Grand Central Hotel Belfast

The first Grand Central Hotel was located on Royal Avenue in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and opened in 1893.

[citation needed] The hotel was taken over by the British Army in 1972 for use as a military base from which to patrol the city centre during the height of the Troubles.

[citation needed] The troops based there were protected by anti-rocket screens constructed around the front of the building on the main street to repel everything from bricks and bottles to paint and blast bombs.

One of the most bombarded hotels in the world[citation needed] it was attacked more than 150 times by the Provisional IRA and other groups.

[citation needed] It was acquired by developers and demolished, along with a neighbouring building, to make way for the CastleCourt shopping centre which was completed in 1990.