BELFAST INSIDER
👋 How are ye Belfast?
Looks like we've officially reached peak Northern Ireland this week.
Aside from the name of the new Lidl Pub in Dundonald being confirmed to be exactly the kind of brilliant, self-aware banter you'd hope it would be, a spectacular homegrown Belfast theatre production is getting ready to debut in New York.
To top it off, a report from Trinity College Dublin just revealed that Northern Ireland is actually well ahead of the Republic when it comes to businesses using AI. That is definitely not a combo of headlines I’d have expected to write on a Thursday morning.
All the good scoop you’ll find inside this week's edition, alongside a weekend event roundup we're particularly proud of, and an all-you-can-eat BBQ spot in Carryduff that may test both your appetite and your self-control.
Ready?
LET’S STEP INSIDE →
THE DIGEST: Belfast in Brief
Only the good news, promise.
🍻A pint in the Middle Aisle
Lidl has finally confirmed the name of its new pub in Dundonald, and they've leaned straight into the joke. Opening next month, it's officially called The Middle Ale, a nod to the infamous aisle where you go in for a loaf of bread and somehow come home with a pressure washer and a cordless drill.
Only in Belfast, and they’re smart to think: if people already spend half their weekend wandering the middle aisle, they might as well grab a pint afterwards. The £500k investment brings eight new local jobs, and honestly, there's a decent chance this becomes one of those places people visit at least once purely to say they've been.
🔗 Belfast Telegraph
💬 Would you head to the Lidl for a Saturday night pint?
🎭From the Telegraph Building to New York City
In 1845, Frederick Douglass visited Belfast and declared: "Wherever else I feel myself to be a stranger, I will remember I have a home in Belfast." Nearly two centuries later, a Belfast production inspired by those words is heading across the Atlantic.
North Star, a live music and spoken word production by Belfast creative Kwame Daniels and first staged at the Telegraph Building, makes its US debut at the Irish Arts Centre in New York from 3–21 June.
Fusing hip-hop, jazz, electronic music, and gospel, the creative lineup alone is a total powerhouse, featuring Grammy-winner Kaidi Tatham, rap dynamo Leo Miyagee, Mercury Prize-nominated Hannah Peel, and actor Colin Salmon.
Not many people know Belfast had a real role in the anti-slavery movement. North Star is about to make that story known in the US.
🔗 Belfast City Council
💬 What Belfast story do you think deserves a bigger audience?
📸 Caught in the act (of enjoying a cold one)
📍 A Belfast moment of the week
As we wrote in our good weather edition, Belfast has a serious knack for tracking down the sunshine.
No formal announcement or coordination required. The sun appears, and half the city knows how to somehow relocate to a beer garden within hours. Belfast Live was out snapping the crowds over in Cathedral Quarter, so if you were there, you may want to check their gallery to see if you've been caught on camera.
📸 Belfast Live
💬 Where's your go-to Belfast spot the second the sun comes out?
SEE HOW LOCALS STYLE WITH PURPOSE →
🏪 LOCAL BUSINESS SCOOP
🤖 Belfast Is Apparently Beating Dublin At AI?
Not a headline many people would have predicted.
A Trinity College Dublin report has shown that 62% of organisations in Northern Ireland already have AI tools actively deployed, compared to 39% in the Republic. According to the report, nearly three-quarters of businesses using AI say they're already seeing measurable productivity gains.
This has prompted Microsoft to formally position Northern Ireland as an "AI Frontier Region" with ambitions to become a leader in responsible AI adoption.
For a place that's often viewed through the lens of manufacturing, agriculture and public sector jobs, it's a reminder that Belfast's tech scene is quietly becoming one of the city's strongest success stories.
🔗Business Eye
🍦 Family-run ice cream business in Ballymena closes after 103 years
McGroggan's ice cream shop in Ballymena closed its doors for the last time on Saturday 30 May. Founded in 1922 by Hugh and Annie McGroggan, the shop on William Street has been run by four generations of the same family ever since.
Owner Patricia McGroggan cited rising costs and lower town centre footfall as the reason behind the closure. The send-off was exactly what 103 years deserves; the shop was packed all week with well-wishers, nostalgic regulars and people making the trip especially for one last cone. One woman travelled over 30 miles from Dunmurry. Another stocked up on tubs to take home.
