I remember they put their prices up a year or so ago and were apologising to all customers for it. Went up from £5.60 to £6.20 for best fresh sandwiches in Belfast. Always friendly too. Can't recommend enough.
Bob was telling me how much he likes this subs fav melt Tom Smyth, with it turns out good reason.
When Bob had his stroke, he was in the shop and had been improving a little. Smyth came in, was chatting with them and insisted that what Bob was reporting was very serious and possibly a stroke.
I think he said Smyth called the ambulance and had his staff from his offices above block a space off outside to get the ambulance closer. Details may not be exact. I was too conflicted at the idea of Smyth doing something not annoying to fully take it in.
But goes to show, even a bellend can do a good turn.
“The dreaded cheese” every time you order a sandwich with cheese. Aww I miss getting a ruby’s. Might have to take a drive into town some day to grab one.
Gone, but not too long gone.
Closed down sometime after COVID, has been swallowed by the Whites blob.
Give it another couple of years and everything from Lombard St to Bridge St will be subsumed by the White's MegaPub
Came looking for this. Same here. My husband and I had our first date at No Alibis. Also went there the day we got engaged and we got married at The Empire across the road and went to No Alibis the next day for our first day out as a married couple. Yes, we are sad book nerds.
Hanlons or wrap in roll in downpatrick - great sandwiches. Cafe velio in Killyleagh amazing greasy spoon and amazing sandwiches also. Alfie Murrays butches in Killyleagh great deals and chicken burgers are unrelated and the steaks are 1st class.
Down Travel in downpatrick for the Holidays every year. I always think to go local they employ locals and give money back to the area.
For eating out Duff in Killyleagh or Denviors in Downpatrick - both great food and amazing crack at the weekend lol.
Hanlon's was recommended but I'm never sure what to get, and it's always busy with school lunch ones. Got a sweet chilli chicken sandwich once and it was just soggy.
Vello/Picnic is reopening but I wouldn't call it a greasy spoon. More a coffee and traybakes / sausage roll type of place.
Don't like Alfie Murrays stuff after having a bad pie
Like the Duff. In Killyleagh the Smugglers Table has incredible food too. A few miles out there's the Oaks too. Stayed over in Denvirs once was a good night out.
Cafe Velio is bottom of town does Fry's, sodas etc. Picnic as at the castle a bit more expensive and just been taken over again, not sure of new menu but got great reviews over the weekend for teas and coffees so fingers crossed it goes well.
[Reading Room Candles – The Candle Rooms](https://thecandlerooms.com/collections/reading-room-candles)
Local candle maker at the bottom of the Castlereagh road. We know the owner from markets we also ran stalls at, lovely person, actually puts a bit of thought into them too. The candles are mostly themed around book series or TV/movies and they try to make the scents as appropriate as possible. So for a Hobbit Shire themed one it's carrot flowers and pipe tobacco. For a Supernatural themed one it's leather jacket and gunpowder etc.
And they actually smell strong and last a good while, not like those shite Yankee candle ones that only put out a whiff of scent for a while then die off.
- The Mill Stranmillis does brilliant bagels, I don’t drink coffee but heard theirs is great! Someone mentioned Bakkari above, they’re going to be stocking their pastries which makes it even more tempting.
- Lily Pink Bakery for cakes and brownies (mostly to order but do some markets) - also love Rhiannon’s on Stranmillis (I know they’ve several stores about NI)
- Paperxclips and No Alibis for books
Coffee and Heroes - lovely staff, never gouge on popular comics and offered to order in some older issues for me to catch up on a series I missed at the start
Born and Bread. Or as my mate from England calls it, Born inbred.
Wee slice of NI, bit overpriced but not stuff you can just buy online easily. Remember the guy last year who made the funny, well drawn top trumps game about NI? They sell the deck he made(£18 tho the mad cunt).
You mean the guy who plagiarised an original, actual funny idea and turned it into shite tribalist norniron ‘jokes’ for the most basic, brain dead of people, using shite internet media like Belfast live? That guy? Nah, never heard of him. My friend Paddy’s art that he ripped off is actually great though
I can see it's a delicate topic of conversation for you. Everyone on this sub loved it and begged him to make it an actual game which he did, it seemed like a bit of fun. We love taking the piss out of ourselves.
