Ireland to become part of the Republic of Ireland.
Lough Eske Castle, outside Donegal Town, has been recognized as No. 2 in the Top Hotels in Ireland category of the Condé Nast Traveller annual Readers’ Choice Awards.
The awards are the longest-running and most prestigious recognition of excellence in the travel industry and are commonly known as “the best of the best of travel.”
Dónal Cox, General Manager of Lough Eske Castle commented: “It’s a great honour to be recognised as one of the top ten hotels in Ireland by the readers of Conde Nast Traveler Magazine for the fourth year running.”
Harcourt’s 1250 home building project in southwest Dublin reaches milestone 400th completion.
The last remaining houses in the first phase of the Parklands project at Citywest have gone on sale through Hooke & MacDonald. Four hundred new starter homes have now been completed in a prime location by the Luas Saggart stop in a development which will eventually see the construction of over 1250 new starter homes.
Ulster Business - It’s been quieter in terms of footfall over the last year or so, but Titanic Quarter has continued to develop and build while the tourists, and many of the workers, are at home. John Mulgrew speaks to its commercial director, James Eyre, about planning to double its £600m investment in the coming decade, office demands post-Covid, bringing forward new schemes and bringing back the visitors.
While tourism may have effectively stopped for a year and many offices lay empty, all wasn’t quiet in Titanic Quarter during the pandemic.
Love Belfast - Three is the magic number as staff at Titanic Hotel Belfast celebrate the treble this week, having received the overall award of Ireland’s Hotel Restaurant of the Year, the regional award of Ulster Hotel Restaurant of the Year and the Great Place to Stay Quality Award. This is the second consecutive year the hotel has been recognised by the Irish Hotels Awards winning these three awards for excellence with the ‘Wolff Grill’ restaurant being judged on the standard of food and service for which it has become renowned.
Irish Independent - Belfast is fast becoming the social capital of Ireland as hotels, restaurants and pubs fill with a flood of weekend visitors from as far away as Cork and Kerry.
City centre hotels are reporting up to 80pc of their weekend trade is southerners who are flooding into the city to enjoy wining and dining with fewer restrictions. Iarnród Éireann announced yesterday that all trains to Belfast from Dublin Connolly were booked out.
BBC News - Non-essential retail was allowed to re-open today in the Republic of Ireland, bringing a boost for the economy in the North-West. While business leaders welcomed the move, there were also calls for the Irish government to continue to support traders as they emerge from a lengthy lockdown.
BBC News interviewed shoppers and the manager of Letterkenny Shopping Centre in the border county of Donegal for their opinion.
Principal photography is underway at Titanic Studios in Northern Ireland on Dungeons & Dragons, the much-anticipated feature adaptation based on the iconic role-playing game.
Chris Pine and Michelle Rodriguez star, with recent reports also naming Hugh Grant and Regé-Jean Page among the supporting cast.
Park West is home to two winners of the Great Place to Work Ireland awards – with Certification Europe recognised as a ‘Best Small Workplace’, and Workhuman winning two awards – Ireland’s #2 ‘Best Large Workplace’ and ‘Best Workplace for Women’.
Niamh Graham, vice-president of global HR at Workhuman said, “Our Irish workforce is made up of 45 per cent women and we have successfully and substantially increased our female demographic in technology in our Tech HQ in Park West, Dublin.
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