Leisure and culture in Belfast

Image: St George's Market Belfast is recognised as having a vibrant and revitalised cultural life. There is growing energy within the culture and arts sector in the city, with eight major annual festivals, key concert and performance venues and award winning theatres.

In the past decade, Belfast's cultural renaissance has witnessed the arrival of a new generation of visitor attractions, hotels, restaurants and bars.

Belfast is embracing the notion of a 'café culture' with a number of cafes and restaurants having tables and chairs outside their premises for people to enjoy food and drink 'al fresco', adding to the vibrancy of the city centre.

The city boasts a wide variety of cultural activities including classical and contemporary music, drama, literature, visual arts, many world renowned international festivals and historical events to the city

Cultural heritage

The proud heritage and history of Belfast is important and is celebrated through the eight museums and heritage centres located across the city.

There are 1,040 listed buildings, 13 designated areas of conservation and 20 designated areas of townscape character.

The newly defined Cathedral Quarter, Gaeltacht Quarter and Titanic Quarter have derived their strong identity from their rich traditional heritage.

There is a range of museums, heritage and discovery centres including:

Festivals

There are many opportunities for celebration in Belfast with its rich and diverse cultural heritage. Over 500,000 people participated in the 55 festivals all over the city including Queen's University's annual Belfast Festival, the Belfast Film Festival, the Titanic Festival and Opera in the Gardens in Botanic Gardens.

The St Patrick's Day festival in March offers a carnival atmosphere for all the family with a wonderful and colourful carnival parade making its way through the city centre streets. Belfast also plays host to the biggest 'Orange parade' on 12 July each year, which attracts tens of thousands of participants and spectators.

For more information on events, please visit our events section

Leisure facilities

We own 11 leisure centres in the city, dedicated to providing a complete service for the community. Activities on offer include swimming, five-a-side football, squash, aerobics, spinning and trampolining. The total number of leisure centre members was 26,291 in February 2008. Between 2006 (10,490) and 2008 the number of members increased by 60%.

We are also responsible for 22 community centres which are used for a wide range of community based activities. These include homework clubs, after schools groups, keep-fit sessions and parent and toddler clubs.

There is also a range of meeting facilities and state-of-the-art computer equipment. A total of 456,489 people used our community centres in 2006 - 07.

For more information on our leisure facilities, please visit out leisure section

Performance venues

Belfast continues to host a series of international entertainment, performances and events in its many iconic buildings (Belfast Waterfront, Odyssey Arena) and traditional venues such as the Grand Opera House and Ulster Hall.