Brilliant Belfast pub at risk of becoming Disneyland! Is Belfast under attack by cultural vandals?

The Duke of York pub in Belfast’s busy Cathedral Quarter is tucked away in little more than an ally way called Commercial Court that joins Donegal Street to Hill street.

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https://www.buymeacoffee.com/NakedIre...

This bar is one of the best, I believe, Belfast has to offer. However, I'd like to say something, less positive, about the over-the-top dressing up of the commercial court area. Some consider the amateur looking murals reflecting popular Belfast personalities across the road from the pub as a bit of fun – which they may well be, but you have to ask yourself, is this really necessary? Is a good pub in a vibrant part of the city no longer enough? Is it really necessary to create this Irish Disneyland, and it’s not just the murals, but the hanging coloured umbrellas and the Irish signs that seem to cover every available space. I know it’s important to attract tourism, but let’s be honest here, this is not what a Belfast pub looks like! It’s a construct.

The décor of the inside is every bit as over the top as the outside, but here it tends to work. The walls are covered in the owners collection of bar memorabilia. It’s interesting here and reflects what you’d expect in an Irish pub, even if there’s a little more of it than usual. Even the very ceilings are used to display items – every inch of space seems to be used.

The bar has an amazing buzz to it. These days it’s full of customers from all over the world and I’ve rarely been in here when it hasn’t been crowded.

A certain politician called Gerry Adams (leader of the Republican Party Sinn Féin) apparantly used to work behind the bar in here. It’s therefore ironic that the bar was bombed in 1972 by Irish republicans, although apparently not intentionally. The intended target was the Belfast high courts and the bomb exploded prematurely in a car outside the pub at a time before commercial court was pedestrianised.

The pub also has an equally ornate “back bar” where live music can be heard.

Bar website here:
https://dukeofyorkbelfast.com