A grim and imposing presence on the Crumlin Road in north Belfast, the former prison known as Crumlin Road Gaol operated for almost a century and a half before closing in 1996 and reopening as one of the city's most compelling heritage attractions. Designed by the architect Charles Lanyon and completed in 1845, the gaol was built in the radial style favoured in the Victorian era, with wings of cells fanning out from a central hub, and it held men, women and children over the course of its histo.....

A much-loved fixture of Belfast nightlife, the Empire Music Hall on Botanic Avenue is one of the city's most characterful live-music venues, housed in a Victorian building that began life as a church. Dating from the nineteenth century, the atmospheric room retains the architecture of its origins, with a balcony wrapping around an intimate main hall, and it has spent decades as a beloved home for music, comedy and entertainment in the heart of the university quarter. The venue is spread over se.....

Opened in 1999 as Northern Ireland's first purpose-built gay venue, the Kremlin is Belfast's longest-running and best-known LGBTQ+ nightclub. Located on Donegall Street in the city's Cathedral Quarter, it adopts a tongue-in-cheek Soviet theme, complete with a statue of Lenin above its entrance, and has spent more than two decades as a flagship of the city's gay scene, welcoming a mixed and inclusive crowd from across the community and beyond. The venue is organised into several connected spaces.....

First opened in 1987 by former Harp Bar owner Patrick Lennon, the Limelight has grown into one of Belfast's best-loved live-music and club complexes, on Ormeau Avenue in the city centre. Limelight 2 is the original room at the heart of the venue, a space that has hosted touring bands and club nights for well over three decades. The wider complex, now run by promoters MCD and Shine Productions, takes in the larger purpose-built Limelight 1, the adjoining Katy's Bar and an outdoor terrace known a.....

Set inside a former bonded whiskey warehouse in Belfast's Cathedral Quarter, the Oh Yeah Music Centre is Northern Ireland's dedicated hub for music. Founded to champion, support and showcase local talent, it combines a licensed live performance venue with rehearsal rooms, recording facilities, a cafe and office space for music businesses, all spread across three floors of a characterful historic building in the heart of the city's cultural district. The centre opened in 2007 with an inaugural e.....

The Belfast Barge is Northern Ireland's only floating arts centre and maritime museum, moored on the River Lagan at Lanyon Quay in the heart of Belfast. Housed aboard the MV Confiance, a Dutch barge built in 1960 and sailed to the city from Holland in 2010, it opened to the public in 2012 and is owned and run by the not-for-profit charity Lagan Legacy. At the heart of the attraction is a maritime museum occupying the lower deck, whose permanent exhibition tells the story of the River Lagan and .....