Apart from the hotel rooms there are also service apartments that are available near the Albert Clock memorial. Service Apartments are usually taken up by people who are in Belfast for more than just a casual stay and wish to stay for as long as a couple of months. The following is a service apartment near the clock tower that is quite popular.
Other locations to be seen and explored near the Albert Clock tower.
The best part of the Albert clock tower is its location. It is located very close to many other interesting places that a person who is visiting the clock tower would also be interested to visit. The following are a few such listings of interesting tourist locations around the Albert Memorial clock tower.
The Belfast Barge
It is located beside the Belfast waterfront and is only a minutes distance from the city center. It is the citys maritime themes visitor attraction. It is a 600 tonne Barge moored on the river Lagan. The purpose of the Barge is to talk of Belfasts rich Maritime history. Belfast was known to be one of the worlds largest ship building cities. This however, only lasted till the 20th century when the shipbuilding eventually died out.
The mighty shipbuilding giant, Harland and Woolf, that once had employed thousands of workers had declined to hiring only a few hundreds. The buildings and docks also, which in the past had been necessary for such large scale ship building had become extremely redundant due to the decline of shipbuilding within the city. Between 1999 and 2002 much of the shipbuilding Dock had been demolished. It was during this time that Lagan Boat company came up with the idea of setting up the barge.
This happened when he realized that most of theship building archives were slowly and steadily being destroyed along with the decline in ship building that the city was facing. The Lagan Legacy was set up in 2002 in order to collect charity for what was considered to be a noble task.
The plans along with video accounts and stories are now put up on the Barge. It is a proud display by the Belfast citizens of their amazing city and what it once used to be. The Barge house also uses very advanced technology in order to make it more interesting for the visiting people. It has touch screen panels and voice operated descriptions which are aimed at making the visit more enjoyable for those who are visiting. It also has a flexible theatre and cinema and music facility. The opening times are 10 2 and it is accessible to all ages keeping in sync with Lagans legacy.
Space Craft
It is a shop that is set up along the piazza up the escalator at the fountain center in College street. It is basically an exhibition area managed by Arts and Crafts collective. It also offers stuff that is from different price ranges from the very cheap to the slightly more expensive and provides a feast for the eyes and food for the soul. It has an atmosphere that is relaxing and endearing to people who are generally fond of craft.
They can also be trusted to give an honest and well advised opinion to people who are interested in buying craft but do not know how to go about it. The shop and gallery assistants are the art makers themselves hence they are the most qualified to comment on any piece of work that is displayed in the gallery.
Linen Hall Library
The Linen Hall Library is a truly new venture and another must visit destination if one is visiting the Albert clock. It was founded in 1788. It is supposed to be the oldest library in Belfast. It is also considered to be the last subscribing library in englad. It is known for its unparalleled Irish and local collection. It has books that run back to over centuries. It also boasts of the Ireland theatre performers live that put up performances regularly.
The visitors are welcome to enter the library and sit and read any book of their choice. They are not really expected to pay any entry fee, however the visitors that do come are expected to donate to the library and help in running it. The library also has monthly exhibitions and events such as book readings.
There is a licensed coffee house within the library as well. They not only offer amazingly crisp sandwiches but also serve different types of coffee. The Coffee house is particularly popular with the people because of the different types of pudding that they serve. There is also a shop at the Linen Hall Library that houses an extensive range of books and gifts. There is also a plaque that is erected at the entrance of the library. The plaque honours the Irish man Thomas Russell. He was a librarian from 1794- 96. By 96 he was the commander of the United Irishmen and Co. He was however eventually tried for treason and then beheaded at the goal.
The Linen hall has also set up a charity venture in the form of a shop. They have set up a shop that sells DVDs, books, posters as well as other things that would particularly interest young people. The shop welcomes donations from people. Anyone who has DVDs etc that they do not wish to use are allowed to donate it to the store. The store then sells the same items at a discount rate. The timings are different on weekdays and weekends. Tuesdays to Thursdays 10-4:30 pm. Saturdays it closes by 3:30 pm. The funds received from the library then go to charity.