@belfastcc @VisitBelfast called into the new Halt food court today. Hugely disappointing to see practically nothing open except the bar. Lots of tourists about on a Bank Holiday Monday… we need to be properly open for business !!
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Donagh McGoveran
2.1K posts
@bbctheview @gordonlyons1 @JP_Biz @MarkCarruthers7 SMEs here are most definitely taxed to death. No rates relief like in England for last 3 years and VAT v south is about to be 11% gap … and that’s before NIC increase… incentive to grow or reinvest is non existent
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Are people in NI 'taxed to death'?
@gordonlyons1 says they are and that's why he won't consider revenue raising measures.
Our business editor @JP_Biz gives his assessment
#BBCTheView | @MarkCarruthers7
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@SuitorBrothers @belfastcc Brilliant! Just don’t try a get a bus to town, today or tomorrow…. “Holiday timetable” aka one every hour if u are very lucky!
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Totally blown away…. Best coffee experience i have had. Our Wee City… in the Sun… by the Lagan… Coffee, Bakes excellent. Trad group fabulous. People queuing from around the World. THIS is class. #Belfast ❤️@belfastcc more of this please.
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@CircleLineBT 2 serious accidents in the last 6 months, one a pedestrian, one a cyclist, but carry on with the car and bus having priority over 15,000 students trying to get to class safely 😬
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@CarlJWhyte @ClaireHanna @MatthewOToole2 @PaulDoherty___ @garymckeown @SDLPlive @NorthBelfastNew @SDLPNorthB @DonalLyons @DestinationCQ Huge missed opportunity. Surrounded by roads on 3 sides. 15,000 pedestrians using the Uni, expect more incidents of people getting knocked down in the area.
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Planning Approval tonight for the new Cathedral Gardens at UU/St Anne's.
The 1.3 acre site - previously home to the Buoys (now on Maritime Mile) - will include landscaping, a small square area for events, proper lighting as well as a WW2 Blitz Memorial (this area was heavily bombarded). Some early images below.
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@PlanBelfast Hugh missed opportunity to start the pedestrianisation of this area. Shows real lack of ambition IMO
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✅ Belfast City Council's Planning Committee has approved plans to transform Cathedral Gardens in the city centre.
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@CarlJWhyte Store opened in 2016. Off Licence opened 2023. Ur party were too busy getting photo ops at new Lidl stores to attend for either. Local family businesses not deemed as important obviously!
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Been there many times. Centra CQ long pre-dated the opening of the UU campus in Sept 23 I think?
My point is the current system means no new bar licenses for Belfast City Centre regardless of population growth whereas a German multinational can open one in its store a few miles up the road.
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Our out-of-date licensing laws and the 'surrender principle' (which means there is a limit to the total number of bar licenses in NI) exposed fully by the fact a German supermarket chain can open a bar on its bread aisle but there hasn't been a single new bar or off-license opened around UU Belfast since the campus opened despite 15,000 new students in the area every day.
Have I Got News For You@haveigotnews
Lidl have revealed plans to open a pub - perfect for any shopper who fancies a pint of their favourite Froosters, Carlsberk or Heinekram
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@ClaireHanna England have had 75% rates relief for last 2 years and 45% for this year. NI executive got this but decided retailers here didn’t deserve it. Becoming impossible for independent retailing here, especially in the middle of said dereliction!
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The crumbling of Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter must be arrested. Letting such an important part of our past and present heritage become an eyesore is a tragic symbol of this region’s lack of ambition.
The SDLP’s is putting this problem, and solutions, on Stormont’s agenda today.
The SDLP@SDLPlive
We cannot let the dereliction in the heart of Belfast continue. By using Stormont's lending power, we can take back the site and begin revitalising North Street. The SDLP Opposition is putting this on the agenda in the Assembly today.
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@OrlaSmyth311 75% rates relief in England over the last 2 years for retail and hospitality not passed on here, so no hope it will be this time. NI employer contributions now way ahead of ROI and VAT running at 20% v 13.5% too… divergence not convergence on the All Island economy continues
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Very little welcome if you’re a small business owner- which is basically the NI economy.
Zero incentive to invest. Zero incentive to grow. Actually incentivised to keep employees low.
Claire Hanna@ClaireHanna
Light bedtime reading. Welcome unpausing of NI Growth deals, raise in Min wage & earnings threshold for Carer’s Allowance. Clarity needed on in-year & 24/25 funding for NI. £170m for housing & c£34m for SEN are significant & SDLP opposition will hold Exec to delivery on these
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@newsmulg While the rest of us with businesses on Donegall St pay full whack every year as the buildings beside us crumble. Time for BCC to get the finger out and move on from this shambles
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Some 20 out of 45 of the buildings linked to the Tribeca scheme are not paying rates. Developer Castlebrooke has made little progress since it first unveiled plans for the former Royal Exchange scheme. It took on the investment in the land in 2016
x.com/irishnewsbiz/s…
Irish News Business@irishnewsbiz
Tribeca Belfast project ‘exempt from paying rates on 20 assets’ irishnews.com/news/business/…
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@BBCMarkSimpson The rest of the High Street has to pay rates!
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Changing times. Just met a group from Newry who drove to Holywood today just for the 10 charity shops. The high street is fighting back.
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@BBCMarkSimpson And didn’t come up on todays GCSE History paper, much to my daughters frustration!!
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The general strike that killed power-sharing began 50 years ago today … the Ulster Workers’ Council strike, on Wed 15th May 1974.
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U would think Judas would have enough on his plate at this time of the year!
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@OLSPCK_RE @lesleyemerson1 Our pleasure at McGoverans Centra! Hope to see some of u back as students at Queens in the future!
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@lesleyemerson1 A huge thank you to @donaghmac for feeding us today. The food was delicious and it felt like a proper treat. We really appreciate it.
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Donagh McGoveran retweetet
Ever heard of Toulouse as a city centre whose improved street design is revolutionising local prosperity?
It’s not normally lauded as a case study. But quality of the street design is staggering. The results are stunning. Literally no empty shops in town centre. How? A short 🧵
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@thomasniblock @BBCSounds @BBCSPORTNI @ConorMcManus_15 @CelticFC @Armagh_GAA @crossrangers Thanks for a great night. As a Dub, there with 2 Derry men (1 from Glen), the drive back to Belfast would have been a good addition to the discussion!!
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A massive thank-you to everyone who turned up on a snowy winter night for our first Podcast of 2024. Oisin & myself are blown away. How good was Conor McManus & Neil Lennon? Such an incredible insight.
🎧GAA Social is back on Monday & Wednesday @BBCSounds
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@nevenmaguire thank u for an amazing evening, brilliant as always, with 4 new converts to help spread the word in Belfast.
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@belfastcc @deptinfra great to see Sugarhouse Entry nearly ready to open, but where are the bins going to go because they definitely can’t stay here!!
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@News_Letter Well meaning as sending a letter may be, the time for this approach is well gone. @HospUlster and @retail_ni need to organise their members to stop paying all rates until we get the discount we are entitled to.
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Hospitality Ulster calls on Secretary of State to explain why local hospitality sector didn’t get rates relief afforded to GB counterparts in Autumn Statement
trib.al/X7BCKBV
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