The Belfast entries date back to the early history of the city. An “entry” in Belfast is an alley with (typically) buildings over the entrances and exits. Here, for example, is a picture from Pottinger’s Entry, approaching the Ann Street end (Street View 2017).
As can be seen in this image, the overarching buildings at each end make the entrances and exits quite dark places, even on a sunny day. (But also an unobtrusive place for buskers.) Once entered, the alley itself continues to be narrow and high-sided, and so not fully lit and isolated from the activity of the city centre. The entries are thus somewhat foreboding. Given, further, that not many businesses had fronts along the entries, they were perceived as cut-throughs to be used by those with a good knowledge of the city rather than as destinations.
The existing entries are six in number. The six are Winecellar Entry, Sugarhouse Entry, Crown Entry, Wilson’s Court (formerly Wilson’s Entry), Joy’s Entry, and Pottinger’s Entry (short profiles at Frances Kane). As can be seen in the map below, all six of the entries are connected to High Street. (This Belfast Media article includes the names of some older entries that no longer exist.)
There are various other lanes and alleyways connecting the main streets. The map below shows the more inclusive reach of what the City Council called the “Entries And Lanes” project, including various streets outside the main area of the entries. An “arcade” (as in “Castle Arcade”) is an entry for the explicit purpose of shopping, often protected from the elements along its entire length to allow for strolling and window-shopping. Unfortunately for Castle Arcade, BHS closed down in 2016 and the shop windows along it are all empty. Renovation of the BHS building was planned for 2022-2023.)
There have been previous efforts over time to improve the entries. One campaign took place in 2003 in response to shopkeeper concerns with “cleanliness … refuse collection and fly poster[s]” (Belfast Telegraph).
At the top of the 2017 Street View image above, banners from another campaign to make the entries more enticing can be seen.
Four paintings by Michael O’Neill were added in 2008 to Warehouse Lane with the redevelopment of the Four Corners buildings (BBC) (at the junction of Waring Street and Donegall Street) depicting scenes from the history of the United Irishmen: Henry Joy McCracken goes to the gallows; Russell, Bunting, and Mary Ann McCracken; Russell with the first edition of the Northern Star (see Light And Heat, below); Wolfe Tone and the Muddlers.
The (modern-day) Muddlers’ Club has sponsored several pieces of street art in the entry by Visual Waste, in 2015 and 2017. Here are the early pieces:
The text (in the image below) reads “Members of the Muddlers’ Club included leading United Irishmen such as Thomas Russell, Samuel Nelson & Henry Joy McCracken. Secret meetings held at Peggy Barclay’s inn would allow the Belfast Irishmen to welcome messengers & visitors to coordinate the wider conspiracy.”
You can watch a 2017 piece being painted on youtube.
The rear of Belfast Exposed is also in Warehouse Lane:
There is also a wavey-watery “Warehouse” ?by Visual Waste? in Warehouse Lane:
Belfast Entries Project
In 2020, 870,000 pounds was allocated by the Department For Communities for a project to revamp some of the entries in Belfast city centre (BelTel | News Letter).
The reason for the project was that while the entries continued to be not particularly welcoming places or popular thoroughfares, the area around them (the Cathedral Quarter) was being turned into a destination for tourists and nightlife.
In order to make the entries more attractive, the 2020 project not only allocated funds for general repairs, but also for lighting and artwork. The artwork is featured below (listed by the name of the entry in alphabetical order), but in some images the improvements made in lighting are visible.
To the six main entries the 2020 project added Cole’s Alley (or at least, the Church Lane end of it) and Castle Arcade (formerly Castle Market).
Sugarhouse Entry was not included in the project as it is currently not passable; it was closed in 1972 as part of the “ring of steel” securing Belfast city centre (DC Tours) and serves only as a back alley to various businesses between Waring Street and High Street; there was talk in 2022 of reopening it as part of some new development (Irish News) and again in 2023 (BelTel). It opened in the summer of 2024.
