The Europa Hotel is a four-star hotel in Great Victoria Street, Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. The Great Survivor - The Europa Hotel - geograph

The Great Survivor - The Europa Hotel - geograph

It is known as the "most bombed hotel in the world" after having suffered 36 bomb attacks during

the Troubles The Troubles () were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted for about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it began in the late 1960s and is usually deemed t ...

History

The Europa Hotel was constructed by

Grand Metropolitan Grand Metropolitan plc was a leisure, manufacturing and property conglomerate headquartered in England. The company was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index until it merged with Guinness plc to form ...

and designed by architects Sydney Kaye, Eric Firkin & Partners. It opened in July 1971. It was built on the site of the former Great Northern Railway station and stands 51 metres high. During

The Troubles The Troubles () were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted for about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it began in the late 1960s and is usually deemed t ...

, the hotel, where most journalists covering the Troubles stayed, was known as Europe’s most bombed hotel, earning the name "the Hardboard Hotel". 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. After a bomb placed by the

Provisional IRA The Provisional Irish Republican Army (Provisional IRA), officially known as the Irish Republican Army (IRA; ) and informally known as the Provos, was an Irish republican paramilitary force that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland ...

at the hotel badly damaged the building, it was sold for £4.4M. 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 Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer and diplomat. She was the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, a U.S. senator represent ...

stayed in the hotel in November 1995; the suite used by the Clintons was subsequently renamed the Clinton Suite. The presidential entourage booked 110 rooms at the hotel. 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. 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.

In popular culture

Documentaries

*Two series of a

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

documentary series ''Lobby Lives'' were filmed at the hotel. *The

filmed a further six part documentary series titled ''The Hotel People'', broadcast nationally on

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matte ...

from 22 August 2022. The series was filmed in 2021 as the hotel emerged from the UK wide lockdowns and

Covid-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

restrictions. *''The Europa Hotel – Bombs, Bullets and Business as Usual'' (26 September 2011) is an hour-long documentary aired on

BBC One Northern Ireland BBC One Northern Ireland is a Northern Irish free-to-air television channel owned and operated by BBC Northern Ireland. It is the Northern Irish variation of the UK-wide BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television ...

. Produced and directed by Richard Weller, the documentary tracked those eventful 40 years through the eyes of a diverse array of contributors. * In the BBC TV programme ''Great British Railway Journeys'' (Series 3, Episode 24), Michael Portillo visited the hotel and stayed in the room occupied by US President Bill Clinton in 1995. *In the 60 Minutes Australian TV program,
Special Investigation: Spies, Lords and Predators.
' Produced by Stephen Rice and reported on by Ross Coulthart, th''e'' hotel is featured as a known hub for serial predatory abusers who would meet at the hotel’s bar, Whip and Saddle, during the 1970s - the actual sexual abuse inflicted on victims by many prominent and powerful men in various hotel rooms.

Television

*In ''Sons of Anarchy'', season 3, episode 11 ("Bainne"), the couple who adopted Abel stay at, and are assassinated in, the Europa Hotel.

Novels

*The opening of Adrian McKinty's ''Dead I Well May Be'' occurs in the aftermath of an IRA bombing of the hotel.

References