A Belfast bar used as a setting in popular BBC NI cop series Blue Lights is for sale.

Cock and Hens on Lord Street in the east of the city is being sold by Whelan Commercial and been vacant since during the pandemic.

Portrayed as The Loyal in the fictional Mount Eden estate, Cock and Hens is the main setting for several scenes in the drama, which sees owner Lee Thompson (Seamus O’Hara) alongside his sister Mags Thompson (Seána Kerslake) and nephew Henry (Alfie Lawless) grapple with a loyalist feud in the estate.

It plays a focal part in one particular storyline in which Thompson aims to give the bar’s ownership over to loyalist leader Jim Dixon before the latter meets a grisly end.

Unlike typical productions, which tend to use an exterior for outside shots and a different location or set for interior, Cock and Hens’ interior and exterior featured in the series.

The listing describes it as a “long-established community bar in the heart of east Belfast situated just off the Albertbridge Road on a prominent corner site.

“The surrounding area is a densely populated residential area with a significant potential costumer base.”

Estate agent Brian Nixon said the bar has had significant interest since it was featured in the show.

“We have had lots of interest in it, even people contacting us from abroad,” he explained.

“It’s a local community bar, that’s really it. It’s been available since the pandemic when the markets were really affected and bars and restaurants had to close. There are very few bars in the east Belfast area now.

“Featuring in Blue Lights can only help things.”

The post Bar at heart of Blue Lights drama up for sale appeared first on Licensed & Catering News (LCN) - News Coverage from the Local Trade.

Cuckoo on the Libsurn Road, known for their funky cocktails, vintage gaming offering and karaoke nights, closed their doors in August 2023 after six years in business.

The former student haunt is to be given a new lease of life under new tenants after work has been spotted getting underway at the South Belfast site over the last number of weeks.

Newly erected posters on the former Cuckoo site have directed customers to the social media account for Happys Belfast, a new bar from the team behind Trademarket, a food, drink and retail collective on the Dublin Road.

Happys Belfast’s bio on Instagram reads: “Your friendly neighbourhood dive bar!

“Potty mouthed little brother of Trademarket Belfast.

“Yes there’s food and yes there’s ping pong. Coming soon to 149 Lisburn Road.”

The team behind Cuckoo told customers last summer that they resigned as tenants of the bar due to “unsustainable” rent and rates.

An email to customers at the time said: “We’ve had an amazing 6 years at Cuckoo, but it’s finally time to go. We have never really fully recovered from coronavirus>covid.

“The cost of living crisis coupled with unsustainable rents, rates and other spiralling costs have forced us to make a tough decision. Therefore, we have officially resigned as current tenants of Cuckoo.

“We’d like to thank everyone that has come to our venue and events over the last 6 years. It has been an amazing ride!”

The post Trademarket team to give Cuckoo lease of life appeared first on Licensed & Catering News (LCN) - News Coverage from the Local Trade.

Founder and Belfast-educated chairman Tim Martin, above, said it has seen sales “continue to improve” into the new financial year.

The company told shareholders pre-tax profits surged almost eight-fold to £36 million for the year to January, compared with £4.6m a year earlier.

Wetherspoons benefited from a continued improvement in demand and easing cost inflation.

Like-for-like sales grew by 7.4% for the year, with this now 15.3% ahead of pre-pandemic levels from 2019.

Mr Martin said it has seen like-for-like sales grow 5.8% so far in February and March as it continued to witness an improvement in demand from customers.

“The company currently anticipates a reasonable outcome for the financial year, subject to our future sales performance,” Mr Martin added.

It came as the pub group also confirmed it has trimmed the size of its pub estate further.

Wetherspoons said it now has 814 pubs after selling five pubs, terminating the lease of another five and subletting another three sites.

Wetherspoon also put two of its Belfast properties on the market in 2022 after calling time in a long-running bid to open pubs on both Royal Avenue and University Road.

It also owns the former Café Vaudeville premises on Belfast’s Arthur Street, which is on long-lease to Revolution Bars.

The company said: “In the last decade, there has been a reduction in the number of trading Wetherspoon pubs, which peaked at 955 in December 2015.

“In spite of a reduction in the overall number of pubs, sales have continued to increase – total sales are now about one third higher than in 2015.”

The post Profits soar for Wetherpoons as customers flood back appeared first on Licensed & Catering News (LCN) - News Coverage from the Local Trade.

This year’s event is set to be bigger and better than ever and culminates in a fun-packed gala event in Belfast’s Crowne Plaza Hotel on Friday 7th June 2024, with great food, drink, entertainment and the all important awards themselves on the menu.

Previous winners include the great and the good of the NI hospitality scene, with their hard work and entrepreneurship recognised with the the most prestigious industry award in Northern Ireland.

This year’s categories include:

• Pub of the Year
• Community Pub of the Year
• Pub Food of the Year
• Bar Person of the Year
• Style Bar of the Year
• Tourist Pub of the Year
• Hotel of the Year – up to 75 rooms
• Hotel of the Year – over 75 rooms
• Live Music Venue of the Year
• Newcomer of the Year
• Restaurant of the Year
• Cafe/Bistro of the Year
• Digital Marketing Campaign of the Year
• Lifetime Achievement Award
• Entrepreneur of the Year
• Fish and Chip Shop of the Year
• Outstanding Customer Service Award
• Chef of the Year
• Sustainability Champion

Good luck to all those who have entered!

To book your table at this years awards please click HERE.

We look forward to seeing you on the big night.

The post Entries are now closed for the LCN Awards 2024! appeared first on Licensed & Catering News (LCN) - News Coverage from the Local Trade.

The Ducales Group, who own St Anne’s Square, has announced a multi-million-pound investment into its latest hospitality development, The Foundry, which will transform the site of the original Harp Bar on Hill Street.

The Foundry will boast a 350 capacity bar and restaurant and 20 boutique hotel rooms across three floors.

General manager Jim Crawford-Smyth, above, said, “We are very excited to reinvent this historic Belfast site. We have spent a lot of time curating the concept of the hotel, while still ensuring the site itself retains its legendary status.

“With The Foundry we are challenging the traditional take of a boutique hotel while also reflecting and accommodating the bustling social scene within Belfast city centre. It is our hope that the new bar and restaurant will present the perfect hangout space, with a relaxed, sophisticated atmosphere with good food and drinks on offer.”

With the street’s former name being Foundry Street, the new venue pays homage to the history of its home and will create 40 local jobs.

In the late seventies and early eighties, the Hill Street site housed the Harp Bar, known for being the go-to for the NI punk scene with many popular bands such as The Undertones, The Outcasts, and Stiff Little Fingers regularly coming through its doors to play.

The Ducales Group brought on board the expert eye of Gordon Devenney of O’Donnell O’Neill Design’s Belfast studios, to design the building’s interiors.

The group has also commissioned commercial street artist, Visual Waste, to help with the building’s interiors to ensure The Foundry will be a real head turner.

Gordon Devenney said: “A lot of history has happened on this site that we wanted to make sure we didn’t forget and so have tried to encapsulate what that was all about whilst still injecting a modern yet classic twist with The Foundry.

“It has been a lot of fun to work with the guys on this project. The Foundry will be like no other venue or hotel in Belfast.”

The post New boutique hotel and restaurant for Harp Bar site appeared first on Licensed & Catering News (LCN) - News Coverage from the Local Trade.