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I’d never had a particularly great time in Belfast. My visits have involved a “Black Taxi Troubles” tour that left me traumatised and a fashion awards ceremony in the 1990s that chewed me up and spat me out with a terrible hangover nursed over one of the worst lunches ever – a triple-decker fried-chicken burger at a branch of the now defunct Fatty Arbuckle’s chain. Nothing suggests quality cuisine quite like naming your brand after an actor from the 1920s who was once charged with murder.
My latest trip to Belfast, however, was superb. The sun was shining, and pints of Beamish were downed in the beer garden of the Sunflower pub while a folk band played. Joy was unconfined.
The Bedford Hotel had just opened. Belfast hasn’t had a glam new hotel opening in quite a while, and it’s the talk of the town. It’s opposite City Hall, a short walk from the main station and 10 minutes from the airport formerly known as George Best Airport, which is small, immaculate and how all airports should be.
The Bedford was originally going to be a Best-themed hotel, which is difficult to imagine beyond a lot of red and extraordinarily generous pours at a bottomless brunch. Instead, here’s a quite serious place that does everything really well, albeit without a consistent or discernible personality.
First impressions are good: The lobby is pale grey with patterned marble flooring and ornate bronze accents. The reception desk has a shelf full of fake room keys, and there are handsome framed portraits of local notable historical figures on the stairway. None of this has been designed to compete with the £1,000-a-night hotels of London, New York and Paris, but you can’t open a hotel in Belfast for a market that doesn’t exist. The staff and service at the hotel, however, are on par with anything those aforementioned cities can muster.
Upstairs there are some gorgeous architectural treasures in the hallways of the Grade B1-listed turn-of-the-century building, originally inhabited by Scottish Provident. The art nouveau tiles are ravishing, as are the bannisters and staircases. The bedrooms are quite vanilla, and the white-tiled bathrooms border on institutional, but the spaces are large and comfy, and I’d much rather have these rooms than ones with inspirational slogans all over the mirrors. They feel fresh and luxurious.
I’m assuming the hotel’s business plan ruled out a day spa, but even a small gym would have been a good idea. Instead, a lot of space has been given over to rooms that can be booked for business gatherings and wedding banquets. And there really is a lot of space in this place.
The focal point of F&B is the Nineteen Hundred dining room, with white pillars and booths surrounded by fluted glass panels. There’s recessed ceiling lighting and a central giant modern glass chandelier, and a row of giant classic period portraits that have had patterns superimposed over them to give a sense of irreverence and modernity.
The room looks generated by AI, and you could roller-skate around its void-like perimeter. The adjoining café and bar space is more casual, intimate and warmer, with leather upholstered bar chairs and bar stools. It was busy when I was there – clearly there are a lot of locals who want somewhere chic rather than a pint and a packet of Taytos at the Sunflower.
While I wasn’t wowed by the interior, chef Noel McMeel is doing ambitious things in the kitchen, focusing on locally sourced ingredients. Things kick off with a list of themed signature cocktails (“Edwardian Era” is a mix of Ketel One vodka, peach liqueur, Lillet Blanc, ginger ale and Jasmine tea syrup). Along with places that can’t serve a burger medium rare, having butter that’s fridge cold and impossible to spread is one of the things that drive me nuts. It was a real shame at Nineteen Hundred because the bread baked here – made with rich dark stout – is great and deserves to be slathered with soft salted dairy product.
I had a starter of what was described on the menu as “Northern Ireland’s Best Seafood Chowder”, with a lot of potato and carrots in the mix with cod, haddock and prawns. Northern Ireland’s best? I’ve not had another north of the border, so I can’t say, but it was rich and lovely, like a warm hug.
I also had confit pork belly with green beans, almonds and pickled apricots. The pork was perfect, with the right balance of succulent fat and crispiness, and the apricot brought an interesting tartness to it. There’s a whole grilled meat selection, which includes Noel McMeel’s Signature Mixed Grill (a bit of everything for £44), but I went for the weirdest-sounding dish on the menu: a lobster, chicken and prawn boudin with red pepper pasta ragù. Boudin blanc is a rarity, and this was a delicious version, but it needed something saucier – perhaps a broth.
The Bedford is a brilliant hotel for Belfast. And I was thrilled to experience the city afresh in the sunshine. It’s got some gorgeous period architecture and a lot of spirit. I’d stay at the Bedford again for sure, but I’ll never not feel cheated out of seeing what a George Best-themed hotel would look like.
Doubles from £200, including breakfast. There are five fully accessible bedrooms.
The Bedford Hotel, 15-16 Donegall Square S, Belfast BT1 6JH (0343 660 1900).
