Events
Spinning Yarns – LQ Summer Walking Tours
| Event | Spinning Yarns – LQ Summer Walking Tours |
|---|---|
| When? | 13th June 2024 at 12:30pm |
| Until? | 18th August 2024 at 12:30pm |
| Where? | Various Locations |
| How to Book? | Book Online |
| How to Book? | Book by Email |
LQ BID is working with an external creative to develop an exciting walking tour of the Linen Quarter – Spinning Yarns.
Taking place over 10 weeks from June to August, this fun and informative walking tour links past and present, helping you see what’s on the streets in a new light and just how much there is to do and enjoy in this unique district.
Along the way, your experienced Belfast tour guide will share many entertaining ‘yarns’ – stories of people and events across 250 years that relate to what you are seeing. For example:
- Where the largest bell in the city rings out from and why it was silenced for a time!
- The venue where Italian tenor, Luciano Pavarotti, sang for his UK debut in 1963, and another where Led Zeppelin in 1971 first played live the famous song ‘Stairway to Heaven’.
- Where linen and other workers would go for their weekly baths before homes were modernised!
- How a modest record shop set up in the late ‘70s is now celebrated in a film, a musical and by colourful street art in an open-air gallery.
The leisurely route will take in buildings of impressive architecture, iconic entertainment venues, historic and quaint bars, exciting outdoor public spaces and markets, colourful street art, unique gems of shops, great places to eat and drink and much more.
This new walking tour has been developed by Creative Tours Belfast in association with the Linen Quarter BID.
Tour Dates:
All the below tours depart from outside Ulster Hall on Bedford Street unless otherwise stated.
- Thursday June 13th, 12.30pm-2pm
- Sunday June 16th, 10.30am-12.30pm
- Sunday 23rd June, No Tour
- Sunday June 30th, 10.30am-12.30pm
- Sunday July 07th, 10.30am-12.30pm
- Sunday July 14th – No Tour
- Sunday July 21st – 10.30am-12.30pm
- Sunday 28th July 10.30-12.30pm
- Thursday 01st August, 12.30pm-2pm (Meeting at Bankmore Square)
- Sunday 04th August, 10.30am-12.30pm
- Sunday 11th August, 10.30am-12.30pm
- Sunday 18th August, 10.30am-12.30pm
What Others Had To Say
“We spent a fascinating two hours in the Linen Quarter with Dolores. She shared so many interesting facts and stories with us, from the seahorse on Belfast City’s coat of arms, to the origins of the ‘Sandy Row’ naming and how the Ulster Hall was saved from the blitz! I couldn’t recommend the tour highly enough. Catch it over the summer if you can.”
– James Haughey, Fairhill Construction, Adelaide Street
“Spinning Yarns is a tour for music, culture, and history lovers, whether you are a Belfast native or visiting the city for the first time. I loved Dolores’ interactive approach to make the Linen Quarter’s hay day come to life; every corner, building, and square had a story, even a soundtrack! Playing tracks from superstar bands that started their career at the Limelight to Teenage Kicks blasted out on Great Victoria Street, it was a great way to learn about Belfast.” – Gillian Grattan, NICCY, Shaftesbury Square
How To Book:
Tickets are priced at £18 and can be booked directly from the Visit Belfast Website. LQ BID will reserve 6 tickets on each tour which are complimentary for employees of LQ BID based organisations. Email stephen@linenquarter.org to reserve.
Please note:
- The tour begins outside the Ulster Hall on Bedford Street unless otherwise advertised . Please arrive five minutes before the advertised start time.
- The tour will last for two hours (except on Thursdays 13 June and 1 August, when it will run over lunch time and last for 90 minutes).
- You will walk c1.5 miles on flat ground.
- The tour will take place, whatever the weather! Please come prepared and in comfortable shoes.
