Jamesy and I enjoyed our recent tour of McConnell’s Distillery so much we decided to make a regular thing of it and try a few more Belfast tours! I’ve always wanted to try Alternative Ulstours, so we booked on to their Spirits of Belfast tour.
I met Jamesy for a quick one in The Garrick first, where we bumped into old friend and infamous Belfast DJ Iain McCready, co-founder of the legendary Sugar Sweet clubnights in the Art College back in the nineties. Iain now runs the very excellent Alchemy Vintage & Arts (above Blue Hairdressing on Hamilton Street) as well as DJing (and barbering too!). You can follow him on Instagram too.
After that, we headed off to take our tour. Alternative Ulstours is run by Andrew Johnston, and it specialises in off beat local history and dark tourism, taking in folklore, true crime, punk rock and the paranormal.
These tours are not just for Hallowe’en – Andrew is a qualified and seasoned dark tour guide, and clearly spends huge amounts of time researching his tours and indulging in his own passion for other such tours, seeking out haunted hotels and sites everywhere he goes. We feel sorry for his poor partner!
The tour really delivered – there were no gimmicks, no ghost detectors, no stupid top hats on guides dressed as if they’re going for a weekend in Whitby, or extras wearing sheets jumping out at us.
Just a well researched, interesting, and amusing tour recounting a wide range of Belfast ghost stories, which finished very close to one of our favourite bars (the Duke of course).
Andrew runs a huge range of tours focused on topics like Jack the Ripper, Belfast bodysnatchers, and old Belfast cinemas, as well as his Black Belfast tours which explore Belfast’s Linen, Cathedral, Titanic and Queen’s Quarters, so there’s plenty to choose from! If you’re looking for something a little out of the ordinary, check out his available tours and his Facebook page.
We had a great time learning about historic and modern ghosts spanning the centuries of Belfast’s history. We won’t spoil it by telling you any more!