Mourne Seafood’s owner disgusted by arson attack
Mourne Seafood Bar’s owner has told of his disgust after arsonists destroyed the outside seating area of his Belfast restaurant.
Bob McCoubrey , who said the area would be closed for the foreseeable future, confirmed police and fire crew had attended a blaze in the early hours of August 2.
Speaking in the aftermath of the arson, Mr McCoubrey said: “This is when our outside area becomes very important to the business, so yeah – bad news.
“Talking to neighbours and from what they have seen on the cameras it would appear to be just a random arson attack carried out in the middle of the night.
“There is camera footage of two people running away
“Inside is not affected so the Mourne Seafood Bar will operate as normal.
“Then we will sit down and decide whether it is worth fixing this up for this summer or not.
“The rest of the business operates and normal and we will probably look at extending our opening hours to make up for the damage out here.”
Mr McCoubrey said it would probably cost about £15,000 to get the outside facility operational again for the summer, but questioned if it was worth spending the money, given it is late July.”
SDLP MLA Matthew O’Toole condemned those responsible, saying: “So many people from Belfast, as well as visitors from further afield, will be horrified to see this happen to a true local treasure and star of the Irish seafood scene.”
Fellow city centre restaurant Fish City added: “This is absolutely awful. Business is tough enough without having to deal with this. If there’s anything we can do, just let us know.”
Enquiries into the incident are ongoing, and anyone with information is asked to contact police on 101.