Not the first time we've said goodbye to a local institution this year; Lazy Claire Patisserie will know the feeling. Some places are just irreplaceable. McGroggan's was one of them.
Your Weekend Lineup
🎟️ WHAT’S HAPPENING:
Your guide to what’s on across Belfast & Northern Ireland
Whether your vibe is night markets, car shows, intimate gigs, a salsa class, or even mastering some decorative Japanese sashiko stitching, there's something Belfast Insider has curated for you. We're definitely proud of this one.
Thursday 4th June
🎨Late Night Art Takeover | Ulster Sports Club | 9:30 PM
Friday 5th June
⚡SURGE Presents: Hardstyle Past & Present | Club Honey | 9:00 PM
Saturday 6th June
⚪All White Party | Liquid Belfast | 10:00 PM
Sunday 7th June
🎧Saturday Sessions Presents: ixmacix | The Black Box | 5:00 PM
Monday 8th June
Tuesday 9th June
🎹Jools Holland and His Rhythm & Blues Orchestra | Waterfront Hall | 7:00 PM
Wednesday 10th June
🏃♀️Belfast City Airport Runway Run | Belfast City Airport | 9:30 PM
🍽️ Foodie find of the week
🍖All You Can Eat BBQ In Belfast With Unlimited Drinks
This week's food spot comes courtesy of Niamh Smith, a Belfast woman on a mission to prove to her Derry husband that moving back here was absolutely the right call. Her evidence? Smoke BBQ at Let's Go Hydro, which runs an all-you-can-eat BBQ buffet every Thursday.
£35 per person gets you 90 minutes, unlimited drinks, and as much brisket, pulled pork and beef as you can reasonably manage. Plus the sides: mac and cheese, beans, coleslaw, the full spread.
Three plates were consumed. No regrets were expressed. The thing that stood out most? For a buffet, the food was genuinely fresh. Not "sitting under a heat lamp since Tuesday" fresh. Actually fresh.
The vibe: Relaxed reservoir setting just outside the city, worth the short drive. Price: £35 per person (milkshakes extra, and apparently non-negotiable)
When: Every Thursday
Find it: Smoke BBQ, Let's Go Hydro, 1 Mealough Rd, Carryduff, Belfast BT8 8GB Book: https://smoke-bbq.co.uk/
📸 Watch Niamh's full review:
@nsmyth17 Where should we try next? #foodreview #tastetest #foodie #belfast
💛 COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT
⚽The North Belfast squad stripping the stigma out of mental health
A huge shoutout to the absolute legends over at TAMHI (Tackling Awareness of Mental Health Issues). They have just taken home the top spot in the 'Sport for Good' category at the Good Relations Awards for their incredible Shared Space Football Programme up at the Girdwood Community Hub.
If you haven't come across them yet, TAMHI doesn't do boring, stuffy clinical lectures. Instead, they partner up with local sports clubs and community groups right across Belfast, using football, fitness, and proper match day banter to teach young people how to look after their heads and back each other up.
By turning the local pitch into a completely safe space, they've managed to get hundreds of kids from entirely different backgrounds playing together, talking to each other, and breaking down old barriers faster than a clean strike into the top corner.
It's a brilliant win for North Belfast, a reminder of what local sport can actually achieve when it's done right, and proof that looking out for your mates is the best result of the weekend.
🌐 https://tamhi.org | 💛 Donate |
💬 What local organisation do you think deserves more attention in Belfast?
🗳️ POLL OF THE WEEK
What do you think of this week’s edition?
👍 Loved it
😐 Just there
👎 Not for me
💬 YOUR VOICE
Got a story, photo, or random Belfast moment worth sharing?
📸 Send it in — you might be featured in next week’s “Your Belfast” section!
We’re locals, by locals. This newsletter is yours as much as ours.
👋 That's us for this week.
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As always, thanks for reading, replying, sending tips, and helping us uncover the good stuff happening around Belfast and beyond.
We'll be back again next week with more local stories, events and interesting things worth knowing.
Until then, enjoy the sunshine if it sticks around.
And if you're reading this from a beer garden, fair play.
At's us nai.