Titanic Exhibition Centre shuts: Massive Belfast venue home of conventions, festivals, Covid vaccinations, car shows, snooker championships and election counts in surprise closure as owners blame cost of repeated storm damage
One of Belfast’s biggest events venues, home to everything from comics conventions to Covid vaccinations to election counts, has shut in a surprise move.
The 3,000-capacity Titanic Exhibition Centre is now closed, its owners blaming the high cost of repairing repeated damage from worsening storms in recent years.
It was publicised as “Titanic by name, titanic by nature – a stage for major events, public exhibitions and trade shows”, but the huge venue has now gone for good.
Built on Olympic Way close to tourist hotspot the Titanic Belfast museum and visitor attraction, the facility has been used to stage a wide variety of large-scale events for close to 10 years.
That includes snooker championships as well as conventions ranging from movies to food and drink to knitting.
Newshounds will be most familiar with its use as a vote count centre for constituencies in the greater Belfast area in recent Stormont and Westminster elections.
It also acted as a hub for Covid vaccinations during a major rollout in 2021.
But its management company TBL International and venue shareholders have now decided to “wind down operations”.
A TBL International spokeswoman told the News Letter that “despite an ongoing programme of maintenance at the venue, the increase in severe inclement weather over the past number of years, and the recent storms in January and April, have had a detrimental impact on the fabric of the venue”.
The company has been working with long-time clients to find new homes for planned events, added the spokeswoman, the majority of which will stay in Belfast.
The 6,000 square metre venue had planning permission to stay in place until October 2027.
When it opened, its owners said they hoped to use it as a platform from which to set up a permanent events centre in Belfast that would be comparable to the RDS in Dublin or Glasgow’s Scottish Event Campus.
Brochures produced for prospective clients described the exhibition centre as “unique by virtue” and offering “ample space and a modern backdrop for exhibitions, gala receptions and sporting events”.
The owners added that its close proximity to city centre hotels and restaurants plus excellent transport links and large car park made it “perfect for local, national and international events alike”.