BELFAST INSIDER
Hello Belfast 👋
Last week, we couldn't sleep because of the heat. This week, it feels like everyone's been out doing something.
Carrickfergus is about to get its biggest investment in decades, a Newtownards baker is building giant cakes for Disney, Writer's Square is finally getting the kind of Sunday market it deserves, plus one road warning worth knowing before you jump in the car.
As usual, it’s no crime, no politics, just the good craic.
Let’s get into it this week→
THE DIGEST: Belfast in Brief
🏰 Carrickfergus set for a £42m glow-up
Carrickfergus is about to get a £42 million glow-up, and it's a big bet on the town's future. The Belfast Region City Deal just sealed the funding to completely regenerate the town, aiming to make it the starting point for more visitors exploring the Causeway Coastal Route. We're talking major upgrades to the Castle walls, a brand new visitor hub, and a serious public realm revamp. With 155 jobs expected in the attractions alone, it's a big bet that the town's history can do more than sit behind a castle wall.
It feels like every town wants to become the gateway to somewhere. Carrickfergus is making a pretty convincing case that it's worth stopping in its own right.
And Carrickfergus isn't the only place looking at how to turn our history into something people actually come to see.
Speaking of cashing in on our past, Tourism NI just launched 14 brand new "America250" experiences. With the 250th anniversary of the US Declaration of Independence coming up, they're targeting the massive American market coming over here to trace their Ulster-Scots and Irish roots. Local businesses are getting creative, offering everything from bespoke whiskey tours at McConnell's to ancestral cottage trails. With US tourists dropping £54 million here last year alone, giving them more reasons to stay and spend is just smart business.
Over to you: Is Carrickfergus about to become the new crown jewel of the North Coast route?
🔗 Belfast Region City Deal | Tourism NI
🎂The Newtownards baker turned Disney royalty
Plenty of people baked banana bread during lockdown. Lara Mason built a business that now makes cakes for Disney.
If you haven't heard of Lara Mason, your kids probably have. What started as a cake for her mother-in-law somehow turned into a global business.
Operating out of a garden shed with her husband, she's now building 10-foot-tall, laser-shooting Buzz Lightyear cakes for giants like Disney and Amazon. And the best part? Once the cameras stop rolling, those giant cakes are donated to local food banks.
Over to you: what iconic Belfast landmark would you challenge Lara to sculpt out of cake?
🔗Belfast Telegraph
📸PSNI set to test new speed cameras that can catch you from a kilometre away
If you're heading out over the next few weekends, it's worth knowing this. The PSNI is rolling out new Trucam II laser speed cameras for a three-month trial, and they're not messing around. These handheld devices can clock you from a full kilometre away. You won't even see a flashing light or get pulled over on the side of a rural road. The footage gets processed, and the fine drops right onto your doormat. It’s another sign that the days of spotting a van parked at the side of the road might be changing.
Over to you: does this tech make you feel safer on the country roads, or do you reckon it's going to catch a lot of people off guard?
🔗 PSNI
🏪 LOCAL BUSINESS SCOOP
Openings, Closures & Buzz Around Town
🛍️Writer's Square gets a Sunday sort-out
Cathedral Quarter is brilliant on a Friday night. Sundays? Different story.
If your Sundays usually involve staring at the wall wondering where to get a decent bit of street food, sorted. Destination CQ is launching a new seasonal market in Writer's Square, right beside St Anne's Cathedral. Artisan food, local makers, live music and proper outdoor seating, 12–5pm on selected Sundays through summer and autumn. First one's July 19th, with more dates rolling through August and September.
Over to you: is a regular market exactly what the Cathedral Quarter's been missing on a Sunday?
🔗 Visit Belfast
💷 Up to £7,500 up for grabs for rural businesses
If you or anyone you know runs a small business just outside the city hubs, listen up. Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council has grants of up to £7,500 on the table for rural businesses with fewer than 10 employees, covering up to 50% of costs for kit like machinery, computers or a proper e-commerce website (building works don't qualify). Catch is you'll need to attend a pre-application workshop first. There's one this Wednesday (8th) at Antrim Civic Centre, plus more on the 21st and 28th. Applications close 30th July.
Over to you: machinery upgrade or a website overhaul. Where would you put the money?
🔗Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce
Your Weekend Lineup
🎟️ WHAT’S HAPPENING:
Your guide to what’s on across Belfast & Northern Ireland
This weekend's got a bit of everything. Markets if you're feeling wholesome. Live music if you're not. Family days, festivals, jazz, speed dating, Wimbledon afternoon tea and enough excuses to get out of the house before Netflix wins again.
Here’s where we recommend…
Thursday 9th July
👨👩👧👦 Summer Fun Day | Victoria Park, Belfast | 1:00pm
Friday 10th July
👨👩👧👦 Summer Fun Day | Waterworks Park, Belfast | 1:00pm
Saturday 11th July
🎸Brian Giffen & The Untouchables: The Timeless Show | Belmont Bowling Club, Belfast | 7:00pm
Sunday 12th July
🥾Fiddler's Green Festival: Dan White's Dander Opening Walk | The Square, Rostrevor | 9:00am
Monday 13th July
🤘Breaking Benjamin | Telegraph Building, Belfast | 7:00pm
Tuesday 14th July
Wednesday 15th July
💛 COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT
🌏When Donegall Pass came alive for South Asian Heritage Month
Last Thursday, Donegall Pass Community Centre looked very different from a normal Thursday evening. There was music, traditional dance, colourful dress and plenty of food as people gathered to mark the start of South Asian Heritage Month.
The night was put together by Ramya from the Belfast Asian Women's Academy, with a good few hands on deck from the local South Asian community to pull it off. The room had grandparents, kids, performers and plenty of people meeting each other for the first time.
South Asian Heritage Month runs right through July, recognising the contributions of communities with roots in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and the Maldives. If Thursday's turnout is anything to go by, Belfast's already planning something bigger for next year.
Over to you: what's the best community celebration you've stumbled into in Belfast this year?
Source: Belfast Insider member submission
🍽️ FOODIE FIND OF THE WEEK
🍕Frankie & Benny's: unlimited pizza, pasta and soft drinks, £19.95
Spotted by local foodie Niam Smyth: for £19.95 you get unlimited rounds of pizza or pasta plus drinks for 90 minutes, finishing what's on your plate before the next round lands. Portions aren't shy either — think garlic bread the size of your foot and mac and cheese as a "side." Yes, they'll box up your leftovers too.
Go hungry.
💰 £19.95pp | Ends 17 July
📍 Victoria Square, Belfast
Watch her review below…
@nsmyth17 A time was had…. #foodreview #belfast #buffet #tastetest #allyoucaneat
📹 As Spotted
Whoever runs the PSNI TikTok deserves a raise. Their latest video introducing the new Trucam II speed cameras has already racked up almost eighty thousand views, and judging by the comments, plenty of drivers suddenly discovered these things can spot you from a kilometre away.
Watch below…
@policeservice.ni We’re using TruCam II devices - a hand-held equivalent to the safety camera vans - over the next three months as part of a pilot project. ... See more
💬 YOUR VOICE
What's the best thing you've stumbled across in Northern Ireland this summer?
Know something happening in your part of Belfast or Northern Ireland? Just hit reply. We read every email, and quite a few of your tips end up in future editions.
👋 OUTRO
Whatever you're up to this weekend, enjoy it.
If someone forwarded this to you, we'd love to have you along every Thursday.
At's us nai.
See you next week.
— The Belfast Insider Team