In Coleraine, the town square has recently hosted both the triumphant homecoming of Olympic rowing champion Hannah Scott and an anti-racism rally.
The coastal lifestyle for students at the Ulster University campus also adds to the many assets the town enjoys, but Coleraine is not immune from the challenges of poverty or prejudice.
While resentment over housing issues boiled over into anti-immigration protests and racist attacks in Belfast, PUP councillor and party leader Russell Watton issued a statement earlier this month urging young men in Coleraine not to join a rally he believes was organised by local members of the National Front.
The far-right group had also staged an anti-immigration protest in Portrush last June, but had been outnumbered by counter-protestors.
“Scumbags who want to start a bit of trouble and walk away,” Cllr Watton told the Irish News.
“To be quite honest, you can’t be a loyalist and run with these neo-Nazis. You’re betraying everything you hold dear.”
Despite this opposition, Cllr Watton and community worker Billy Ellis told the Irish News that immigration is viewed as a major problem by the loyalist community in Coleraine.
They both support perceptions that hotel rooms are over-booked by asylum seekers, and that those granted leave to stay in the UK leap to the top of social housing waiting lists.
Official figures debunk these claims and show that Northern Ireland actually has low immigration levels.
“There’s no doubt about it. Up here, the social housing situation is absolutely dire,” Cllr Watton said.
“The thing is that once people get asylum, they’re on the waiting list and they’ll probably end up near the top of the waiting list. That’s the problem.”
Asked if this perception risked encouraging people to lash out at minorities, he said: “No, but they’re very fearful of their future. I think there’s about 200 (asylum seekers) down in hotels in Portrush and Portstewart.
“There’s definitely tension, no doubt about it, but it’s not translated into violence here and there is an anti-racism protest at the Diamond in Coleraine (which took place on Saturday, August 17).”
For the last decade, Mr Ellis has been based in the Millburn area - Coleraine’s largest area of social housing along with the Ballysally estate.
Funded by the Department for Communities, the Millburn Community Development Ltd offers services like training and education programmes, summer camps and men’s sheds.
Mr Ellis was also a project manager for the Cornfield Project, which revitalised a neglected site between Millburn and Ballysally into a thriving community greenspace.
While proud of the services his organisation offers in an area of deprivation, when the subject of the Belfast riots is raised he makes it clear that he views immigration as a problem.
“I can understand why people are rioting, because we’re experiencing a cost-of-living crisis and people with a lack of money and housing,” he said.
“When anybody else comes from another country they seem to be getting everything they need, they’re coming in and getting housing no problem at all and the benefits they need.
“So you can see the point of view. You have ex-military personnel on the streets having served their county and they can’t get a house, so I can see that point of view personally.”
On the many examples of intimidation against minorities in Belfast, he said: “I understand that. All I can say is that I understand people’s concerns. It’s crazy, the government needs to do a lot more for their own people.”
On a suggestion that many in loyalist communities were being characterised as “right-wing thugs,” he said: “Since the Good Friday Agreement was signed it’s been that way. You’ve got PUL communities, Protestant, Unionist and Loyalist, so there’s three different aspects.
“Loyalists, who I represent in my area, are classed as the lowest of the low. That perception has always been there since the peace process, not just now.”
Asked if his anger would be better be directed at a failure of successive governments to build enough social housing or stabilise the economy, he said: “I can see the anger. If you have people who left our country and went to somewhere like Pakistan or, would they get the same benefits as they get in our country? I don’t think so.”
“If (immigrants) are working and contributing to the community, fantastic. I understand why you need doctors and nurses coming in as well as people doing the mundane jobs our own people don’t want to do.
“It’s the ones that are coming over here, begging on our streets ... (and) going against what our culture is.
“Some of these people are coming to challenge our culture, not to embrace it. That’s a big difference.”
Census data shows that in 2022, Northern Ireland’s net migration total (the balance of people arriving and moving away) was actually around 2,300.
Home Office data also shows there were a total of 2,248 asylum seekers in Northern Ireland as of March 31, 2024.
They are financially supported by the Home Office while their asylum claim is processed, including their accommodation which could be a hotel.
According to the Mears Group, contracted by the government to provide accommodation, around 300 asylum seekers are currently being housed in Northern Ireland hotels.
If asylum is granted, the individual loses their right to Home Office accommodation but have the option of requesting help from the Housing Executive.
This could include temporary accommodation if qualifying as homeless or social housing, with the waiting list organised on a points-based system.
The Housing Executive has said that if someone is given leave to stay in the UK, it is not necessary to check if they are refugees or their ethnic background, and that housing is awarded solely on an individual’s housing need and eligibility for assistance.