The end of an era for Queen's students Union as demolition begins: 'sad to see it go'

Memories of happy hours spent in the former Queen's Students Union are flooding social media as the old building starts to be razed to the ground.

By Gemma Murray

Published 16th Jan 2020, 11:56 BST

Demolition work began on Queen's University's former student union building on Wednesday.

The union building closed in July 2018 ahead of a major development at the site on University Road.

The old building - which is more than 50 years old - had been designed for a student population of around 5,000.

Now there are around 24,000 students.

In its heyday, its main entertainment venue - the Mandela Hall - hosted some of the world's top local and international acts, including U2, The Clash, Ed Sheeran, Radiohead, Snow Patrol, Calvin Harris, Nile Rodgers, Franz Ferdinand and Mumford And Sons.

A new temporary student union has opened on the Lisburn Road.

A Tweet on @QUBSU says: "Somewhat sad to see it go. 50+ years after it went up, they’ve started to pull down the former Students’ Union".

They add: "What’s your best memory of ‘the Union’?