Business

Business Review of the Year - May 2017

Bittles Bar is sold to Wirefox
Bittles Bar is sold to Wirefox Bittles Bar is sold to Wirefox

:: Californian-based cyber security firm Anomali will create 120 new jobs by the end of 2019 with the opening of a European research and development hub in Belfast. Anomali helps organisations respond to cyber security threats. Invest NI provide £780,000 towards the job creation, and average salaries will be around £34,500. It comes after more than 300,000 machines in 150 countries were infected with the WannaCry virus, crippling organisations from government agencies to multinational companies.

:: The only son of self-styled 'King of Soho' Paul Raymond - and part-heir to the porn and property baron's multi-million pound fortune - reveals he is putting down business roots in Belfast. Howard Raymond (57) is in collaboration with a university in Northern Ireland to invent a specific water collection and supply technology. He has also crafted his own gin, The King of Soho, in tribute to his late father, which is stocked in Belfast hostelries and hotels including the Vineyard, Lavery's and Malmaison.

:: UTV puts its iconic Havelock House headquarters up for sale. It has been the broadcaster's home since the station opened in 1959, and the building also houses its radio station U105. It comes as UTV confirmed that it was moving to the top floor of new City Quays 2 development at Belfast Harbour Estate, which will be transformed into the channel’s new base by June 2018.

:: Belfast's biggest hotel group Andras is to spent £5 million to create 60 additional bedrooms in the Queen's Quarter area of the city. Andras Hotels, which operates five internationally-branded hotels and Cordia Serviced Apartments with over 700 beds in Belfast, announced the start of a major extension to its Holiday Inn Express property on University Street. Owned and operated by the group since 1996, the project is due for completion in April 2018.

:: The unique flat-iron-shaped building in Belfast, home to Bittles Bar, is sold to Co Down property investment and development firm Wirefox, who plan to refurbish the five-storey site at Victoria Street. Red-bricked and 'flat-iron' in shape, Bittles was originally called the Shakespeare due to its theatrical clientele and is one of the city's more curious pubs. Founded in 1868, it is famed for its extensive whiskey collection and electric range of artwork, which features portraits of Irish literary and sporting heroes including Samuel Beckett, W.B Yeats and George Best.

:: Global publishing firm Pearson is to create 300 jobs at its new Belfast base. The firm already has 100 jobs in place at its centre but says a further 200 will be added in the coming years. Pearson is receiving £2m in support from Invest NI and the Department for the Economy. The company sells educational material to higher level students in the US.