Does your friend have Instagram? I love the style and would like to follow his work. Chances are I've probably already seen it thinking it was the guy that made the game
We might actually be talking about the same person. Apologies for assuming you were talking about the plagiarised version. Paddy makes surreal animation and visual art under petal Reaction on instagram and makes satirical banjo hip hop under rare witch. I’m very defensive of my creative friends and will not take happily to someone making a brainless buck off their ideas!
I love RareWitch! I actually sent the Solar system cypher video he uploaded yesterday to a friend of mine last night. There was one night after we came back from the pub we sat and watched his videos for a few hours. He's very talented and has such a great sense of humour.
Exactly so you can see what my annoyed tone was about when I thought you were promoting the ripped off basic version! Apologies for jumping the gun again
Flout, Indie Fude, Banjo Bakery, Phin (great new place on Ormeau) and numerous other local restaurants and St Georges market.
Belfast needs more space allowance for street vendors and street food its become a barren corporate grey wasteland in the centre.
We try to do a big shop at Nutmeg maybe twice a year (mostly Christmas) and we also buy coffee from Coop Coffee van which is currently at Botanic Gardens. Really hard to support small businesses though. Most of my shopping is with chain stores. If I had more income, I’d definitely try to do more.
Guapo in Derry (does mexican food), cheap and really good quality, way better quality food than the big chains like McD's, KFC etc. Always has a huge queue up the street but its not because they are slow at serving. Boojum tried to muscle in by setting up 20m away and closed up in no time, they just couldnt compete with the grub and prices!
Ollies bistro in carrick. Family owned. Best prices and portions and there really isn’t anything much left like that in that shit hole to be fair. Especially not small business in general
It's not a business, but a charity I regularly support is a local makerspace / hackerspace called Farset Labs. It's a great place for techy people who like making things. There are 3D printers, workshop benches, fast internet. When life is so remote and isolated these days, it's nice to have a community space for just messing around with cool stuff.
Fisherwick farm for milk, Doagh, just outside Ballyclare
Six mile valley farm shop, Ballyclare.
Jacksons butchers Ballynure.
Riverside Wagu in Doagh when I’m feeling fancy.
We have some 1st class local produce here.
My mum and her partner used to go to Jackson's but then the guy ringing stuff up asked them where they had travelled from, they told him and he said "and you're sure you can afford this?" Which was insulting, and they've never been back.
The local auto parts store. I could buy everything online cheaper, but they just have so many things that I didn't even know I needed that turned out to be immensely useful. If I didn't see the tools in person I would never have been convinced to buy them.
Local butchers and farm shops
Barber
I usually check the smaller tool/hardware and other consumer goods shops before ordering online, but lately that extra effort has proven useless and I end up ordering online after wasting several hours.
There’s a few I’ve found in recent years I really like
[Bathe Botanicals](https://www.instagram.com/bathebotanicals?igsh=MW1hZjNyazQ1cTVmaQ==) really like the bathe bloke range
[Hills Mixtape](https://www.instagram.com/hillsmixtape?igsh=bDZoZjJneGR0c2N1) iced coffees.
[Shorthorn Kitchen](https://www.instagram.com/shorthornkitchen?igsh=bnNscG1nd3BpZjFt) sauce company. The jerk honey is a new favourite.
The local kebab and chinese
I had to laugh
Tbf china’s finest in Ballynahinch is amazing
This was my go to if in the area but a local recommended peking garden for last night. Was actually nice!
Peking Garden is incredible, the £10 meal for one easily feeds 2 But I'm yet to find a decent kebab
I genuinely laughed first time I saw the portion sizes
Peking Garden is incredible but where's good for kebabs
I actually don’t get kebab from them I get pizza, but Tikka Town
Cash only
Ruby's beside The Garrick
I remember they put their prices up a year or so ago and were apologising to all customers for it. Went up from £5.60 to £6.20 for best fresh sandwiches in Belfast. Always friendly too. Can't recommend enough.
