Is Belfast safe?

Jaap

fatgav wrote: »

was thinking about going to Belfast this weekend for a last minute break, but some of what has been said here (I'd be driving a southern reg), plus riots in recent days have put me off a little. Am I being overly cautious? I like Belfast as a city, but any time I've been there it's been as part of a group of lads wheras now I'd just be with herself. Not sure what to do

You have been to Belfast before and survived!!! Come again...don't be afraid...and don't let a few recreational rioters scare you!!!
The trouble has died down from what I saw on the news today...and the areas where there was trouble is not near the city centre!!!
A southern reg car should not hamper your visit...there are loads of them in Belfast!!!
A few hundred thousand people have been surviving in Belfast for 40 years with worse trouble than what we have seen over the last few nights!!!

doolox

Myself and my wife went to Belfast for a few days starting on the 14th and finishing up on Sat 18th and, although the papers were full of news of four days rioting etc we saw or heard none of it.
We stayed in a very nice Hotel called Benedicts on the Road south to the University and adjacent to Sandy Row.

We walked around the area at all hours (up to 12.00 or so) with no hassle at all.

We had a great time and great food and shopping and also a tour of Belfast City Hall.

I'd go again and once you use common sense there is no hassle.

Only sour note is the appearance of the police stations, still look like forts in a time of peace. I'd say that the police should remodel the stations to reflect the new reality of peace and remove the armour and high fencing which gives one an impression of ongoing war........

Having said that I was mightily impressed with the restraint and forebearance of the PSNI on the TV when the riots were in full swing in the Ardoyne area on the night of the 12th. They refrained from retaliation or reacting to many attacks by unruly people firing heavy pieces of metal and incendiaries at them. I'm trying hard not to use derogatory language about the rioters but you could be tempted to use it in the face of such images.

My one big fear in all this is that rioting will increase both here and in the North in the face of high youth unemployment and falling opportunities for gainful employment and a lack of opportunities anywhere to soak up the surplus manpower and energy now becoming available.

Down south here we hear nothing but retrenchment and cutting of spending both public and private as all obvious forms of employment become heavily oversubscribed.

Same in the UK with Camerons conservatives now looking for cuts.

I'd say on both sides we need to be kept busy in some form of gainful employment or self development in order to avoid hatred and trouble in the future.

aquascrotum

doolox wrote: »

Only sour note is the appearance of the police stations, still look like forts in a time of peace. I'd say that the police should remodel the stations to reflect the new reality of peace and remove the armour and high fencing which gives one an impression of ongoing war........

Whilst the sane population of NI (probably 99.9% of us) is happily at peace, unfortunately the "dissident republican" element is still at war with the PSNI with pretty much weekly attacks.

Everybody wants normalisation but I'm not going to ask a PSNI officer to put him/herself in harms way for the sake of getting rid of a blastproof wall.

A lot of PSNI stations in areas less prone to dissident activities have been significantly normalised - low rise mesh fencing etc instead of fortrification and blastproofing. I can't ever see the day though when a PSNI station is a bungalow on a street corner like most country Gardai stations.

I'll happily take what progress that's been made and be grateful for it for the time being.

allandanyways

Was thinking of going to Belfast for a night with a few mates, know some guys that live up there.

Said this to another friend (trying to rope people in) and he said "You can f-off if you think I'm going to Belfast. Not the best time to be going, if you know what I mean". I didn't know what he meant and I'm a bit worried now.

Should I be? Is there a bit of trouble going on at the moment? We'd be thinking of going up on the 7th August.

Excuse my naievity, haven't been to Belfast before but what my friend said put me off a bit and he's not in any way into the prod/catholic, nationalist/loyalist thing.

Fuinseog

allandanyways wrote: »

Was thinking of going to Belfast for a night with a few mates, know some guys that live up there.

Said this to another friend (trying to rope people in) and he said "You can f-off if you think I'm going to Belfast. Not the best time to be going, if you know what I mean". I didn't know what he meant and I'm a bit worried now.

Should I be? Is there a bit of trouble going on at the moment? We'd be thinking of going up on the 7th August.

Excuse my naievity, haven't been to Belfast before but what my friend said put me off a bit and he's not in any way into the prod/catholic, nationalist/loyalist thing.

seek and you shall find. if you want troule you will find it. i would not go there with a celtic shirt, but otherwise it should be okay. avoid republican area unless you cherish places that are belfasts answer to ballymun.the city centre is very cosmopolitan

Jaap

allandanyways wrote: »

Was thinking of going to Belfast for a night with a few mates, know some guys that live up there.

