https://www.reddit.com/r/Belfast/comments/1ifhsl4/why_is_city_centre_such_a_dump/
created by Belfastian_1985 on 01/02/2025 at 22:09 UTC
72 upvotes, 35 top-level comments (showing 25)
Since moving im very rarely in the city centre nowadays but I remember it being cleaner, fuller and a much better atmosphere. Was in it tonight and it feels dodgy, empty and kinda dangerous. I’m sure it’s been discussed before here but what do we think has happened? Lack of funding? Recession? Brexit?
Comment by yeeeeoooooo at 01/02/2025 at 22:14 UTC
69 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Pretty much every single major city in the UK and Ireland has the same problem.
Comment by Remarkable-Fly4639 at 01/02/2025 at 22:51 UTC
37 upvotes, 2 direct replies
It’s mentioned above but unfortunately it is the case everywhere. I think there are some exceptions but if you think of dublin, cork, limerick, Birmingham, glasgow, liverpool, Manchester etc. COVID got a lot of funding, COVID recovery didn’t. It’s probably the biggest oversight of the whole thing.
Comment by Klutzy-Seesaw-1054 at 02/02/2025 at 12:45 UTC
9 upvotes, 1 direct replies
I work in the city centre so I’m in it almost every day there’s a huge homeless problem and a massive drug problem plaguing it. Belfast has definitely gone downhill over the last few years
Comment by volsung37 at 02/02/2025 at 08:07 UTC
15 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Huge shopping centres out of town..online shopping..expensive parking..the list goes on. Its not just Belfast. Its every major town in the UK and Ireland
Comment by The8thDoctor at 02/02/2025 at 01:11 UTC
21 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Because the town center is patrolled by druggies at night
PSNI Musgrave are tucked up in bed after 6pm
Comment by sunshine_dragon193 at 01/02/2025 at 22:37 UTC
35 upvotes, 1 direct replies
10 years of austerity and under investment will do that to any place. A lot of social care programs have shut down due to no funding and there's barely any free beds for mental health / respite care. Then add in covid - we're fucked for now but it could always be worse
Comment by DR1PP6RR at 01/02/2025 at 22:15 UTC
12 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Since COVID. Everything has went to shit.
Comment by gymgirl1999- at 02/02/2025 at 08:03 UTC
3 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Covid ruined the city centre, nights out just aren’t the same.
Comment by tobiasfunkgay at 01/02/2025 at 22:50 UTC
16 upvotes, 4 direct replies
Honestly don’t think it is. I’ve been in plenty of cities I’d say feel dodgy and Belfast is way down that list. Never really see any trouble, can’t say there’s really any litter and very few homeless people around.
Is it actually dodgy by any normal city standards or have you just moved to the countryside and now get overwhelmed when you come back to the big smoke?
Comment by mupoetoas at 01/02/2025 at 23:19 UTC
5 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Austerity and underfunding has a small part to play I think. The internet and the rise of Amazon and online shopping makes it so much more convenient and cheaper to get goods/items delivered straight to you door rather than going into town and shopping around. Less overheads lower rent and no astronomical rates allows them to give you the cheapest price under cutting the high Street every time. Sad for small businesses, but what can you do? Other than to make the choice of paying more to help them survive but few people can afford to do that tbh.
Comment by Inner-Penalty9689 at 02/02/2025 at 10:25 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
To be fair changes are happening. Planning is slow and construction takes time.
I really thought the university campus would accelerate the development of that area, but the campus was delayed many years and opened on the back end of COVID.
However, Frames has just reopened as the Watson. The haymarket has been redeveloped. The bank of Ireland building is going to become an attraction something to do with Stories. Castle Street is going to get a student block.
I’d love to see something happen with the top end of bridge street, lower Garfield street, royal avenue and that street the John Hewitt is on, but I believe they are part of the stalled (?) tribeca development.
Better public transport especially at night time would greatly improve the centre too.
Comment by Timterland1888 at 02/02/2025 at 11:28 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Normalisation of drug culture = dumps
Comment by Fast-Possession7884 at 02/02/2025 at 16:55 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
City centers all over have faced degeneration and decay. I was in Bangor recently on a rainy day and it was like a documentary on UKs poorest town. Couldn't even get a coffee along the front as places were closing early due to lack of customers. The marina area is full of tall grass growing between paving stones. I felt a bit sad at the sight. In terms of city center dumps Belfast isn't doing too bad.
