Belfast Nightlife

Belfast has plenty of excellent Victorian boozers, but Bittles is among the more curious. Shaped almost like a tower, the red interior of this pokey bar is decorated with weird, celebratory paintings of key Belfast figures and other outlandish knick-knacks. The Guinness here is great, and many of its ales come from local producers, but it’s the wealth of whiskey that’s worth exploring most.

It’s impossible to visit Belfast and not drink in its most illustrious bar, the Crown Liquor Saloon. Built by Italian craftsmen, who were in the city crafting Catholic churches (or so the story goes), this former Victorian gin palace dazzles with its craved ceilings, tiled floors, stained-glass windows and period gas lamps. Still a local’s boozer, you’ll have to arrive early if you want to sit in a snug.

Often unseen down Pottinger's Entry, a passageway between busy Ann Street and the hustling High Street, The Morning Star is a fine Victorian saloon that dates back to at least 1810. Deceptively large, it’s a local’s boozer with a buffed wooden interior, terrazzo flooring and horseracing the box. If you have one too many Guinnesses, there are often lunches steaming under a hot plate in the corner.

Limelight is a student venue complex that runs alternative club nights and gigs. Club nights take place every night of the week except for Tuesday and Sunday and depending on the day the music ranges from pop and rock to hip hop to techno. Notable artists that performed here include Arctic Monkeys, Blur and Paul Weller.

Entirely unlike anything else on the Belfast party scene, Love and Death Inc is a rakishly cool cocktail bar and club that’s secreted like a speakeasy. Out front, its candlelit cocktail attic has comic books for menus and superhero toys hanging from the ceiling, while the exposed brick walls and pumping sound system of its club plays funk, soul, disco, hip hop and whatever gets the floor moving.

Unpretentious and a little bit shabby, this is the perfect venue for those seeking a casual night out. Housed in an old paint store the location hasn’t changed much over the years and so too has the warm and welcoming atmosphere. Expect to hear everything from rock and punk to jazz and blues.

One of the remaining bastions of old Belfast in the Cathedral Quarter, the Duke of York embraces its past with copper-topped tables, an overwhelming collection of Guinness memorabilia and a whiskey selection that would see out prohibition. Traditional music is played around a battered backroom table; just visit late evening, so the bus trip tourists have time to disappear.

Stubbornly old fashioned, the higgledy-piggledy Kelly’s Cellars feels more like a country inn than a central city pub. With whitewashed walls and low ceilings, not much has changed since revolutionary Henry Joy McCracken hid beneath its bar from British soldiers in the 1700s. Traditional musicians come from across Ireland to play most nights.

Radical poet and socialist John Hewitt wasn’t really one for a raucous night on the Guinness, but this traditional bar - named in his honour - more than makes up for lost time. Located in the Cathedral Quarter with decent draft ales, generous gins and live music sessions.