With Christmas now firmly behind us and the New Year stretching out ahead of us, it’s time to turn our attention to 2025 and what that could mean for Belfast.
The city is home to bustling restaurants and pubs, arenas, concert halls, theatres and clubs, which all adds up to create the legendary Belfast buzz.
There’s plenty coming up to keep us busy in Belfast this coming year but that doesn’t mean it’s perfect and like every city, it has its challenges.
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Our wee city already has plenty to shout about but some key things would improve life here for lots of people. So as we embrace these early days of 2025, there are some things we really, really want to see finally happen this year.
More housing in city centre
Over the last few years our city centre has welcomed new offices, hotels and student accommodation but not housing.
A key aim of the Belfast City Centre Regeneration and Investment Strategy is to increase the city centre’s residential population.
The Belfast Agenda has set out a vision for a city re-imagined and resurgent, home to an additional 66,000 residents and 31,600 homes. Investment in quality homes, placemaking, connectivity and social infrastructure lies at the heart of this vision.
Belfast City Council says it’s focused on accelerating city centre living and bringing forward significant residential opportunities across all housing tenures, notably in the city centre.
Increasing the number of people living within the city centre will help create a vibrant, functioning city centre and support local retail, hospitality and entertainment.
Successfully delivering city centre living needs an attractive and secure environment, with shopping, open space and other amenities for residents. Improving the public realm, food and entertainment offerings and connectivity is as important as securing appropriate development sites to bring forward housing-led regeneration.
Congestion on Howard Street, Belfast in December
(Image: Justin Kernoghan/Belfast Live)
An end to traffic congestion
The final weeks of 2024 were plagued with tailbacks and traffic chaos in the city centre, linked to construction work associated with Translink’s new Grand Central Station and worsened by the busy Christmas period.
Parts of the city centre were left in gridlock at peak rush hour times, placing pressure on the Department for Infrastructure (DfI) to come up with solutions. One measure saw taxis permitted to use some bus lanes as part of a pilot scheme for the Christmas period.
DfI has also compiled a series of potential mitigation measures, as well as suggesting commuters could work from home at least one day a week or use public transport instead of driving. Infrastructure Minister John O’Dowd has said he’s “committed to bringing forward measures which will help alleviate the traffic congestion in the city centre”.
Road expert Wesley Johnston has previously suggested that reduced public transport fares, increased park and ride services and more investment could fix Belfast’s traffic problem.
Night time bus and train services run in Belfast over the festive period
(Image: Translink)
Better and later public transport
Staying on the transport theme, 2024 saw Belfast become home to the largest integrated transport facility on the island of Ireland and one of the biggest in the UK, with the opening of the new bus and rail centre at Grand Central Station.
While the construction of the new £340 million transport hub for Belfast has been billed as transforming Northern Ireland’s public transport network, the city is still lacking key transport links.
This includes all-year round late-night public transport services. While Translink currently only operates this service for a limited time in the run-up to Christmas, there have been growing calls in recent years for this to be extended throughout the year.
Belfast boasts a vibrant nightlife and a growing night time economy but many local politicians and publicans say this is being stunted by a lack of public transport after 11pm. In addition, the city is also lacking adequate links to our local airports at George Best City Airport and Belfast International Airport.
Empty buildings and shopping units on North Street in Belfast.
(Image: Justin Kernoghan)
Transform more unused spaces
A scheme transforming vacant properties in Belfast city centre into new homes for businesses and other organisations is to be extended citywide, it was announced last November.
Belfast City Council’s Vacant to Vibrant funding programme has already transformed 26 properties in the city’s core, with work starting soon on another six premises, along Royal Avenue, Fountain Lane, and Warehouse Lane.
The scheme provides capital grants to incentivise and support property owners and potential occupiers in bringing vacant properties back into use in local neighbourhoods and the city centre.