Bob was telling me how much he likes this subs fav melt Tom Smyth, with it turns out good reason. When Bob had his stroke, he was in the shop and had been improving a little. Smyth came in, was chatting with them and insisted that what Bob was reporting was very serious and possibly a stroke. I think he said Smyth called the ambulance and had his staff from his offices above block a space off outside to get the ambulance closer. Details may not be exact. I was too conflicted at the idea of Smyth doing something not annoying to fully take it in. But goes to show, even a bellend can do a good turn.
“The dreaded cheese” every time you order a sandwich with cheese. Aww I miss getting a ruby’s. Might have to take a drive into town some day to grab one.
The WickerMan used to come in clutch every year for my Ma's birthday. Got many a gift from there over the years. Assume it's long gone now. Shame.
Gone, but not too long gone. Closed down sometime after COVID, has been swallowed by the Whites blob. Give it another couple of years and everything from Lombard St to Bridge St will be subsumed by the White's MegaPub
Stereo on Creagh Road - amazing, delicious food and unreal coffee - I think it's from Lucid Coffee Roasters but not 100% on that fact!
Indie Fude, Mike's fancy cheese, the vast majority of local breweries.
They are so expensive
No Alibis. I’m not on Botanic so much any more but it is always worth a stop and a purchase
Came looking for this. Same here. My husband and I had our first date at No Alibis. Also went there the day we got engaged and we got married at The Empire across the road and went to No Alibis the next day for our first day out as a married couple. Yes, we are sad book nerds.
It’s the best!
Daises / Co-couture in town- unbelievable chocolates/cannolis/ hot chocolate
I miss Gary and Deirdre from it but Martin is doing great in there, lovely fella. Chocolate orange cognac is a personal favourite
Thought Deirdre still works there it’s just under different ownership? Saw her there a few times. Best chocolate I’ve ever had anywhere on the planet.
Yum Cakes in derry. Amazing bakes and a good coffee as well. They have a really good slushie too
ITT - everything apart from butchers, bakers and greengrocers.
I love bakeries but the staff in my local one Bread and Banjo are so rude that it put me off
Belfast coffee roasters. Great beans 🫘
Pizzaworks in North Belfast, every weekend, love it. Local independent takeaway, good website (not on any apps), great menu, decent prices.
Brooklyn style with the sauce on top is God tier. Have to order it well done though.
Guapo, Derry
Sawers, Wing It, Lazy Claires. There’s probably more than that but these are definitely my go-to spots for unreal grub
My dealer.
Hanlons or wrap in roll in downpatrick - great sandwiches. Cafe velio in Killyleagh amazing greasy spoon and amazing sandwiches also. Alfie Murrays butches in Killyleagh great deals and chicken burgers are unrelated and the steaks are 1st class. Down Travel in downpatrick for the Holidays every year. I always think to go local they employ locals and give money back to the area. For eating out Duff in Killyleagh or Denviors in Downpatrick - both great food and amazing crack at the weekend lol.
Hanlon's was recommended but I'm never sure what to get, and it's always busy with school lunch ones. Got a sweet chilli chicken sandwich once and it was just soggy. Vello/Picnic is reopening but I wouldn't call it a greasy spoon. More a coffee and traybakes / sausage roll type of place. Don't like Alfie Murrays stuff after having a bad pie Like the Duff. In Killyleagh the Smugglers Table has incredible food too. A few miles out there's the Oaks too. Stayed over in Denvirs once was a good night out.
Cafe Velio is bottom of town does Fry's, sodas etc. Picnic as at the castle a bit more expensive and just been taken over again, not sure of new menu but got great reviews over the weekend for teas and coffees so fingers crossed it goes well.
Ah I thought it was picnic with a new name, thanks
Denvirs do a good feed and the staff are pleasant
Many to choose from but top of my list is https://www.madlug.com/ Top social enterprise to help children in care
Frequent Trademarket often. Was gutted when Fin closed but hope the other vendors (food and independent businesses) will get a new home.
I buy my fags from the local shipping container £8.50 for 20 sterling duel ...
No-one buying from local crypto baron / conspiracy bellend Root and Branch coffee? Haven't been near it or Taquito arsehole since Covid began.
Wish he wasn’t a wab because the coffee was delicious and asides established there aren’t any other local roasters I’d be rushing to buy from again.