Comment by MadeInBelfast at 01/02/2025 at 23:34 UTC
3 upvotes, 2 direct replies
I was in the town few weeks ago round beside the Harp Bar for a birthday night out and it was absolutely buzzing with tourists and locals.. can't comment on what you're talking about because it doesn't sound familiar.
Comment by Silver_Procedure_490 at 02/02/2025 at 15:11 UTC
2 upvotes, 1 direct replies
I’m waiting for WFH to get blamed. Seems to get blamed for everything else.
Personally, I don’t think it ever recovered from the flag protests. Then you’ve expensive parking, bus lanes, poor public transport, Sunday trading hours, rundown areas that feel unsafe, little to offer for those who don’t base their socialising around alcohol, difficulties in getting home later at night…
Comment by slimshady1225 at 02/02/2025 at 06:33 UTC
0 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Ok this post really annoys me, you lot live in a bubble over here and you’re not properly benchmarking Belfast against other major cities in the UK. I grew up in London and moved here recently and Jesus Christ you’re complaining about trivial things it could be so much worse. You’re not taking into account that cities like London, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Glasgow have all got violent gang crime. People getting stabbed, bike gangs stealing phones in the street, hard drugs like heroin, crack and spice causing homeless folk to lose their minds in the streets and go around breaking in and stealing to feed their addiction. When was the last time Belfast was on the news because some kids stabbed some other kids? Never, but it’s almost every other week in those other cities. You don’t know how good you have it over here. Every city centre/town centre in the UK is a dump we’ve not recovered since 2008, Brexit and Covid all in the space of about a decade.
Comment by travelgirlie9955 at 02/02/2025 at 09:49 UTC*
1 upvotes, 1 direct replies
I actually agree but think it’s very dependent on where you are/what you consider ‘city centre’. I was brought up between East Belfast and Bangor and moved to east Belfast properly 5 years ago (just moved out again) and in that time there’s been so many transitions for different areas of the centre of Belfast. Covid had just happened when I moved so things were fairly sterile for a while, but I found when people started going out again, city centre was always the go to, but specifically pubs that were slightly out of the way like Sunflower or Maddens. Even when I was 19/20 we would never have gone somewhere central like The National cause those bars have always been considered rough or too busy. Areas like botanic or Shaftesbury have always been more appealing and I don’t think that’s changed much.
But city centre was also the only place to go for a night out - now I never go drinking in city centre, because there’s so many good places to drink in East Belfast.
My concern is that even though areas like East are improving from the sterile dormancy of the troubles, it’s discouraged a lot of people from going into city centre. Combined with a decade of austerity and a government who refused to work for nearly half a decade, it’s just escalated a nosedive in city centre prosperity and vibrancy. People don’t want to come in > the government and businesses disinvest > smaller areas thrive instead until they become completely gentrified and impossible to afford to live in. This is what’s happening to East atm.
Comment by MarinaGranovskaia at 02/02/2025 at 10:10 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Same in every city, doughnut cities, no need to visit the centre due to online shopping, coffee culture is the only thing creating pleasant areas and they are usually on the outer parts of the city.
Comment by Party-Maintenance-83 at 02/02/2025 at 10:15 UTC
1 upvotes, 1 direct replies
If it wasn't for that McDonalds on Castle Place then l don't think even the druggies or teenagers would go near town at night.
Comment by Wise_Wolverine2652 at 02/02/2025 at 12:18 UTC
1 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Cheer up, there's another coffee shop opening on Tuesday.
Comment by vexdup_norwych at 02/02/2025 at 12:59 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Doesn't it depend on the time of the week? Saturdays tend to be a bit scary, with the city not only being busier - but also prone to attract all sorts of bodies, a bit like anywhere in the rest of the UK.
Comment by cluck2 at 02/02/2025 at 13:52 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
It went downhill fast after COVID. I was delighted when I got a fully remote job instead of having to go into the office in the city centre twice a week. It was such a hole.
Comment by BfastOrBslow at 02/02/2025 at 15:09 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Cuz SF don't spend enough money on the council to clean it up
Comment by Reasonable_Edge2411 at 02/02/2025 at 16:36 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Thing to is the rotten smell of weed in every car park it’s revolting
Comment by motogte at 02/02/2025 at 16:37 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Maybe city centres are a thing of the past, where is the joy in them? I'd much prefer to go to the seaside, forrest or park, or just escape city.
Unless they reduce the rates bricks and mortar store are done, we are staring right at it. How can any city centres really recover. Would take some serious thinking outside of the box.