Take a walk on the dark side! Join Alternative Ulstours’ ‘Master of the Macabre’ Andrew Johnston on a devilishly informative and shockingly entertaining walking tour of Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter.

Dare you stalk the streets and uncover the grisly secrets of this historic area of the city?

• The day the Albert Clock stopped… dead!

• A ‘bioterrorism’ scare at Belfast’s mail HQ

• Sailortown’s souls that cannot rest

• ‘Spirits’ uncorked at Belfast’s oldest wine merchant

• George and Nora: a love-and-death story

• A harrowing outrage on Little York Street

• Bloody murder in Belfast’s ‘house of ill fame’

• Body snatching in Belfast – a ghoulish business!

• The spectre of Belfast’s music hall ‘Solid Man’

• The Frankenstein Chronicles in the Cathedral Quarter

• Floggings, hangings and beheadings in the centre of town

• Fleeing the flames in the original Belfast Castle

• The forgotten bones beneath Belfast streets

Please note:

• The walking tour starts at the Albert Memorial Clock on Queen’s Square in the Cathedral Quarter in Belfast city centre, where your guide will be waiting for you

• Please arrive 10 minutes before the scheduled start time

• The tour will last three hours and cover around two miles on mainly flat, even ground

• The route is fully accessible, but please inform us in advance of any mobility issues

• The tour ends at St George’s Church on High Street in the Cathedral Quarter in Belfast city centre

• The tour will go ahead in all weathers, so please dress accordingly and stay hydrated

• There are public toilets near the start and end points, and we can make a toilet stop approximately halfway through the tour if required

• There will also be an optional refreshment stop approximately halfway through the tour (refreshments at own cost)

• Well-behaved dogs are welcome on the tour

• Your guide is Level 4-certified and a Visit Belfast industry partner • The tour is fully insured through Tour Guides NI

Very important:
• The tour is open to all ages, but parental guidance is advised due to the graphic nature of some content.

Take a leisurely stroll on a Sunday afternoon to find out a little more about some of the historic pubs of the Cathedral Quarter and Belfast city centre.

Each pub, from Kelly’s Cellars to the Dirty Onion, The Duke of York to White’s Tavern, and The Morning Star to McHugh’s has fascinating tales and links to our city’s history that will be teased out. You’ll learn why several establishments claim the city’s ‘oldest pub’ title, which of them is in fact the oldest tavern, and what precisely the ‘oldest’ claims of some of the others relate to!

Exploring the oldest part of Belfast town before it became a city in 1888, you’ll hear about early merchants and importers, where secret societies met, the pick-up points for mail coaches, old jails, former whiskey warehouses, newspapers of long ago, and more.

The tour will start from outside Kelly’s Cellars at 2.00pm. The tour will end at 3.30pm outside McHugh’s, where you may choose to stay on to enjoy a drink or coffee and perhaps an afternoon traditional music session.

The tour will cover up to 1.5 miles and will take place whatever the weather, so please come prepared. No refreshments are included as part of the tour ticket.

The tour has been developed and was delivered by Dolores Vischer, a Green Badge qualified tour guide, through her company Creative Tours Belfast.