Business

Belfast hospitality group Clover launch bid for new Cathedral Quarter hotel and pub

The offices on Belfast's Donegall Street, centre to the Clover Group's hotel and pub garden plans. Picture by Hugh Russell.
The offices on Belfast's Donegall Street, centre to the Clover Group's hotel and pub garden plans. Picture by Hugh Russell.

BELFAST pubs group Clover has revealed plans for a new hotel, bar and restaurant in the city's Cathedral Quarter.

The hospitality group behind Henrys and Whites Tavern has entered the planning process in a bid to transform two office buildings and a car park on Donegall Street into a new indoor and outdoor space.

The application has been lodged by 3 Wise Men Ltd, a company owned by Clover Pubs.

Plans focus on a former estate agents between the John Hewitt pub and the recently closed Hadski’s restaurant.

The application proposes converting the upper floors of 35-37 Donegall Street into 20-bed hotel, with the ground floor redeveloped into a pub.

Outdoor space, currently used as a car park, would be developed into a new covered beer garden, with access on Donegall Street Place, next to the John Hewitt.

The bid involves stacked shipping containers surrounding the courtyard beer garden, which will feature a live music stage right next door to the iconic Commercial Court thoroughfare, which is home to The Duke of York and Dark Horse venues.

An extension to the existing office buildings is also proposed.

In a report accompanying its application, Clover state: “This particular location, within the heart of the city’s Cathedral Quarter, is considered ideal for this type of development, with its existing concentration of similar uses in the immediate area.”

Clover’s other interests in Belfast include Fountain Lane, Margot, Pug Uglys and The Bone Yard

The hospitality group has also lodged a separate bid to expand its Margot premises next to Belfast City Hall. The new planning application proposes the refurbishment of the vacant basement floor of 19 Donegall Square East.

Meanwhile, the site of the failed George Best Hotel project in Belfast city centre looks to be back on the market.

A brochure for the former Scottish Mutual Building by property firm Colliers appeared on Social media on Thursday.

The property is currently under the control of administrators from Kroll Advisory, brought in by finance firm Lyell Trading Limited in 2020.

The move follows a High Court ruling in June that the administrators could proceed with the sale.

A Premier Inn hotel in Belfast’s Alfred Street is also on the market. The 148-bedroom hotel has been marketed as an investment opportunity, with bids being sought in excess of £9.9 million.