The young solo artist emerged victorious after a string of electrifying musical performances across a series of live heats to be crowned the ‘Battle of the Buskers’ Champion and win a prize package worth over £10,000. 

The prize package includes a residency at McEnaneys Bar, The Balmoral Hotel and Millies Public House & Kitchen, as well as a brand-new guitar and amp from Matchetts Music and an airtime package with Juice radio.

Sean Shivers, General Manager at McEnaneys Bar, said: “Our ‘Battle of The Buskers’ Competition was launched to shine a light on the local busking culture, and we’re thrilled to have given so many of Belfast’s most talented buskers a stage to showcase their incredible musical talent. 

“Hannah Cairns stood out with her exceptional talent, captivating the audience with every live performance. Her win is well-deserved, and we’re excited to offer her the opportunity to further showcase her skills with a residency at McEnaneys Bar and use it as a stepping stone to forge a successful music career.” 

The Battle of The Buskers competition is sponsored by McEnaneys Bar, Juice Radio, Anjo Wines and Diageo. 

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McKenna’s Bar, a well established public house in the Sailortown area of Belfast, which is close to the city centre and University of Ulster, Belfast campus has gone up for sale.

The trading premises provides a well fitted out two storey licensed premises being offered for sale due to retirement providing the buyer with a ready to go bar with fitted kitchen on the first floor.  The bar currently only provides wet sales.

As commercial property agents Osborne King state in their listing, ‘McKenna’s Bar is located on the corner of Garmoyle Street and Dock Street within the ‘Sailor Town’ area in Belfast, approximately one mile north of the city centre. Further the premises are located in close proximity to the new Ulster University, Belfast campus and the Cathedral Quarter. The location provides access to the Port of Belfast and benefits from good road links to the Westlink and M2 Motorway. The surrounding area comprises a mix of residential and commercial occupiers to include the American Bar and office occupiers in the nearby Clarendon Dock.’

‘The opportunity comprises a two-storey licensed premises of traditional construction with timber pitched roof covered in slate. Internally the ground floor provides a traditional public bar and to the rear a pool room with WC located off. Finishes include attractive timber bar servery, tiled/timber strip flooring, plastered/painted walls and ceilings with a range of light fittings.

The first floor provides a lounge bar/function room with timber bar servery, kitchen located to the rear and male and female WC’s. Finishes are similar to the ground floor including a dance floor next to the bar servery and dumb waiter serving the kitchen. Ancillary stores and keg room are located to the rear of the building and can be separately accessed via a rear alleyway.’

For further information visit osborneking.com

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Galgorm Resort has been recognised by two global platforms, winning an unprecedented six awards at the prestigious 2023 World Luxury Awards hosted in Athens, and securing the Best Destination Spa 2024 title at the recent Conde Nast Johansens Awards in London.

Galgorm’s internationally renowned retreat, has been widely commended for its sustained commitment to excellence and its outstanding achievement within the wider international luxury spa and wellness industry, adding a string of new awards to its growing collection.

Located in the heart of Northern Ireland and set within 450 acres of gardens and woodlands, Galgorm has carved out a reputation as one of the world’s premier, luxury destinations. Following investments worth more than £60 million since 2010, Galgorm is also investing a further £30 million to further expand and enhance its resort and spa facilities by 2027, embedding its position as a world-class international tourism destination of choice for travellers from across the globe.

Tara Moore, Head of Spa Operations for Galgorm said: ‘We are thrilled to have enjoyed such incredible success on a global stage as part of the World Luxury Awards and the Conde Nast Johansens Awards in recognition of our significant investment, our focus on delivering an unrivalled customer experience, not least all the hard work and dedication of our talented team at Galgorm.

‘To receive recognition on this scale against such strong international competition not only reflects our unwavering commitment to excellence in every area but also to enriching the tourism industry of Northern Ireland.’

Named Global Award Winner for Best Luxury Spa Resort, the resort’s famous Thermal Spa Village also took home the top awards for Best Luxury Resort and Best Luxury Spa Resort in Northern Europe; Best Luxury Riverside Resort across the continent; Best Luxury Resort Spa and Best Luxury Golf Resort Spa in the UK; and the Best Destination Spa 2024 at the Conde Nast Johansens Awards.

Committed to working towards a sustainable future, protecting the environment and reducing its carbon footprint through its Green Policy 10-Point Plan, Galgorm recently became the first hotel in Northern Ireland to achieve gold in two top sustainability accolades from Green Tourism, in recognition of its “exceptional commitment to sustainable practices”, while earlier this year, the Galgorm Collection became the first hospitality group on the island of Ireland to achieve official ‘Great Place to Work’ certification, based on exceptional employee experience.

Read more: Galgorm first NI hotel to achieve two gold awards from Green Tourism

Featured image: Tara Moore, Head of Spa Operations for Galgorm with Emma Garrett & Kenneth During, Thermal Village Managers.

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Well known for its historical significance, Grace Neills is home to the oldest bar in Ireland, which was established in 1611 as The Kings Arms, and subsequently named after Grace Neill who was given the bar as a wedding present by her father, Hugh Jamison. 

