Plans have been submitted that might see the end of a popular Belfast food and drinks market.
Belfast’s Trademarket is home to a range of fantastic local and international independent food purveyors. Eaters can enjoy anything from fish and chips, burgers, and pizza to Filipino, Mexican, and Korean food.
But that is under threat with two separate planning applications submitted for the Dublin Road site.
14 Dublin Road – from cinema to food market
MGM opened the first cinema at 14 Dublin Road back in July 1993, and though it changed hands several times since then, it remained a cinema until 2020 under the custodianship of Northern Irish cinema chain Movie House.
Local software company Kainos acquired the building in 2019 and bizarrely held a staff party in the still-operational Movie House, catered by the cinema staff whose jobs they threatened.
Subsequent stays of execution kept Movie House open until 2020, when it closed its doors for the final time in March, in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.
Since its closure, the razed site has been occupied by Trademarket, an open-air food and drinks market populated by the likes of Fin, Bodega Bagels, and the Pie Queen, serving some of the best casual food the city centre has seen in years.
Planning applications – two separate plans
Two separate planning applications have been submitted to Belfast City Council. One comes from Kainos, after the coronavirus pandemic quashed the company’s original plans for the site.
Kainos intends to build a 14-storey office block, with hospitality and retail units available on the ground floor.
The second application is from Queen’s University. The university envisages a 17-storey student accommodation site complete with communal facilities and amenities.
What does this mean for the area? – the future of the Dublin Road
It’s no secret that Belfast’s Dublin Road has been neglected for years. Indeed, this surely contributed to the cinema’s plummeting attendances in the years before its closure.
However, do either of these proposed plans really represent a solution?
One of the lasting effects of the coronavirus pandemic has been the work-from-home culture adopted by most office-based businesses.
Many offer remote or at least hybrid working options, and many employees are happy with the greater autonomy and work-life balance this affords.
While the extra footfall that comes along with increased urban employment can greatly benefit the local economy, should it really come at the expense of a cultural space that allows local chefs and restauranteurs to hone their craft?
Meanwhile, disturbances in the Holylands area of Belfast – a residential area popular with students – have long been an issue for locals.
Admittedly, additional student accommodation close the the area might help mitigate this problem, but the monopoly of university and privately owned student accommodation blocks in the city centre risks homogenising the city.
