HISTORICALLY, Sailortown was a thriving working-class docklands district with a mixed community - but in the 1960s urban redevelopment and the arrival of the M2 motorway meant around 5,000 residents were rehomed in different housing estates across Belfast.
As a result, most areas became dilapidated and many houses were eventually demolished.
But in recent years the remaining community has been given a boost by the opening of Seaton’s of Sailortown, the reopening of The American Bar and a planned project to refurbish St Joseph’s Church and Parochial House as a centre of culture and heritage.
Belfast City Council has also approved planning permission for 69 new residential units across the area.
“Our aim has always been to reinvigorate the area and bring it back to what it always was, which is a maritime village with independent businesses, shops, and everything else that makes up a thriving neighbourhood,” chair of the Sailortown Regeneration Group, Terry McKeown, tells The Irish News.
“We took over St Joseph’s in 2017 and have been operating it under ‘meanwhile use’ ever since and it is very popular, particularly amongst musicians and arts and culture groups as well as those within the community.
“It just feels like we’ve been able to put a heart back into Sailortown and that’s what we want to continue to build and expand on.
“Sailortown has been completely marooned from the city centre, which would’ve been its natural hinterland,” she continues.
“It was the link between the city centre and north Belfast and the motorway destroyed that so hopefully with the addition of new homes and parks we will be able to reconnect us.”
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This decision has already started to have a positive impact; the promise of new apartments, parks and offices is what encouraged Belfast publican Kelvin Collins to invest in the area.
The Ben Madigan’s Bar and Kitchen owner took over McKenna’s Bar at the beginning of 2024 before “breathing new life” into the pub and reopening it as Seaton’s of Sailortown in November.
“What I’ve done with Ben Madigan’s is taken a bar that’s fell out of love and become disused and reinvent it – that’s what I like to do,” he says.
“I didn’t necessarily want a second bar but I’ve always been open to it if the right opportunity came up and initially when McKenna’s came up in 2023 I didn’t think it was the right time.
“But then in January I woke up one morning and saw that Belfast City Council had granted planning permission for all the apartments next door and the City Quays developments as well and there’s also talk of a footbridge going from Sailortown across to Titanic Quarter.
“So that’s when I started to think it maybe was the right time and it would be worth getting ahead of the curve and establishing ourselves.”
Kelvin says he always wanted the bar to have a connection with the Sailortown area and to feel “like it’s always been there,” which is why he named it after Molly Seaton, a local footballer who captained the Irish women’s team.
“Molly was born up in Dandy Street on the Shore Road, she worked in the local linen mill and played football for the Irish team,” he explains.
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“She played in the 1920s and 1930s and whenever she retired, she would have drunk in the bars around Sailortown. She was well known for drinking pints of Guinness and smoking cigarettes.
“And when I was researching her I actually ended up speaking to people whose grandparents would’ve known her when they were kids, so she’s still in some people’s living memory.
“Which is why, when we were looking for a bit of hook to connect the pub to Sailortown and came across Molly, we thought she was the perfect fit because she deserved to be recognised.”
He adds that Seaton’s of Sailortown needed to be a bar that celebrated the history and heritage of the area.
“The beams in the bar have photographs on them featuring people from Sailortown, our house whiskey is McConnell’s, which is made in Crumlin Road Gaol. Our house gin is Jawbox and our food is from Pickle and Smoke, who are local and have had a food truck at Banana Block for years.
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“It was crucial for us that community remained at the heart of Seaton’s.”
This is a sentiment shared by Tomas Gorman who took over The American Bar in Sailortown in 2023.
“The Sailortown community at the minute is quite small and compact,” he explains.
“Whereas in the past it was this big, diverse area that was rich in music and culture and The American Bar, which is over 160 years old, is almost like a temple to the history of Sailortown between the things we have on the wall and the events we offer.
“We always want to have rich tapestry of events going on during the week because bars aren’t just places of celebration, they can be a community centre as well and I think the The American Bar is a good example of that.”
Looking towards the future, The American Bar, Seaton’s of Sailortown and the Sailortown Regeneration Group are working together alongside the Department for Infrastructure to explore the possibility of pavement cafe licenses to allow the bars to operate outdoors and give the area an additional lift.
“We really want to help the community here thrive and grow,” Kelvin adds.
“The city centre is creeping more and more towards us and with the new apartments and developments, I believe that eventually we will become part of the city centre, so we want to do what we can to make it a great place to both live and visit.
“It’s all about lifting Sailortown up as a destination.”
However, Terry is keen to point out that meaningful regeneration of the area needs to be community-led and focused.
“There’s a difference between people-led regeneration and gentrification.”
“There’s nothing wrong with building apartments but you need to have the services as well; you need shops, doctors, nurseries, outdoor spaces and independent businesses so it doesn’t become generic and keeps the heart of old Belfast alive, which is what we’re all about.”