Now under the ownership of the O’Kane family since 2015, this is the second major refit for this popular Co. Down establishment since they took over and it will have been closed for 10 days when it reopens to unveil the new design to invited guests on Thursday evening, prior to its public opening on Friday.

Speaking to Grace Neills General Manager Michael Collins, he was giving nothing away! ‘We’ve been sharing some teasers of the refurb’s progress with our followers on social media over the last week, but all images have been in black and white to keep our new colour palette under wraps until we can unveil it all later this week.’

‘I’m sure we are the talk around the town at the moment as everyone gets ready for the big reveal and we’re so excited to see everyone’s reactions,’ adds Michael.

The new refurbishment will also see the unveiling a new bistro menu and brand new cocktail menu. While there will be regular favourites, new dishes will not only tempt existing customers, but hopefully entice new ones as well.

The new look bistro lounge and cocktail bar comes on the back of phase one of the wider refurb which included the beer garden and Snugs bar, where all of the original character of this well-loved bar has been retained. 

Mandy O’Kane and her son Dylan were the driving force behind this latest refurbishment of Grace Neills and have worked alongside interior designer Lara Woods Woznica. Lara’s other projects include The Nines in Bangor and Orto in Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter. 

‘Lara has been amazing throughout the process and the refurb itself was carried out by PCI, a specialist company and also our loyal, regular contractors.’

‘The new refurb successfully merges the old character of Snugs bar with this modern makeover of the lounge bar and bistro and believe me the results are stunning.’ adds Michael.

Donaghadee was recently voted the best place to live in NI and this refurbishment is adding to  this fantastic seaside town full of great eating and drinking establishments.

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To determine the friendliest hotels for hospitality around the world, HawaiianIslands.com analysed reviews of more than 14,000 four and five-star hotels around the world. The Belmore Court & Motel in Enniskillen received 50.47% of ‘friendly’ reviews making it the friendliest hotel in the UK.

Owner of Belmore Court & Motel, the friendliest hotel in the UK, Terry McCartney commented: ‘The welfare of our customers and staff are at the forefront of everything that we do. We don’t have a bar or restaurant offering, so maybe this affords us the time that other establishments might not have to spend with our customers and take an interest in why they are staying with us and how we can help make their time in Co. Fermanagh a pleasant one.

‘Northern Ireland, and Ireland as a whole, is a hospitable place and certainly here in Enniskillen the pace slows down a little bit and this allows us to take to get to know people and make them feel welcome,’ adds Terry.

Also ranked on the list of the friendliest hotel in Europe in seventh position was Tara Lodge in Belfast, with The Manor West Hotel in Tralee, which is the ‘friendliest’ in Ireland with 46.47% of friendly reviews, positioned in ninth place in the Europe rankings.

Hotels were ranked based on the percentage of publicly available Tripadvisor reviews that contain the word ‘friendly’. Only hotels with at least 1,000 reviews were considered, aside from within certain U.S. states in which the threshold was lowered to 500 reviews. Only English-language reviews were considered.

As well as the accolade of friendliest hotel in the UK, Belmore Court & Motel also ranked the third friendliest hotel in Europe behind the 3HB Club Humbria in Portugal and the Avanti Hotel in Paphos, Cyprus and is the 10th friendliest in the world!

Reviews from those that have stayed at Belmore Court & Motel include comments such as…

‘Terry and the staff treat all guests very well and deliver the highest level of customer service to ensure you have a truly memorable stay.’

 

‘All staff onsite from front desk to breakfast staff were friendly and courteous.’

 

‘Return visit to Belmore. It’s so welcoming as soon as you walk in the door. Staff are exceptionally friendly and helpful.’

 

‘One of the highlights of my stay was the friendly and helpful reception staff, particularly Shane and Marcin, who were always willing to assist and make my stay comfortable.’

 

As well as topping the charts as the UK’s friendliest hotel, Belmore Court & Motel has been shortlisted in the GuestRevu GREAT Awards, in GREATest Service and the GREATest Value for Money categories. In an accolade of remarkable distinction, the Belmore Court & Motel stands alone as the only property from Northern Ireland to achieve this recognition.

The GuestRevu GREAT Awards, following a meticulous evaluation of over 60,000 reviews from hundreds of hotels across 37 countries, has spotlighted the crème de la crème of the hospitality industry. These accolades uniquely derive their verdicts not from a panel of judges but from the very heart of hospitality: the guests themselves. Such authentic feedback, aggregated from major online review sites, showcases the hotels leading in guest satisfaction and service quality.

Belmore Court & Motel’s exceptional nomination is based on publicly available online reviews on platforms such as Google Reviews, Booking.com, and Tripadvisor. These reviews were compiled and synthesised using GuestRevu LITE, a testament to the award’s commitment to fairness, transparency, and unbiased results.

The winners will be unveiled in a grand ceremony at the Good Hotel in London on the 23rd of November. Highlighting the rigorous process behind the awards, the Hotel Management School of Stenden South Africa supervised the data collection and analysis. Dr. Wouter Hensens, Executive Dean of Stenden South Africa, ensured that the data analysis met the highest academic standards.

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