Spinning Yarns, Exploring Belfast's Linen Quarter

From the heart of the linen industry in the 1800s, to a vibrant and distinct quarter in Belfast city centre today, this fun and informative walking tour links past and present, helping you see what’s on the streets in a new light and just how much there is to do and enjoy in this unique district.

Along the way, your experienced Belfast tour guide will share many entertaining ‘yarns’ - stories of people and events across 250 years that relate to what you are seeing. For example:

- Where the largest bell in the city rings out from and why it was silenced for a time!

- The venue where Italian tenor, Luciano Pavarotti, sang for his UK debut in 1963, and another where Led Zeppelin in 1971 first played live the famous song ‘Stairway to Heaven’.

- Where linen and other workers would go for their weekly baths before homes were modernised!

- How a modest record shop set up in the late ‘70s is now celebrated in a film, a musical and by colourful street art in an open-air gallery.

The leisurely route will take in buildings of impressive architecture, iconic entertainment venues, historic and quaint bars, exciting outdoor public spaces and markets, colourful street art, unique gems of shops, great places to eat and drink and much more.

You will find out about the importance of the linen industry to Belfast, and how it earned us the global title of ‘Linenopolis’, from tales about the splendid linen warehouses that today house new business ventures, tech companies and hotels. You will hear how the town of Belfast grew across the 1800s and what exciting developments are now reshaping the Linen Quarter as a vibrant area for 21st century hospitality and socialising. You’ll see some of its earliest entertainment venues, including the iconic Ulster Hall and Grand Opera House, that are still integral and popular venues in today’s Linen Quarter, as well as other historic buildings including St Malachy’s Church and The Crown Bar. The stories connecting street art and public statues on Great Victoria Street and our past will be teased out, and you’ll hear what part a river under your feet played. Plus, as a vibrant UNESCO City of Music, you’ll hear about some of today’s great local musicians, as well as yarns about big name visits of the past.

This new walking tour has been developed by Creative Tours Belfast in association with the Linen Quarter BID(Business Improvement District).

Practical Details

The tour begins outside the Ulster Hall on Bedford Street. Please arrive five minutes before the advertised start time.

The tour will end at cool, new outdoor boardwalk, Flaxx, in Brunswick Street.

You will walk c1.5 miles on flat ground.

The tour will take place, whatever the weather! Please come prepared and in comfortable shoes.

Host or Publisher Creative Tours Belfast