The Europa Hotel is a four-star hotel in Great Victoria Street, Belfast, Northern Ireland.
54°35′42″N5°56′10″W / 54.595°N 5.936°W
It is known as the "most bombed hotel in the world" after having suffered 36 bomb attacks during the Troubles. [1] [2]
The Europa Hotel was constructed by Grand Metropolitan and designed by architects Sydney Kaye, Eric Firkin & Partners. It opened in July 1971. [3] It was built on the site of the former Great Northern Railway station and stands 51 metres high. [4] During The Troubles, the hotel, where most journalists covering the Troubles stayed, was known as Europe’s most bombed hotel, earning the name "the Hardboard Hotel". [5] Grand Met bought the Inter-Continental Hotels chain in 1981 and placed the Europa in their Forum hotels division. They renamed the hotel the Forum Hotel Belfast in February 1983. When the hotel was sold to The Emerald Group in October 1986, it regained its original name. [6] After a bomb placed by the Provisional IRA at the hotel badly damaged the building, it was sold for £4.4M. [4]
The Europa Hotel became part of the Hastings Hotels group on 3 August 1993, whereupon it was announced that it would close for refurbishments. Following an £8m investment, the hotel reopened in February 1994. Its first event after reopening was the Flax Trust Ball, attended by 500 local and international dignitaries. US President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Clinton stayed in the hotel in November 1995; [7] the suite used by the Clintons was subsequently renamed the Clinton Suite. [7] The presidential entourage booked 110 rooms at the hotel. [5] The Clintons stayed at the hotel several times in the years following their first visit. They wrote to the staff in 2002 in order to congratulate them on their work at the hotel. [8]
In early 2008, an extension to the hotel increased the height of a rear wing to twelve floors and increased bedrooms from 240 to 272. The extension was designed by Robinson Patterson Partnership, now RPP Architects, and was completed late in 2008. [4]
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The Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) is an Ulster loyalist paramilitary group based in Northern Ireland. Formed in 1965, it first emerged in 1966. Its first leader was Gusty Spence, a former British Army soldier from Northern Ireland. The group undertook an armed campaign of almost thirty years during The Troubles. It declared a ceasefire in 1994 and officially ended its campaign in 2007, although some of its members have continued to engage in violence and criminal activities. The group is a proscribed organisation and is on the terrorist organisation list of the United Kingdom.
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Events during the year 1972 in Northern Ireland.
This is a chronology of activities by the Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA), an Irish republican paramilitary group. The group started operations in 1994, after the Provisional Irish Republican Army began a ceasefire.
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Great Victoria Street is a railway station serving the city centre of Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is one of two major stations in the city, along with Lanyon Place, and is one of the four stations located in the city centre, the others being Lanyon Place, Botanic and City Hospital. It is situated near Great Victoria Street, one of Belfast's premier commercial zones, and Sandy Row. It is also in a more central position than Lanyon Place, with the Europa Hotel, Grand Opera House and The Crown Liquor Saloon all nearby.
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The dissident Irish republican campaign began at the end of the Troubles, a 30-year political conflict in Northern Ireland. Since the Provisional Irish Republican Army called a ceasefire and ended its campaign in 1997, breakaway groups opposed to the ceasefire and to the peace agreements have continued a low-level armed campaign against the security forces in Northern Ireland. The main paramilitaries involved are the Real IRA, Continuity IRA and formerly Óglaigh na hÉireann. They have targeted the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) and the British Army in gun and bomb attacks as well as with mortars and rockets. They have also carried out bombings that are meant to cause disruption. However, their campaign has not been as intensive as the Provisional IRA's, and political support for groups such as the Real IRA is "tending towards zero".
Great Victoria Street in Belfast, Northern Ireland, is a major thoroughfare located in the city centre and is one of the important streets used by pedestrians alighting from Belfast Great Victoria Street railway station and walking into shopping streets such as Royal Avenue.
The Harp Bar was a public house and live music venue based in Hill Street, central Belfast, Northern Ireland. It's notable in the context of punk rock history, particularly music from Northern Ireland. It was owned between 1977 and 1984 by Patrick (Patsy) Lennon who some years later built and owned the Limelight nightclub and Dome Bar.
Subsequent to her loss of the 2016 United States presidential election, Hillary Clinton retired from electoral politics and has since engaged in a number of activities.
