BELFAST bar czar Willie Jack has revealed fresh plans to further embellish the tourism and hospitality offer in the city's already burgeoning Cathedral Quarter.
It involves introducing a range of innovative murals in honour of many the city's best-known writers and poets not just from yesteryear, but from the modern era, including Van Morrison and Gary Lightbody.
The publican has also commissioned a special 'Map of Belfast' dating to 1878 and featuring the hundreds of specialised businesses operating in the area between Talbot Street and Waring Street, which includes smithies, cement works, flax warehouses, tea warehouses and even and umbrella factory.
And when the work is completed by the end of the summer, it will bring the personal investment of the 58-year-old entrepreneur - who owns the Duke of York, Harp Bar, Dark Horse and Friend at Hand whiskey museum, as well as the New Orpheus - to more than £5 million.
A passionate advocate of Belfast as a leading UK regional city, Mr Jack is also offering a route-to-market to a number of small regional suppliers by giving them giving them brand exclusivity across his outlets.
"So much of what I do and sell is unique to this area, and to sample it, you simply have to come here," he said.
"For me, it all about driving people to Belfast. You can't get most of our whiskeys or our small batch beers on the internet.
"We work with the conference organisers and the cruise ships agents and the likes of Visit Belfast to continually show the positivity of this great city, and I'll never sit still when it comes to promoting Belfast."
Earlier this year Mr Jack - who in May was accorded the lifetime achievement accolade at the Belfast Business Awards - added a unique Irish poetry courtyard to his Commercial Court businesses, where an Irish oak tree will be illuminated via a laser-cut corten steel base featuring the words of Seamus Heaney's 'Wishing Tree'.
That followed his £3.5 million investment into renovating the old Harp Bar, opening a micro-brewery and providing space for a cookery school fronted by leading chef and restaurateur Niall McKenna, as well as restoring the former Half Bap Lane, linking the existing Hill Street right through to Dunbar Link.
Part of that investment was also opening the Sea Holly gallery, which houses more than £500,000 worth of paintings and writings which includes the works of Michael Longley and Neil Shawcross, and reflects much of Belfast's outstanding cultural history.
Mr Jack, whose licensed premises don't have gaming machines, refuse to sell alcopops and often don't even boast a television, now employs 140 people across his various businesses (Commercial Court Inns Ltd, in its most recent set of published accounts, posted a profit of £1.3 million on a turnover of £6.5 million).
His contribution to the city’s burgeoning economy, alongside excellence in the running of his Belfast pubs, are seen as having significantly contributed to the unique offering in Belfast.
