Benedicts Hotel Sold After 20 Years Family Ownership

Bene­dicts of Bel­fast on Brad­bury Place, formerly in the hands of own­ers Paddy and Edmund Simpson, has been bought by hos­pit­al­ity oper­at­ors Colin and Louise John­ston.

Mr John­ston said that while there is “no inten­tion of chan­ging what people know and love about it, we have some excit­ing plans in store for 2027 and look for­ward to work­ing with the impress­ive and loyal team that Paddy and Edmund have built up over the years”.

The hotel, which was first opened in 1998 and was built at a cost of around £4m, is one of the most prom­in­ent hos­pit­al­ity ven­ues in the area.

A final sale price of the prop­erty and hos­pit­al­ity venue has not been revealed.

Bene­dicts of Bel­fast will con­tinue to trade under its exist­ing name, with the cur­rent team remain­ing in place.

“We are extremely proud of what Bene­dicts has become over the years and are grate­ful to our staff and loyal cus­tom­ers who have been such an import­ant part of the busi­ness,” out­go­ing own­ers Paddy and Edmund Simpson said.

“We are delighted to be hand­ing Bene­dicts over to Colin and Louise and wish them and the entire team every suc­cess for the future. We know we have left it in highly cap­able and safe hands.”

Paddy and Edmund Simpson own and oper­ate a num­ber of devel­op­ments, includ­ing sev­eral in Lon­don­derry, such as the Brun­swick Moviebowl in the city.

“Bene­dicts is a Bel­fast insti­tu­tion and has an incred­ibly loyal cus­tomer base,” Colin John­ston said. “Our inten­tion is to build on what Paddy and Edmund and the team have cre­ated, while invest­ing in the busi­ness for the future.

“The char­ac­ter of Bene­dicts is a huge part of its suc­cess and we have no inten­tion of chan­ging what people know and love about it. We have some excit­ing plans in store for 2027 and look for­ward to work­ing with the impress­ive and loyal team.”