City Hall To Be Transformed Into Putting Green

The grounds of Belfast City Hall will soon be transformed into a crazy golf course in celebration of The Open Championship as it gets underway in Portrush.

People of all ages can navigate the lawns of one of Northern Ireland's most iconic buildings as the city puts itself on a par with the North Coast. The nine-hole course includes other famous landmarks, including the Albert Clock, the famous Harland & Wolf cranes and Titanic Belfast.

Belfast City Council teamed up with Belfast One and Tourism NI on the project , which will tee off on Sunday 14 July and run from 11am to 6pm daily, until the closing day of the major championship on Sunday 21 July.

Lord Mayor of Belfast Councillor John Finucane said: "Belfast is the gateway for the hundreds of tourists and visitors who will be flocking to the north coast for the golf, so it's great for the city to get behind this important sporting occasion which will give the entire region a fantastic opportunity to enjoy a global spotlight.

"We've teamed up with Belfast One and Tourism Northern Ireland to offer a range of golf-related activities for families and people of all ages to come along and enjoy at City Hall. It's shaping up to be a really fun week and best of all – it's all free."

And thanks to the wonders of technology, golf fanatics will also be able to 'virtually' play the world-renowned Royal Portrush in the golf simulator.

Over the course of the week, there will be live music and street performers at City Hall, and a new performance space in Bank Square will also be hosting live music.

Lesley Ann O'Donnell, Tourism NI Project Manager for The Open said: "Tourism NI is delighted at the support received from Belfast City Council for The Open. Back in April we launched our Epic Journey to The Open at Belfast City Hall, before touring every county across Northern Ireland as well as Dublin.

"It has been really positive to work with the Council to ensure that the influx of visitors for the 148th Open experience a breadth of activities across the country, and that our industry are geared up to make them feel welcome."

Belfast One and Destination CQ are also in on the game, with a golf-related treasure hunt in the city centre and Cathedral Quarter.

Liz Kerr, Belfast One Chair, said: "At Belfast One we are excited to bring a novel celebration of The Open into the heart of the city centre, attracting visitors to putt their way around some of our globally renowned landmarks at City Hall, enjoy live music in our new performance space at Bank Square and explore the city and Cathedral Quarter on the specially designed Belfast Golf Trail. Explorers of the trail have the chance to win a £200 family prize package by submitting their final answer at the end of the trail from solving clues to guess the names of all 18 holes across the city."

During the week-long celebration, City Hall will be dressed to impress with golf banners and the building will be lit in blue and yellow on Sunday 21 July to mark the final day of the 148th Open.



(JG/CM)