The previously disused locations are now home to bakeries, gyms, charities, art galleries, hairdressers, tattoo parlours and more, with business start-ups, independent retailers, social enterprises and cultural and voluntary organisations bringing new diversity and vibrancy to the city centre.
2015 Halloween firework at Titanic slipway, Belfast
(Image: Getty)
Halloween and New Year Fireworks
Whether you like the spookiness of celebrations or try to avoid all the ghosts and ghouls, fireworks are the perfect Halloween activity for everyone to appreciate but not in Belfast. Every year Belfast Live compiles a list of Halloween fireworks displays taking place across Northern Ireland but the one glaring omission each time is our capital city.
Staying on the fireworks theme, many cities across the world also herald in the start of the New Year with a spectacular display in the skies, but once again not Belfast. Maybe 2025 could be the year we enjoy a spooktacular display in Belfast and say goodbye to the old year and celebrate the arrival of 2026 with a bang.
Punters visiting The Duke of York, The Dark Horse and The Harp Bar, were treated to a night of free entertainment as the Cathedral Quarter bars hosted an Alternative Culture Night
(Image: Kelvin Boyes/PressEye)
Return of Belfast Culture Night
Last September, punters visiting bars in Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter were treated to a night of free entertainment as part of an Alternative Culture Night.
In lieu of an official Culture Night, which has not taken place in the city since 2019, the owner of the popular bars, Willie Jack, took it upon himself to put together a packed one-night programme for pubgoers on Friday, September 20.
The proprietor of The Duke of York, The Dark Horse, The Harp Bar, The Friend at Hand whiskey shop and the Sea Holly Gallery in the Cathedral Quarter curated a special night of art, comedy and music to give back to culture vultures across the city.
The last full Belfast Culture Night held in 2019 attracted around 100,000 people who packed into the city’s Cathedral Quarter for the free cultural event. It was scaled back in 2021 due to Covid-19 restrictions and then paused in 2022 for a “complete rethink” before the Department for Communities (DfC) withdrew funding in 2023.
Belfast Christmas Market 2024
(Image: Justin Kernoghan/Belfast Live)
New home for Belfast Christmas Market
For the past 20 years, the arrival of Belfast’s Christmas Market has signalled the official start of the festive season in the city, with crowds traditionally flocking to the various stalls at City Hall.
The Christmas Market has been held at the same venue each year since 2004 but as we’ve previously pointed out, it now seems the location may be too small for the size of crowds it draws.
Although it’s a lovely venue, with the Belfast Christmas tree at the centre, and City Hall’s festive lights beaming down, it can make things a bit cramped, even when it isn’t during the peak periods.
A better location may be nearby Custom House Square, which has hosted similar market style events before such as Oktoberfest, not to mention concerts and festivals during the summer months.
But if the market were to remain right in the very heart of the city, market stalls could stay at City Hall but with the added pedestrianisation of Donegall Place with stalls lining the road too.
The road was pedestrianised during the pandemic, with a variety of parklets and gardens in place for people to enjoy. Surely bringing the market to the road could make the city feel even more festive, with temporary pedestrianisation while the market’s in place something that could be workable.
Martin Compston alongside Adrian Dunbar and Vicky McClure in Line of Duty
(Image: BBC)
More Line of Duty filming
Fans of Line of Duty are eagerly awaiting news of the possible return of everyone’s favourite TV coppers amid hints that a brand new series could be on the way after a four-year absence.
Since the last season of the acclaimed police drama, filmed in Belfast, aired back in 2021, fans have been begging for more.
The popular BBC police drama starring Co Fermanagh actor Adrian Dunbar alongside Vicky McClure and Martin Compston came to a dramatic climax in its sixth and final season and rumours continue to swirl about the possibility of series seven being on the cards.
Line of Duty has been filming in Belfast since 2014 and during that time, dozens of locations have been used for both interior and exterior scenes, showcasing the versatility of the city’s landscape.
Maybe 2025 could finally be the year we see AC-12 return to the streets of Belfast.
Tell us know what you think in the comments section below.