Days Out NI
Music & arts centre Belfast

The Duncairn Centre for Culture & Arts

North Belfast arts centre with a café open six days, craft classes for every skill level, and one of the city's best trad and folk gig rooms.

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Free inFamilies welcome by day
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Free inTickets
Arts centreAll ages by day
Families OKDaytime
Food servedFood
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The Duncairn Centre for Culture & Arts — North Belfast arts centre with a café open six days, craft classes for every skill level, and one of the city's best trad and folk gig rooms.

  • Who it's for: families welcome by day for the café, shop and family events; evening concerts are ticketed and vary by show.
  • Music: trad, folk and roots concerts, Belfast Tradfest and Fleadh fringe dates, plus music classes and set dancing.
  • Tickets: café and shop free to enter; concerts ticketed, prices on each event listing; classes booked separately.
  • Food: yes, Café at the Duncairn, Monday to Saturday.
Plan your visit

The café and the daytime visit

The Café at the Duncairn serves Monday to Saturday: tea and coffee, freshly baked bread, scones and pastries, handmade sausage rolls, international treats and soups. It is open to the public, no ticket needed. Pair it with the art shop and a look at whatever visual art is hanging, and you have an easy hour in North Belfast that costs the price of lunch.

Café open Monday to Saturday, walk in Craft and art classes from ceramics to basket weaving Irish language, set dancing and uilleann piping classes Trad, folk and roots concerts through the year Family events in the Fleadh Cheoil 2026 fringe Art shop on site
Good to know before you go:

The 2026 calendar runs from Fleadh Community Fringe nights in July and August through a Moving on Music autumn season and into Belfast City Council's Teenage Kicks strand in November. Confirmed dates include John Spillane and Lorraine Nash on 18 July, Na Máistrí for Belfast Tradfest on 27 July, The Breath on 5 August, Réalta on 13 September, Malin Lewis Trio on 25 September, Rachel Grace on 9 October, Kris Drever on 24 October and The Friel Sisters on 7 November.

Before you set off

What to bring

  • 🎶An ear for a tuneTraditional sessions are free to sit in on — you just find a seat and listen.
  • 🕑An eye on the timeAfternoon sessions suit families; most rooms turn over-18s later in the evening.
  • 💷A bit of cashFor food, and for the hat if the musicians pass one round.
  • 📱The what’s-on pageSession nights and gigs move around — check before you travel.
Good to know

Everything before you go

Type
community arts centre with a café, classes and a concert space
Who it's for
families welcome by day for the café, shop and family events; evening concerts are ticketed and vary by show
Music
trad, folk and roots concerts, Belfast Tradfest and Fleadh fringe dates, plus music classes and set dancing
Tickets
café and shop free to enter; concerts ticketed, prices on each event listing; classes booked separately
Food
yes, Café at the Duncairn, Monday to Saturday
Parking
on-street parking on and around Duncairn Avenue
Address
Duncairn Avenue, Belfast, Co Antrim BT14 6BP
Questions

Before you go

Can we bring the kids?
families welcome by day for the café, shop and family events; evening concerts are ticketed and vary by show
What's the music like?
trad, folk and roots concerts, Belfast Tradfest and Fleadh fringe dates, plus music classes and set dancing
Do I need a ticket?
café and shop free to enter; concerts ticketed, prices on each event listing; classes booked separately
Do they do food?
yes, Café at the Duncairn, Monday to Saturday
Getting there

The Duncairn Centre for Culture & Arts is at Duncairn Avenue, Belfast, Co Antrim BT14 6BP. on-street parking on and around Duncairn Avenue. Tap below for directions.

Directions on Google MapsOfficial website See it on our map
Nearby

Make more of the day

More days out around BelfastSee what else is close by More live music across NISessions, gigs and music centres
The story

Arts at the heart of North Belfast since 2014

That is the Duncairn's own description of itself, and it has held to it. The centre opened in 2014 and has built a programme that treats North Belfast as an audience worth serving properly rather than an area to be visited.

In 2026 it is delivering a citywide fringe programme for Fleadh Cheoil, taking music, poetry, theatre, film, visual arts and family events into North, East, South and West Belfast. A community arts centre exporting a programme across the whole city is a good sign of how it is run.