BELFAST INSIDER
Hello Belfast 👋
What’s the craic?
Heard a lot of you turned out for Culture Night last Friday.
Good to see Belfast's entertainment, hospitality and food scene getting a proper night out. More of that, please.
Hopefully we can eventually figure out the night-time rules too. A city that likes going out should probably make it a little easier to stay out.
Anyway, the chairs from Culture Night have barely been put away and plans are already under way for the Fleadh to return next year.
Here’s what’s happening →
THE DIGEST: Belfast in Brief
🎻 Belfast is already planning the next Fleadh
Belfast hasn't quite finished talking about Culture Night, and we're already onto the next big one.
This week, the people behind Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann got together to start planning its return to Belfast from 1 to 8 August 2027.
Hardly surprising after what happened this summer.
Then came Culture Night, with another 200-plus free events across Belfast.
We've barely put the chairs away from one thing before we're setting them out for the next.
The 2027 Fleadh is still almost a year away, but organisers are already looking at what worked this time around and what they can do differently when it returns.
Belfast is busier and it may have found something it wants to get very good at.
💬 After this summer, what would you like Belfast to do differently or better when the Fleadh comes back in 2027?
🏗️ People have started moving into Loftlines
We've all seen the cranes and construction work around Titanic Quarter.
Now the first residents have moved in.
Loftlines, the £190m development on Belfast's waterfront, has brought 778 homes to the area, including 627 Build-to-Rent apartments alongside social, discounted-market-rent and private rental homes.
There's also a play park, urban sports courts, green space and a new waterside promenade. More than £105m was spent locally during construction.
For years, this part of Belfast's waterfront has gradually become somewhere to work, eat, stay and visit.
Now another chunk of it is somewhere people call home. Bread Street Bakery is already lining up a café there.
💬 Would you live in Titanic Quarter, or is there another Belfast neighbourhood you'd choose every time?
🤖 Northern Ireland's AI industry doubles, reaches milestone two years early
Here's a number worth stopping at.
Northern Ireland now has 400 companies commercially involved in AI, up from 198 last year.
AI-related employment has jumped 79% to 2,402 jobs, while the industry's estimated contribution to the economy has risen from £82m to £214m, according to Ulster University's new AI Capability Census.
That £200m milestone wasn't expected until 2028.
The jobs market is moving too. Adverts asking for AI or machine-learning skills increased 161% over the rolling 12 months, with a median advertised salary of around £61,000.
And if you're wondering where all these people are, Belfast Tech Week is happening right now.
More than 50 community-run events are taking place around the city this week, with more than 3,000 people expected to attend.
💬 What do you make of Northern Ireland's AI growth? Are you seeing it in your own workplace yet?
🏪 LOCAL BUSINESS SCOOP
Openings, Closures & Buzz Around Town
🧲 Chinese Firm Picks Larne for First Facility Outside China
You probably don't spend much time wondering what goes inside an MRI machine.
Neither did we.
But some of the material that eventually goes into one is now going to start life in Larne.
Chinese manufacturer Xi'an Superconducting Wire Technologies (XST) has opened a facility on Ballyhampton Road, creating 41 jobs.
Here's the interesting bit: it's the company's first investment outside China.
Its Northern Ireland operation, Superconducting Technologies Northern Ireland, will manufacture materials that are processed into superconducting wire, primarily for use in MRI machines.
XST's technology also turns up in scientific research, semiconductor production, accelerators and even maglev transport.
Invest NI is supporting the investment with £287,000, and the 41 jobs could contribute almost £1.5m a year to the Mid and East Antrim economy.
Larne has a long manufacturing history.
Superconducting materials are probably a new one for the list.
💬 What's the most surprising thing you've discovered is made in Northern Ireland?
Your Weekend Lineup
🎟️ WHAT’S HAPPENING:
Your guide to what’s on across Belfast & Northern Ireland
Right, what are we doing this weekend?
Live music, comedy, a record fair and a bit of late-night dancing. Here are a few things happening around Belfast from Thursday onwards.
Thursday, 24 September
Friday, 25 September
Saturday, 26 September
Sunday, 27 September
💛 COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT
🍽️ Want to eat more local? Start here.
Turns out there's basically a directory for that.
Food NI brings together producers and food businesses from across Northern Ireland, from farms and dairies to bakeries, fishmongers, coffee roasters and independent makers.
Its producer directory gives you somewhere to actually find them, while Taste of Ulster does something similar for cafés, restaurants, hotels and other places putting local food on the menu.
And one of those producers has had a particularly good week.
Moira's Hannan Meats has won Northern Ireland's Golden Fork at the Great Taste Awards for its Buttermilk Cure Bacon Rack.
They're getting used to this.
Hannan previously won Great Taste's overall Supreme Champion in 2012 and 2017, alongside NI Golden Forks in 2013 and 2024.
So the next time you say you want to buy more local food but aren't quite sure where to start, Food NI has done a fair bit of the homework for you.
Explore: Food NI
💬 What's one Northern Ireland food producer or product everybody should try at least once?
🍽️ Foodie Finds
📹 A Scottish foodie spent three days eating around Belfast. Here's where she went.
Scottish TikTok creator Caroline McQuistin recently spent three days eating and drinking her way around Belfast.
Her verdict on the city's food scene?
An "absolute chokehold."
We'll take it.
Her trip included:
☕ Established Coffee, Cathedral Quarter: Specialty coffee and cinnamon buns.
🍸 Margot, City Centre: Small plates and a Miso Nutty cocktail.
🥣 Native Coffee: Morning coffee and overnight oats.
🍺 The Duke of York, Commercial Court: Her pick for a proper Belfast pub experience.
🥘 EDO, Upper Queen Street: Her favourite meal of the trip, with the tapas getting particularly high praise.
🌮 Neighbourhood Café, Donegall Street: Tiramisu iced lattes and breakfast tacos.
🥟 Yūgo, Wellington Street: Pan-Asian small plates and cocktails to finish things off.
Not a bad three days, to be fair.
📲 Watch
@carolinemcquistin The best few days in Belfast!! 💘 #belfast #belfastfood #belfastrestaurants #belfastfoodie
💬 Your turn: She gets one more meal in Belfast. Where are you sending her?
👋 OUTRO
That’s all for this week.
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And if you've spotted something brilliant happening around Belfast or Northern Ireland that we should know about, hit reply and send it our way.
See you next Thursday.