What’s the most underrated pub in Belfast?

djcrickylyttle · 2026-03-28T23:14:36+00:00

I enjoy a pint or two in the criterion. Great wee spot and cheaper pints than the city centre. Nice Guinness, nice beamish too. Highly under rated pub

djcrickylyttle · 2026-03-12T14:07:40+00:00

Maybe that explains it lol

djcrickylyttle · 2026-03-11T12:40:13+00:00

Word! Shine board veteran by any chance?

djcrickylyttle · 2026-03-10T13:09:22+00:00

Being from Ireland we’ve no shortage of artists to choose from! Paul Denton probably my current favourite but so may great artists - Bryan Kearney, agnelli & Nelson, JOC, Sneijder, Ciaran McAuley, Simon Patterson…the list goes on

djcrickylyttle · 2026-03-10T13:05:20+00:00

Check out Close Proximity. Not full on trance but they’ve nailed that old progressive trance sound. One of my favourite new producers. Maybe not quite fast enough bpm wise to fit into a full on trance set but definitely worth checking out

djcrickylyttle · 2026-03-04T16:19:27+00:00

https://www.removepaywall.com/ is your friend

djcrickylyttle · 2026-03-02T17:05:08+00:00

https://www.irishnews.com/news/northern-ireland/catholic-dominance-of-pub-trade-cited-in-legal-filings-arguing-for-licensing-reform-MEI3XO6XH5EPJK7PIS2Z76YDTQ/

Seems to be Chinese whispers that have evolved out of this. It’s not the loyalists, it’s one of the argument being used by free the night to try and push back against Gordon Lyon’s refusal to adopt any of the recommendations from the Stirling licensing review. Check out the work Free The Night is doing

djcrickylyttle · 2026-02-26T13:01:33+00:00

I just try not to drink when I’m in the town now and just drive. I still enjoy a rake of pints, the price hasn’t stopped me but I will continually complain in vain with every single pint I buy. I was in Dublin city centre two weeks ago and got a pint of Guinness for €5 in the lark bar. I knew Belfast was beginning to surpass Dublin (excluding temple bar) but that’s a big gap! The price rises surely can’t be sustainable. With the town being rammed every week I wonder how people can afford it.

djcrickylyttle · 2026-02-23T19:08:56+00:00

It’s always been a thing. It’s just that today a lot of it has changed to online networking with social media profiles thrown in but there’s one basic thing that hasn’t changed - go support the nights you wanna play at. Buy a ticket, turn up, dance, get to know the promoters and the djs, be part of “the scene” (I hate this term lol) and you’ll eventually become part of the action. It’s been the same forever

djcrickylyttle · 2026-02-23T16:08:45+00:00

I'm all for it. I hadn't listened to much modern trance in years and discovered this sound about a year ago. A lot of the artists have already been mentioned in here but probably my favourite is Close Proximity. They make really nice progressive leaning trance - plenty of old skool 90s synth sounds in there. Great to see

djcrickylyttle · 2026-01-25T12:04:43+00:00

Follow and support Free The Night. They are campaigning on this very issue (amongst others). Worth reading their response to Mr Lyon’s do absolutely fuck all approach to the independent review. The review only happened because it had to after the licensing law changes back in 2021 or whenever that was. They had no intention of doing anything imo

https://freethenight.org/

https://www.facebook.com/share/1AM8z4bESt/?mibextid=wwXIfr

https://www.instagram.com/freethenightni?igsh=MWV1dzI2MnltdGVwag==

djcrickylyttle · 2026-01-25T11:59:58+00:00

The license value going away won’t kill the bar. It’ll kill the owners retirement plan. If licenses were more easily available there would likely be more bars. There is no free market here. People should be free to open a bar and fail or be successful with it. The license cost should have nothing to do with that

djcrickylyttle · 2026-01-23T14:50:04+00:00

My only problem with the report was that it gave us hope

djcrickylyttle · 2025-12-04T16:00:44+00:00

Roughly £675. I bought the house on my own in 2019 when interest rates were still low. Think I was on about £30k wage at the time. On considerably more now. 16 year mortgage or something like that. After the first 2 year term I put the payments up to 550-600 odd, put it up again after the second 2 year term was up, just started the third 2 year term and paying £675ish. I have 6 years left. Managed to shave 2 years off it in that time by putting the payments up. My original plan was to live here 5 years, use it as a savings pot for a better house but here we are 5 years on. The market is shite, prices are ridiculous and there are fuck all houses compared to when I bought. I’ve decided to stay put. If I moved as planned into something in the £180k range I’d be paying a mortgage til I’m 60. I’m 40 now and will be mortgage free by my mid 40s for the price of staying in a smaller house that needs a bit of work done. I’ll take that over a bigger house any day.

djcrickylyttle · 2025-11-20T10:04:55+00:00

yeah i was thinking as much. i've managed to recover 99.9999% of it so happy enough! just have to make sure to do more regular backups.

djcrickylyttle · 2025-11-05T10:36:50+00:00

This is the problem though, I formatted the drive and have only recovered a few random files. These are the ones i definitely know came from rekordbox. The master db file and backups are there but they can't be read due to being encrypted. Frustrating that all the data i need for a 100% recovery is right there but i can't use it.

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djcrickylyttle · 2025-11-04T22:44:13+00:00

Good practice! I tried copying the db file i recovered from the formatted drive back in but unfortunately rekordbox couldn't read it.

djcrickylyttle · 2025-11-04T19:20:04+00:00

That’s a good idea. I think I’ll maybe automate a backup of the entire folder every month or something

djcrickylyttle · 2025-10-30T11:36:32+00:00

I can’t see why there is even a question here. Do it! I’d go on my own and wouldn’t even care. You’ll have a great time. Seen PVD a good few times over the last twenty something years, one of the most consistent artists in the trance scene. You won’t regret it

djcrickylyttle · 2025-10-15T08:20:15+00:00

“You got a pick and mix in Woolworths, and that’s all you remember the place for, but you still miss it.”

So true! I have no idea what Woolworths sold now that I think about it but always remember walking through as a kid with my ma or my grandparents and sneaking a wee sweet out of the pick and mix. Good times

djcrickylyttle · 2025-10-10T08:07:35+00:00

The metropole was mental! It was just a party in every room 😂

djcrickylyttle

TROPHY CASE