As Belfast’s Bullitt Hotel approaches its first anniversary, Conall and Petra Wolsey and Michael Sullivan, general manager, survey the work progressing on Phase II of the hotel.

31 new bedrooms to also be added and 30 new jobs created, all part of a £1.75m expansion

As Belfast’s Bullitt Hotel celebrated its first anniversary, the hotel has opened its brand new rooftop bar and garden Babel as part of the hotel’s planned £1.75m expansion.

Work is progressing fast on Phase II of Bullitt, which will also see 31 new bedrooms being added this year including the hotel’s first twin rooms. The expansion will create 30 new jobs, bringing the total number of people employed by the innovative hotel to 130. 

Babel, the new rooftop bar and garden, has capacity for 250 people and includes an open-air terrace with panoramic views over the city. The bar and garden also has a number of unique features including an interior living wall made up of 300 fresh plants and herbs and a vertical exterior garden wall that can be seen from ground level.

Shaking up Belfast’s cocktail scene and a first for the city, Babel’s drinks menu is based around ‘Shrub Cocktails’ with the bar’s living walls providing a fresh supply of herbs, used as ingredients and garnishes, for the cocktails.  The venue is also be available for private hire and has its own food offering, influenced by South and East Asian cuisine.

Named after the Steve McQueen movie of the same name, Bullitt Belfast has gone from strength to strength since it opened in the heart of the city last year with consistently high occupancy rates.

In addition to the positive economic impact and job creation the hotel will bring to the city, the expansion will assist in fulfilling the demand for additional hotel bed space in Belfast. The 2016 annual industry survey from ASM Chartered Accountants recorded a high occupancy rate of 83.5% for Belfast.

Commenting on the announcement, Conall Wolsey, director of Beannchor, said:

“Bullitt Hotel has been hugely popular since it opened last October. The vision behind the hotel is for it to offer much more than a bed space, we want it to be a place where people come to work, come to relax and come to socialise.

“The addition of the new rooftop bar and garden will only add to this vision and the stunning views across Belfast were the selling point for us when deciding how to utilise this space.

“We continuously want to push the boundaries and the living walls, which provide a fresh supply of herbs that will be used as ingredients and garnishes for our drinks, will enable us to introduce a new cocktail-led concept into Belfast for the first time.

“As well as the rooftop, we’ll be extending the bedroom offering with 31 new rooms being added this year. This will include the hotel’s first twin rooms, increasing the bedroom capacity to 74 and opening the hotel up to new customers and markets.

“We are also proud to be creating 30 new jobs, providing people with rewarding long-term careers.”

Babel will host a calendar of events throughout the year, kicking off on Sunday October 22nd with a special Belvedere Vodka Tasting as part of Belfast Cocktail week. Be one of the first to experience the newest rooftop bar in the city just days after its launch and enjoy an evening sipping on an array of premium Belvedere cocktails and serves.

At Bullitt, our no-nonsense philosophy means we’ve ditched the expensive mini-bars, bellboys and butlers so that we can deliver a top-quality service with no hidden costs. That means stylish, comfy rooms; fresh, local food; delicious drinks and an eclectic events calendar, all in the heart of Belfast city centre.

Our stylish rooms are cleverly designed to maximise space, ranging in size from the dinky, to the comfy and the roomy.

But we’re so much more than just a bed for the night. Bullitt has everything you need to eat, drink, work and play, so don’t love us and leave us, stick around and cuddle for a while. Grab a bite to eat in Taylor & Clay, quench your thirst in the Courtyard bar or Baltic, get down to business in The Good Room and make a playdate with our eclectic events calendar.

For more information, visit babelbelfast.com, follow Babel Belfast on Instagram or like Babel Belfast on Facebook.