A sweet new look

The arrival of Sweet Afton on Brunswick Street in Belfast caps a three-phase, £1m investment in the premises that’s helping to revitalise the city’s growing Linen Quarter…

Just before Halloween this year, the covers finally came off Belfast city centre’s newest bar when Sweet Afton opened its doors to an inquisitive public.

Located on Brunswick Street in an area of the town sometimes referred to as the Linen Quarter, Sweet Afton is, in effect, a re-purposing of the premises by its owners. It replaces the former Asian fusion bar, Shiro, which opened for business on the spot little over a year ago.

Little sign of the previous tenant remains in the new bar; most of its raised floor surfaces have been levelled and the bar now occupied a commanding position in the centre of the venue.

“What we really wanted to create was a cost, traditional-style bar with a cool, modern edge,” explains marketing manager, Zoe Watson. “There is lots of rough, reclaimed wood in the place, the floors and doors are all reclaimed wood and the bar is made from old reclaimed wood benches.”

When Shiro originally opened its doors in May last year, it signalled the first stage in a significant redevelopment of the premises at the corner of Franklin Street and Brunswick Street that had once been home to Irene and Nan’s bar and restaurant. Owned by the same group of investors that are behind top city venues, The Albany, El Divino and Filthy McNasty’s, the building has since been developed to incorporate two stylish bars – Rita’s and The Perch – as well as nightclub Chinawhite.

Zoe admits, however, that the introduction of an Asian fusion venue such as Shiro to Belfast might have been “a bit premature”:

“Perhaps people just weren’t ready to see it for what it was,” she adds “People did tend to see it as a restaurant and what we really wanted to run was a bar.”

Sweet Afton is certainly a departure in style – this is very much a traditional city centre bar and kitchen that’s likely to appeal particularly to the burgeoning tourist market in Belfast.

The venue can accommodate around 200 people at capacity and major sporting events will be shown on six high-level screens in the bar.

“We opened just before Halloween and the feedback from customers so far has been brilliant,” reports Zoe.

A tie-in with drinks giant, Diageo gives its beers strong representation at the pumps and a versatile all-day food menu is helping draw customers to the new venue:

“It’s very much traditional pub grub, steaks, a Pie of the Day every day and a nice fish offering,” says Zoe. “Pub grub with a modern twist. We also do brunch on Saturdays and Sundays, things like eggs Benedict, French toast, yoghurt granola, all the classic brunch dishes, and people are loving it. We’re getting good trade, particularly on Sundays.”

On the entertainment side, Sweet Afton has a DJ every Friday and Saturday night offering a purely vinyl diet of 60s and 70s soul music, which Zoe says the clientele are lapping up. There’s also a live singer to entertain the after-work crowd on Fridays and on a Sunday.

Zoe says that at this point, the priority now is to concentrate on securing a strong Christmas at Sweet Afton. After that, she says, it will be a matter of focusing on the running and marketing of all four venues together as one of the city centre’s top entertainment draws.