Said this to another friend (trying to rope people in) and he said "You can f-off if you think I'm going to Belfast. Not the best time to be going, if you know what I mean". I didn't know what he meant and I'm a bit worried now.

Should I be? Is there a bit of trouble going on at the moment? We'd be thinking of going up on the 7th August.

Excuse my naievity, haven't been to Belfast before but what my friend said put me off a bit and he's not in any way into the prod/catholic, nationalist/loyalist thing.

Why don't you ask the guys you know that live in Belfast...they will give you a better picture than your friend who probably only relies on news reports!
If I relied solely on news reports I probably wouldn't visit Dublin...there seems to be a shooting there every second day!
No trouble in Belfast for about a fortnight now...even the rioting that happened about a fortnight ago was confined to residential areas a good distance away from town!
I wouldn't be worried...and I wouldn't think twice about inviting any friends from the Republic or elsewhere in the world to visit Belfast at the present moment!

pow wow

The rioting around the 12th does freak some people out who have never been here before. It's very localised and not something you'd run into going around the city centre. It also dies down well before August.

Lapin

A few boardies earlier in the thread suggested that Sandy Row is best avoided for people with a southern accent. However I'd love to have a couple of pints in The Royal Bar the the next time I'm up there in memory of one of my sporting heros, the late Alex Higgins. (It was his local).
I have no interest in discussing politics, nor would I wear anything provocative. I'd just love to have a few drinks and share a few yarns about Alex with some of the locals.
Is it worth it ?

Fuinseog

Lapin wrote: »

A few boardies earlier in the thread suggested that Sandy Row is best avoided for people with a southern accent. However I'd love to have a couple of pints in The Royal Bar the the next time I'm up there in memory of one of my sporting heros, the late Alex Higgins. (It was his local).
I have no interest in discussing politics, nor would I wear anything provocative. I'd just love to have a few drinks and share a few yarns about Alex with some of the locals.
Is it worth it ?

sandy row is grand. its only a problem if you are a die hard republican or celtic fan out for a bit of trouble.
stick to the main road and avoid the side streets (i could say the same about places in dublin or limerick).The Royal is one of the most welcoming bars in the city. its more locals but the odd tourist wanders in and is a regular after the first pint.

owenc

doolox wrote: »

Myself and my wife went to Belfast for a few days starting on the 14th and finishing up on Sat 18th and, although the papers were full of news of four days rioting etc we saw or heard none of it.
We stayed in a very nice Hotel called Benedicts on the Road south to the University and adjacent to Sandy Row.

We walked around the area at all hours (up to 12.00 or so) with no hassle at all.

We had a great time and great food and shopping and also a tour of Belfast City Hall.

I'd go again and once you use common sense there is no hassle.

Only sour note is the appearance of the police stations, still look like forts in a time of peace. I'd say that the police should remodel the stations to reflect the new reality of peace and remove the armour and high fencing which gives one an impression of ongoing war........

Having said that I was mightily impressed with the restraint and forebearance of the PSNI on the TV when the riots were in full swing in the Ardoyne area on the night of the 12th. They refrained from retaliation or reacting to many attacks by unruly people firing heavy pieces of metal and incendiaries at them. I'm trying hard not to use derogatory language about the rioters but you could be tempted to use it in the face of such images.

My one big fear in all this is that rioting will increase both here and in the North in the face of high youth unemployment and falling opportunities for gainful employment and a lack of opportunities anywhere to soak up the surplus manpower and energy now becoming available.

Down south here we hear nothing but retrenchment and cutting of spending both public and private as all obvious forms of employment become heavily oversubscribed.

Same in the UK with Camerons conservatives now looking for cuts.

I'd say on both sides we need to be kept busy in some form of gainful employment or self development in order to avoid hatred and trouble in the future.

LOL i never noticed that about the police stations i thought all of them are like that are they not like that in england as well i think i seen that in england too hmm maybe its just the irish ones that aren't like that.

owenc

pow wow wrote: »

The rioting around the 12th does freak some people out who have never been here before. It's very localised and not something you'd run into going around the city centre. It also dies down well before August.