First Wave (2020)
Castle Arcade: Under The Cherry Blossoms by Friz (2021) with “5,000+ LED bulbs” (Tatler)
Castle Arcade: This Must Be The Place by Holly Pereira (2020)
Cole’s Alley: Redshank & Prey by Annatomix (2020)
Crown Entry: Salmon by DanLeo (2020)
Crown Entry: At The Mouth by ADW (2020)
(In Crown Entry there are also various pieces in the blocked-up windows of what is proposed as a new bar to be called “Corny Brennan’s” – for a minor figure in the United Irishmen (L&CN) – including these two pieces by Wee Nuls. These are not part of the Project.)
Joy’s Entry: Peripheral Palisading by James Earley (2020)
Pottinger’s Entry: Spirit Of Commerce by Irony (2020)
Pottinger’s Entry: Pelican by Nomad Clan (2020)
Wilson’s Court: ‘Planet Of Light And Heat’ by Rob Hilken (2020)
Winecellar Entry: Ffallen by emic (2020) (yes, there are two “F”s). The lights are “3D printed floating orbs … created from recycled ocean plastics” (BCC).
Small Pieces
Crown Entry: Belle Martin by Peter Strain (2020)
Joy’s Entry, Crown Entry: Belfast Puzzle by Ruth Crothers (2020)
Joy’s Entry: Mary Ann McCracken by Peter Strain
Joy’s Entry: R A Wilson’s Labyrinthine Sale by ?Leo Boyd?
Pottinger’s Entry: Arthur O’Neill by Peter Strain
Wilson’s Court: Robert A. Wilson/Barney Maglone by Peter Strain
Wilson’s Court: The Farset Voice & The Open Mouth by Leo Boyd (2020)
Wilson’s Court: Louis MacNeice ‘City Built On Mud’ Quote by Peter Strain
Cocky Bender by Peter Strain – Winecellar Entry
Mr Bunting’s Plan by Peter Strain
A City Within Your City by ?Leo Boyd?
Quill & Ink
Flaggon
Many of the small pieces, and the ‘Light And Heat’ artwork, take the United Irishmen as their theme, as did O’Neill’s paintings and the Muddlers’ Club mural before them. Here is an episode of Red Lines (BBC Ulster) from the end of 2021 about the ‘Hidden History’ of the United Irishmen in Belfast with historian Colm Ó Dóghaır (of the 1798 Walking Tour – eventbrite) and Gemma Reid from Seedhead Arts (web).
Second Wave (2022)
College Street Mews: Belfast Industry by Ed Hicks
The piece was extended in March, 2023.
Faces by KVLR – Exchange Place
?Hello Hello – Exchange Place?
Joy’s Entry: Olaudah Equiano by Dreph
Patterson’s Place: Belfast Deco Fish by Andy Council
Small Pieces
Exchange Place: Trust Women by Peter Strain (2022) (See also I Was Sick And Ye Visited Me X11550)
Thomas Russell’s quote “Every time I look at a lump of sugar, I see a drop of African blood” was incorporated into a piece by Peter Strain (2022). Strain says (ig) the piece is in Sugarhouse Entry, which is closed. The image below is from 2024, when Sugarhouse Entry was re-opened.
2023-03: Ed Hicks added a new panel to the mural in College St Mews
Warehouse Lane, 2024:
Sugarhouse Entry opened in at the beginning of August, 2024 (BelTel | UTv includes interview with Sean Napier | Belfast City Council video on youtube) running between Waring Street and High Street. On the wall was the 2022 piece by Peter Strain, reading “‘Every time I look at a lump of sugar, I see a drop of African blood’ – Thomas Russell” (see above).
References in parentheses to mural collections:
T = Paddy Duffy Collection
X = Seosamh Mac Coılle Collection
Written material copyright © 2023-2025 Extramural Activity. Images are copyright of their respective photographers.
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