New outdoor popup bar at Bank Square, Folktown, opens with huge success

The new outdoor venue, Folktown, which had its licence approved this week by Belfast City Council, is set to build on the success of the Clover Group’s other outdoor locations The Bone Yard and White’s Garden.

Clover group has invested £150k in the new venue which opened yesterday (Thursday) and has been creatively designed to provide customers with an atmospheric outdoor experience with all the charm and buzz that comes with their bars.

A long-standing investor with a proven track record of transforming unused and derelict locations into cutting edge boutique bars and venues, Clover director Mark Beirne has said Folktown will not only provide a fun and safe environment for people to eat and drink, but it will also add a vibrant and exciting new dimension to the CastleCourt area of the city centre.

Commenting on the new venue, Mark continued: “We have been focused, creative and innovative throughout the pandemic to ensure that our customers have had memorable and fun experiences within our new outdoor venues, which represent a very positive legacy from the many challenges of Covid. Outdoor venues are here to stay and we are very excited about the opportunity that Folktown presents to customers, shoppers, workers and residents alike, breathing new life into an historic part of our city and further adding to its café culture and its rich mix of indoor and outdoor hospitality spaces.

Highlighting the importance of Folktown to the local economy, Leona Barr, centre manager at CastleCourt added: “Folktown is opening at an exciting time for CastleCourt and the area and adds so much to our visitor experience. Folktown resides in CastleCourt’s former service yard and is a nod to the Old Folk Town Market once held on the Square, so it’s fantastic to see the area rejuvenated and to welcome another new tenant to CastleCourt, and build on the shopper, tourist, student and visitor destination we have become.”

All of the Clover Group’s eight venues have fully opened following the lifting of restrictions including Henry’s and The Jailhouse, White’s Tavern and Garden, Margot’s, Fountain Lane, Pug Ugly’s and the Bone Yard.

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