Festival Venues

Festival Marque

Custom House Square

Cathedral Quarter

A popular spot for public speakers during the late 19th and 20th centuries, Custom House is renowned for its iconic 19th-century palazzo-style architecture designed by Charles Lanyon. For Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival, a marquee is mounted in the square creating a vibrant central hub for world-class performances by leading artists.

Black Box

Hill Street

Cathedral Quarter

Innovative and alternative live music, theatre, literature, comedy, film, and visual art performances in a Grade II 19th-century listed building. A charity and not for profit organisation with all generated income supporting the arts and programmes for adults with learning difficulties. The Green Room serves craft beers, with light bites, coffees, and desserts.

Sunflower Bar

Union Street

Cathedral Quarter

Synonymous with live music, a simple corner pub free of gimmicks located on a site where a public house has stood for over 100 years. Instantly recognisable by the security cage on its front door that is a relic from 1980s Belfast. A melting pot of Belfast’s city centre life where all are welcome. Hearty bowls of stew and wheaten bread served on the weekends.

McHugh's Bar

Queens Square

Cathedral Quarter

Dating back to 1791, this is Belfast’s oldest surviving building. A traditional bar and host venue for live bands across diverse genres from traditional to rock music. A proud tradition of great home- cooked food, great drink, and craic across three floors that include a 100-seater restaurant.

Duke of York

Commercial Court

Cathedral Quarter

Tucked into a narrow-cobbled alleyway in Belfast’s historic Half Bap area, the Duke firmly rebukes modernity and fads for a traditional Belfast welcome of craic, music, and humour. Don’t miss the street art and memorabilia that celebrate Belfast’s great characters in the courtyard outside and the adjoining streets. Live music is part of the DNA.

Dark Horse

Hill Street

Cathedral Quarter

Superb décor and special atmosphere with beautiful antiques, bevelled mirrors, furniture, and artefacts from Belfast’s past. Coffee house and bar within the narrow-cobbled alleyway in the Half Bap area of Cathedral square. Live music most evenings.

Sea Holly Gallery

Hill Street

Cathedral Quarter

It’s beautiful. It’s peaceful. It’s calm. It’s full of light. A place that invites you to reflect on the past, live in the present and dream about the future. Thought provoking exhibitions from well – established artists as well as exhibitions by new and emerging artists.

St Anne’s Cathedral (Belfast Cathedral)

Donegall Street

Cathedral Quarter

Belfast Cathedral, known locally as St Anne’s, is more than 100 years old and the focal point of the Cathedral Quarter. Romanesque in style, the 40-metre stainless steel spire of hope was added in 2007. A magnificent interior includes elaborately carved stonework and beautiful stained-glass windows. The Belfast Cathedral Choir maintains a high standard of choral music.

1st Presbyterian Church

Rosemary Street

Cathedral Quarter

Welcoming diversity and celebrating the dignity of each individual’s search, this is a home for thoughtful minds and open hearts. Dating from 1781, this is Belfast’s oldest place of worship. Known for its excellent acoustics, Belfast’s first performance of Messiah took place here in 1813.

American Bar

Dock Street

Cathedral Quarter

Dating back to the 1860s the pub is located on Belfast’s dockside also known as Sailortown. In the past the area would have had links to the Americas through shipping, trade, and emigration. Since 2016 the pub is alive with impromptu music sessions, poetry, and gigs over two floors. Inside, the walls are adorned with Sailortown and American paraphernalia.

The MAC

Exchange Street

Cathedral Quarter

A cultural hub with a dynamic programme of exhibitions, theatre performances, experimental works visual art, theatre, dance, and family workshops. A beacon for the ongoing regeneration of Belfast and an award-winning venue. The MAC café bar serves lunch, brunch coffee and treats.

Voodoo

11A Fountain Street

Cathedral Quarter

Lively, vivid red venue for alternative live music and club nights, plus Deep South- inspired food. Split over two floors, downstairs houses an intimate bar while upstairs is a club and music venue where anything goes from hiphop to DnB, hard rock to blue grass and comedy.

Oh Yeah Music Centre

Gordon Street

Cathedral Quarter

A dedicated music hub that was constituted in 2007 with a vision for music as a catalyst for change and regeneration in Northern Ireland. A leading light in Belfast’s music scene, Oh Yeah is a dedicated social enterprise offering affordable rehearsal space, a live venue, music exhibition, recording studio, a song-writing room and café to local and rising artists.

Áras Mhic Reachtain

283-289 Antrim Road

North Belfast

A not-for-profit organisation that promotes and celebrates the Irish language through education, culture, and the arts. A dynamic programme facilitates music concerts, dramas, lectures, debates, book, and CD launches, singing and drama workshops, art workshops, youth training, Irish classes, and the McCracken Summer School – all through the Irish language.

Duncairn Arts Centre

Duncairn Avenue

North Belfast

Housed within a beautiful 19th-centre High Victorian Gothic style building, the centre includes a theatre and performance space, resident artists studios, exhibition space and restaurant. Multiple workshops emphasise traditional heritage arts and crafts from fiddle-making, bog oak carving, willow craft to basket making, storytelling and singing.

Ulster Sports Club

98 High Street

Cathedral Quarter

A fixture in Belfast City since 1926, the Ulster Sports Club was established strictly as a non- political and non-sectarian institution for promoting social activities for individuals interested in sports and first-class live entertainment.

Saint Joseph’s Church

Dock Street

Titanic Quarter

Known as the Chapel on the Quays, St. Josephs served the working-class communities of Sailortown and many foreign visitors dominating the docklands skyline since 1880. No longer operational as a church, St Josephs is now the focus of an inspirational people-led regeneration project to provide a welcoming space within its beautiful interiors to celebrates local culture and heritage.