Well i have noticed that the orange order have not taken all the banners down here (not that i am bothered like, i really couldn't care.) and there are still flags up everywhere and i seen ones marching like last week i thought they were mean't to only march on the 12th which really confused me.. so what is up with this orange order? As usually i don't see as many flags up (god they are nuts in bushmills have flags in every house!) and i thought that was weird, maybe i just don't notice them because i'm so used to them?

aquascrotum

owenc wrote: »

Well i have noticed that the orange order have not taken all the banners down here (not that i am bothered like, i really couldn't care.) and there are still flags up everywhere and i seen ones marching like last week i thought they were mean't to only march on the 12th which really confused me.. so what is up with this orange order?

"Marching season" ends on the last Saturday in August (Black Saturday). The main event is the twelfth, but the banners will be taken down after August.

I've noticed significantly fewer banners and flags in some areas this year tbh. Though as a (mild/not especially arsed) unionist it absolutely pains me to see our national flag left up on lampposts for months on end until its left like some raggy piece of bog roll. Shows a complete lack of respect imo. Personally I find the amount of bunting and flags put up more than a bit tacky.

owenc

aquascrotum wrote: »

"Marching season" ends on the last Saturday in August (Black Saturday). The main event is the twelfth, but the banners will be taken down after August.

I've noticed significantly fewer banners and flags in some areas this year tbh. Though as a (mild/not especially arsed) unionist it absolutely pains me to see our national flag left up on lampposts for months on end until its left like some raggy piece of bog roll. Shows a complete lack of respect imo. Personally I find the amount of bunting and flags put up more than a bit tacky.

Aye i think they go a bit overboard way the flags, especially in bushmills, every single house had a flag up its almost as if they went together to put one up, but i couldn't care less it doesn't bother me. Some people and the orange order thingy do go about overboard i drove by this house on my way to bushmills between the (town and bushmills) and they had their own banners up and everything!:eek: Bit nuts do you not think.

pow wow

owenc wrote: »

Well i have noticed that the orange order have not taken all the banners down here (not that i am bothered like, i really couldn't care.) and there are still flags up everywhere and i seen ones marching like last week i thought they were mean't to only march on the 12th which really confused me.. so what is up with this orange order? As usually i don't see as many flags up (god they are nuts in bushmills have flags in every house!) and i thought that was weird, maybe i just don't notice them because i'm so used to them?

I was referring to the rioting being a localised thing around the 12th, and not something you'd run into across the whole of NI. As for the banners....well they're personal taste I guess. My neighbours leave their flags up all Summer and take them down in Winter to keep them nice. I don't think it's nuts, it's just their thing.

owenc

pow wow wrote: »

I was referring to the rioting being a localised thing around the 12th, and not something you'd run into across the whole of NI. As for the banners....well they're personal taste I guess. My neighbours leave their flags up all Summer and take them down in Winter to keep them nice. I don't think it's nuts, it's just their thing.

Yea it can be their thing but you know i just think its a bit too much you know, the uk flags are fine but the orange banners are a bit... you know.

pow wow

owenc wrote: »

Yea it can be their thing but you know i just think its a bit too much you know, the uk flags are fine but the orange banners are a bit... you know.

Not sure that I do but in the interests of keeping the thread on topic we can agree to differ.

owenc

pow wow wrote: »

Not sure that I do but in the interests of keeping the thread on topic we can agree to differ.

Thats alright i couldn't care less if they hung them up, it a piece of wood.

roy nelson

Belfast is quite safe as long as you stick to nationalist areas ie west/south.

If you enter the Protestant areas your taking your life into your own hands, protestants dont really like to work so alot of them are unemployed. Therefore youll find them hanging about during the day looking to start trouble. All the middle class protestants went to university in England and subsequently stayed there, so its only really working class protestants left in Ireland.

If you need anymore information just ask.

Fuinseog

roy nelson wrote: »

Belfast is quite safe as long as you stick to nationalist areas ie west/south.

If you enter the Protestant areas your taking your life into your own hands, protestants dont really like to work so alot of them are unemployed. Therefore youll find them hanging about during the day looking to start trouble. All the middle class protestants went to university in England and subsequently stayed there, so its only really working class protestants left in Ireland.

If you need anymore information just ask.

although I am a Fenian I can safely say that is a load of codswollop. there are just as many scumbags in west belfast.
in east and west belfast as long as you agree with the people there you will be fine.

west belfast is a lot like ballymun or finglas in dublin and just as safe.

pow wow

Warning issued to roy nelson

Being workshy is not religion-specific and neither is being a scumbag.

Thread locked.