Cathedral Quarter, Belfast
[5] Traditionally, the Cathedral Quarter was the centre of Belfast's trade and warehousing district, which sprung up directly from the prosperous linen and shipbuilding industries.
The definition of the area as a cultural quarter mostly came about because of the recent significant growth in arts- and culture-based organisations that are located there.
As is the case with London's Covent Garden and Dublin's Temple Bar in the years before they became as renowned as they are, low rent and a central city location attracted to the area a wide variety of tenants.
Development and repopulation may further have been hindered from a time since the North Street Arcade, a listed building from the 1930s in the traditional Art Deco style, burned down in what many people believe were suspicious circumstances in 2004.
Today, The Northern Whig building is a pub and restaurant, but the tradition of satirical writing still has a home in Cathedral Quarter through The Vacuum, which has its offices in the area.
As if to connect with this literary flavour, a popular pub in the area is named after Belfast poet John Hewitt.
The John Hewitt houses noteworthy and interesting artwork and photographs in changing exhibitions, sometimes of political subjects, often with the art being for sale.
Belfast's Custom House, situated on the very edge of Cathedral Quarter by the city's central Laganside bank, was a popular site for public speakers during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
In those times, in the vein of London's Speakers' Corner, the city's citizens often participated in the art of lively and spontaneous debate on any given subject.
In autumn 2008, a showcase style afternoon with a succession of performers of roots, modern folk and country music from all over the world was hosted in tents.
This occasion was the closing day of the internationally highly acclaimed annual Open House Festival of the city.
Nearby North Street is home to many of Belfast's most notorious bars and venues, particularly renowned during the punk movement of the 1970s.
There is also a youth choir of the cathedral which performs, of persons in their late teens and early twenties who are thought to be of a high standard of music making.
The Northern Ireland War Memorial is a quite recently established commemorative museum and exhibition space in Talbot Street (along one side of the cathedral).
Prince Michael of Kent was Guest of Honour at a commemorative service in re-dedication of the War Memorial on 4 November 2008.
In 2008's Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival, a monologue production about the Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, The Lady of Burma,[10] was a popular play, it also proving a good use of this building.
