ONE of Belfast’s best-known LGBT venues has secured planning permission to develop a new rooftop bar.
The plans for The Maverick and Boombox nightclub include a first and second storey extension to the premises on the corner of Union Street and Donegall Street.
The new rooftop bar is proposed for the Donegall Street side of the hospitality complex, above the nightclub entrance.
A new commercial kitchen also features as part of the venue’s expansion plans.
Industry monitor Construction Information Services Ireland estimate the value of the project at around £500,000.
Planning approval for the proposal was officially issued by Belfast City Council on July 5, some 15 months after John McElhatton submitted the application.
Formerly known as McElhatton’s pub, the building has been in the family since it was acquired by Co Tyrone native John McElhatton senior in the early 1970s.
It’s understood a pub has existed on the site since 1872.
Later known as The Front Page, the venue was relaunched as The Maverick in November 2013.
John McElhatton has continued to expand and reinvent the premises in recent years, launching The Reporter bar in 2021.
The small Union Street pub, which was previously used as a keg storage area for Maverick, was opened as an homage to Donegall Street’s newspaper heritage, filled with the publican’s collection of photographs, collectables and artefacts.