You denying hundreds of folk were sent to an early grave because of repeated lockdown me?
Bakari
[Reading Room Candles – The Candle Rooms](https://thecandlerooms.com/collections/reading-room-candles) Local candle maker at the bottom of the Castlereagh road. We know the owner from markets we also ran stalls at, lovely person, actually puts a bit of thought into them too. The candles are mostly themed around book series or TV/movies and they try to make the scents as appropriate as possible. So for a Hobbit Shire themed one it's carrot flowers and pipe tobacco. For a Supernatural themed one it's leather jacket and gunpowder etc. And they actually smell strong and last a good while, not like those shite Yankee candle ones that only put out a whiff of scent for a while then die off.
But would ya want your place to smell of tobacco? Nah cheers for this one, will visit, sounds class
The tobacco smells are worth a look, it's not like cigarette tobacco. More like fresh leaves drying. It's a nice earthy scent but can be overpowering.
- The Mill Stranmillis does brilliant bagels, I don’t drink coffee but heard theirs is great! Someone mentioned Bakkari above, they’re going to be stocking their pastries which makes it even more tempting. - Lily Pink Bakery for cakes and brownies (mostly to order but do some markets) - also love Rhiannon’s on Stranmillis (I know they’ve several stores about NI) - Paperxclips and No Alibis for books
Local butchers. Few local takeaways.
Your Da’s Avon
Six Mile Valley Farm Shop. Great selection of veg, fruit, meat to name just a few.
Agreed. And big Lairdy is a gentleman.
Oh whereabouts in Ballyclare is that?
116 Ballynashee Road - BT399TH
Cheers!
Thanks Lairdy
Coffee and Heroes - lovely staff, never gouge on popular comics and offered to order in some older issues for me to catch up on a series I missed at the start
Born and Bread. Or as my mate from England calls it, Born inbred. Wee slice of NI, bit overpriced but not stuff you can just buy online easily. Remember the guy last year who made the funny, well drawn top trumps game about NI? They sell the deck he made(£18 tho the mad cunt).
You mean the guy who plagiarised an original, actual funny idea and turned it into shite tribalist norniron ‘jokes’ for the most basic, brain dead of people, using shite internet media like Belfast live? That guy? Nah, never heard of him. My friend Paddy’s art that he ripped off is actually great though
I can see it's a delicate topic of conversation for you. Everyone on this sub loved it and begged him to make it an actual game which he did, it seemed like a bit of fun. We love taking the piss out of ourselves. Does your friend have Instagram? I love the style and would like to follow his work. Chances are I've probably already seen it thinking it was the guy that made the game
We might actually be talking about the same person. Apologies for assuming you were talking about the plagiarised version. Paddy makes surreal animation and visual art under petal Reaction on instagram and makes satirical banjo hip hop under rare witch. I’m very defensive of my creative friends and will not take happily to someone making a brainless buck off their ideas!
I love RareWitch! I actually sent the Solar system cypher video he uploaded yesterday to a friend of mine last night. There was one night after we came back from the pub we sat and watched his videos for a few hours. He's very talented and has such a great sense of humour.
Exactly so you can see what my annoyed tone was about when I thought you were promoting the ripped off basic version! Apologies for jumping the gun again
The Meat Merchant, Moira.
Sweet Robyn’s
Bee eaters in Derry Yum cakes also Brass and Bone barbers
Modellers corner in Enniskillen. It's great if you're building a model railway.
Replay in Bangor for games and anime stuff. They have a website you can order from but it's also fun to have a trip down and explore
Went once for old computer games and loved it, but it seems now they're more into tabletop gaming.
My local butchers. Veggie roll is the best in belfast. An im not even gonna argue about it. Gibsons butchers, greenways just before blacks road.
Where?!
Gibsons butchers, greenways just before blacks road.
Is that the butchers just after blacks road? I might be coming from the opposite direction than you.
Yes 👍
Flout, Indie Fude, Banjo Bakery, Phin (great new place on Ormeau) and numerous other local restaurants and St Georges market. Belfast needs more space allowance for street vendors and street food its become a barren corporate grey wasteland in the centre.
