Balmoral Showrooms

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The fact that there are three memorials to the Balmoral Furniture bombing speaks to the shock felt at devastating bomb on a busy Shankill Road. The oldest is the small circular plaque: “Balmoral Furniture Showrooms bombed 12.25 pm Saturday 11th December 1971. 2 adults & 2 babies killed”; then the Poppy Cross (c. 2015) “in memory of the two men and two babies murdered at this spot by a no warning sectarian IRA bomb attack on the Balmoral Furniture shop on 11th December 1971”, and finally the traditional plaque (c. 2017), which names the victims: Colin Nicholl, Tracey Jane Munn, Harold King, Hugh Bruce.

On the side of the Shankill Leisure Centre.

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No Signal

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JJB Sports went into receivership in 2012 and the Royal Avenue shop was (is?) to become a Wetherspoons (Future Belfast). In the meantime, the hoarding is used by Leo Boyd (web | ig | Fb). Welcome to the simulation!

Previously by Leo on Extramural Activity.

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When You Enter This Loving School

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“Welcome: When you Enter this Loving school Consider yourself One of the special Members of an Extraordinary family”. Two images from St Patrick’s primary on the edge of the New Lodge. The “Hail Mary’ is written in Irish

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Political Policing

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“Black lives matter”, a campaign against police brutality originating in the US, beneath a 32CSM (web | tw) tarp “Oppose British political policing”. The stencil is sponsored by People Before Profit (web | tw). Divis Street, Belfast.

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Something Old, Something New, Something Red, White And Blue

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Above is one of the few remaining houses in the old style in Tiger’s Bay. This is one of three on Mervue Street, which back onto a row of six in Mervue Court; there also is a row of six on Halliday’s Road which survived the rebuilding there – for images of loyal drawings in the boarded up houses that were replaced, see The Queen In Tiger’s Bay. Below, however, is an image of the freshly-repainted kerbstones just above the house, at the junction of Mervue and Edlingham streets.

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Copyright © 2020 Sabine Troendle (web | Fb)
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Brexit Loyalists

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“Loyal” and “Brexit” boards on lamp-poles and walls in Tiger’s Bay. If you know when they were put up (or any other information), please comment or get in touch. The final “Brexit” is on the same pole as was Hand-Crafted.

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X07170 Copyright © 2020 Sabine Troendle (web | Fb)
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Kelly’s Eyes

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Electrical box by Irony (ig | Fb | tumblr) in Queen Street, Belfast.

Previously by Irony: Jail Bird | Pearl | That Faraway Look

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I’ll Come Back Another Day And Do No Wrong

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Being a human is hard and being a good human is harder. But art (specifically the Queens Of The Stone Age ‘God Is In The Radio’) gives us the inspiration to keep coming back for another try. Graffiti on a McHugh’s poster in the New Lodge.

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A Matter Of Life And Death

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Eddie The Trooper is a British red-coat version of Iron Maiden’s Eddie The Head. And “These Colours Don’t Run” is a song from the band’s 2006 album A Matter Of Life And Death. The phrase is a pun equating the colours of the flag with the army beneath it – neither the colours nor the army “runs”. This lower Shankill sticker, from Rangers FC “ultra” supporters the ‘Union Bears’ (Fb | web) is on the side of a butt bucket – another reason for not running.

The specific design seems to be the most recent version from Londonderry – see Eddie The Trooper’s own Visual History page.

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The Gateway Is Love

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William Swanston, with partner Thomas Bones, commissioned a new building for their linen collar and cuff concern, to be raised in 1890 at the corner of Queen and College streets. Arthur Chichester, flanked by the coats of arms of Belfast and Ulster, looks down over the now-unused doorway. (For more, see the excellent page at History Hub Ulster.) Swanston House is known to many in Belfast as the home of the Athletic Stores and the Educational Company; the facade was retained for its current incarnation ‘The Roost’, a student dormitory.

“‘Soul is deep, essence is beauty, the journey is freedom & the gateway is love’ – Beatrix.” 

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