This morning I went down to the opening on the new Golden Thread Gallery in Queen Street, just a few steps away from Belfast City Hall.

Anyone who knows me will know that I love a good old rant about the derelict parts of Belfast city centre. And I’ve always been a great fan of the building that the Golden Thread has moved to. It’s the old Corporation Gas Showroom, a fantastic Art Deco building which might have been more familiar to you in your youth as Craftworld.

The building had fallen into terrible disrepair, so I was personally really pleased to see that the Golden Thread Gallery had secured a regeneration grant to bring it back to its former glory. Here’s the original building in its prime, compared to what it looks like today – I think it’s a great job (though I’d love to see the old signage back too)!

The old Gasworks Showroom (photo by A R Hogg 1939)The new Golden Thread Gallery

The History of the Building

The showroom was completed in 1933 by the Belfast Corporation (now Belfast City Council) to show off the latest gas appliances for the modern home. Belfast Corporation produced its own gas – in fact, in the 1920s and 1930s Belfast enjoyed some of the cheapest domestic gas in the UK. Yet it was still profitable enough to subsidise the rates, electricity, libraries, parks and public baths too!

The showroom was built on the site of the old gas offices, and featured a cookery demonstration room on the first floor with seating for 150 people. All the latest models of gas cookers could be seen there. The second floor displayed all kinds of bathroom geysers, water heaters and refrigerators.

The lettering on the outside of the building was floodlit (by gas, of course!) at night, and the whole effect must have been very impressive!

But by the 1960s gas from oil was proving easier and more profitable to produce than gas from coal and Belfast Gas began to decline. The showroom was taken over by Craftworld, a sister shop of Jamesy’s favourite toyshop, Leisureworld, and when that closed in 2020, the building fell into serious disrepair.

A New Beginning for the Golden Thread

Fortunately, the Golden Thread Gallery have been able to restore the building to its former glory, with support from Belfast City Council’s “Vacant to Vibrant” scheme. The oak block flooring from the original showroom is back on show, and lots of other original features have been retained.

Here’s a timelapse of all the hard work they’ve been doing over the last few months:

Downstairs there’s a small gallery, a gift shop, and a workshop space where they’ll be running free art courses for families and older people. There’s also the NI Visual Art Library & Archive, featuring hundreds of rare art books, reference materials, and exhibition catalogues. I can see myself getting lost in there for an afternoon!

The old first floor showroom is now a huge gallery which is currently showing ‘The End of Art is Peace’ by Graham Fagen, a Scottish artist who works with video, performance, sculpture, sound and text. His show is on until the 21st September.

The End of Art is Peace - Graham Fagen

The End of Art is Peace – Graham Fagen

Bonus Feature!

An unexpected bonus for me was that the back stairs of the gallery offer a brilliant view of the rear of the old Queen Street Police Station, another derelict building which needs preserving. Built in 1878 as the Hospital for Sick Children, it has been derelict for over 20 years, but plans are afoot to turn it into a luxury hotel, so this might be your last chance to see the original building, complete with haunted upper floor!

A Great Addition to Belfast City Centre

I was genuinely impressed by everything the team at the Golden Thread Gallery has done with the building – it’s great to see it brought back into use and it looks fantastic! I hope it’s the first of many projects to bring Belfast’s derelict buildings back to life.

Our Best of Belfast tour goes right past the gallery, so you’ll be able to see it in all its glory if you come along on one. You also get a downloadable map which shows all the best arts and crafts venues in the city centre, as well as our picks for the best places to eat and drink. We will definitely be adding the Golden Thread to the list!