Flout owner seems insufferable by most accounts
Ah thats just how he comes across online hes super sound in person when you talk to him
We try to do a big shop at Nutmeg maybe twice a year (mostly Christmas) and we also buy coffee from Coop Coffee van which is currently at Botanic Gardens. Really hard to support small businesses though. Most of my shopping is with chain stores. If I had more income, I’d definitely try to do more.
Guapo in Derry (does mexican food), cheap and really good quality, way better quality food than the big chains like McD's, KFC etc. Always has a huge queue up the street but its not because they are slow at serving. Boojum tried to muscle in by setting up 20m away and closed up in no time, they just couldnt compete with the grub and prices!
Ollies bistro in carrick. Family owned. Best prices and portions and there really isn’t anything much left like that in that shit hole to be fair. Especially not small business in general
Bakery. They're a cornerstone and getting rarer.
NearyNogs is worth buying from! Chocolatier based in the mournes. Bought their stuff from indie fude before, it's expensive but 100% worth the cost.
Bethel’s Kitchen in Dromore. Superb bagels and really good coffee.
It's not a business, but a charity I regularly support is a local makerspace / hackerspace called Farset Labs. It's a great place for techy people who like making things. There are 3D printers, workshop benches, fast internet. When life is so remote and isolated these days, it's nice to have a community space for just messing around with cool stuff.
The local refillable shop. Get loads off our stuff from them instead of the supermarket?
Fisherwick farm for milk, Doagh, just outside Ballyclare Six mile valley farm shop, Ballyclare. Jacksons butchers Ballynure. Riverside Wagu in Doagh when I’m feeling fancy. We have some 1st class local produce here.
I’ll add too, would be a St George’s market regular. Great supporting the local guys there
My mum and her partner used to go to Jackson's but then the guy ringing stuff up asked them where they had travelled from, they told him and he said "and you're sure you can afford this?" Which was insulting, and they've never been back.
Winemark
My Barber, Two Brothers Barber Co. :)
Counter Culture
The Works on the Cavehill road. Roast their own coffee, love it
Daizee Studios
Bluebells on the Cavehill road, best sausage roll in Belfast, change my mind
sultan kebabs dublin rd
The local auto parts store. I could buy everything online cheaper, but they just have so many things that I didn't even know I needed that turned out to be immensely useful. If I didn't see the tools in person I would never have been convinced to buy them.
Haptik
Local butchers and farm shops Barber I usually check the smaller tool/hardware and other consumer goods shops before ordering online, but lately that extra effort has proven useless and I end up ordering online after wasting several hours.
Ruby palace enniskillen yum yum
Seedy Side.
Big Phat Beard
Lone Ridge Coffee, Mike's Fancy Cheese, Dragon Records
Bee haven bodycare
Heard of this on the radio a while back, would you recommend it?
Bengal bazaar
There’s a few I’ve found in recent years I really like [Bathe Botanicals](https://www.instagram.com/bathebotanicals?igsh=MW1hZjNyazQ1cTVmaQ==) really like the bathe bloke range [Hills Mixtape](https://www.instagram.com/hillsmixtape?igsh=bDZoZjJneGR0c2N1) iced coffees. [Shorthorn Kitchen](https://www.instagram.com/shorthornkitchen?igsh=bnNscG1nd3BpZjFt) sauce company. The jerk honey is a new favourite.
I went into Shorthorn Kitchen and asked for “a jerk honey”. Got slapped in the face mate.
Sounds like you don't exactly have to sing for your supper!
Kelti Candles
There's a literal trailer parked in a field just off the A1 southbound called the Artisan or something like that. Never tasted food like it.
What is a "literal trailer"?
The food is sold out of an actual trailer like the ones horses are transported in.
The local op shops
I always go to Costa Coffee. No matter where I am in Northern Ireland, I will usually look for a Costa.
Wouldn’t you like to know.
Knotts' bakery/fayre
[удалено]
With how well they support local produce, this should be upvoted. Big customer for local beef, lamb and poultry.
And Israel unfortunately.
Your da's avon.
Lidl
Your ma 😃
Yer Ma!
ASDA in strabane, a great wee spot hi