Today we visit the Malone Road, a leafy and affluent suburb of south Belfast, and specifically the most exclusive residential street in Belfast, Malone Park. It even comes with a gate lodge at either end.
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We walk the 1km length of this private road in this video, which is gated at either end. In fact, the gates at the bottom end on the Lisburn Road side, as you’ll see, are kept locked so as to stop traffic using the road as a thoroughfare. So vehicular access is only from the Malone Road and therefore is strictly for residence only. These beautiful houses admittedly look modest enough from the path, but extend quite far back, others have separate dwellings or grannie flats on the same plot, and others are just nothing short of mansions. It’s a very exclusive area. The street even has its own website, which you must log into to access.
So, who lives here. Well, people who earn a lot of money. Wikipedia cites Lady Dixon (who gave her name to a large parkland not far from here) as being a previous resident. Also, Sir George Clark 1st baronet (I have to confess to having no idea what a first baronet does - not very much I suspect) and David Wilson Smyth, the high Sheriff of Down (that sounds like quite an occupation). Wikipedia describes the street as traditionally being the home to wealthy Protestants, though it now considers it a mixed area. Such is the changing demographic of Belfast.
The beautiful trees that line the avenue are Lime trees and I imagine the residents in the street must pay for the upkeep of this impressive road as well as the trees and verges along it. That can’t be cheap.
Recently Belfast Council approved a plan to extend and renovate one of the houses in the street. This was to include a new garage, parking space, alterations to the driveway and new entrance gates and pillars. Planning was approved, but it was fought all the way by objectors. People who live here do not like change in their immediate environment. Actually, it’s designated a conservation area.
Just looking at these lovely houses from the road, you can see that some have their own tennis courts, I’d imagine some must have swimming pools and most, considering how close we are to the city centre, have an amazing amount of space around them. The architecture is mostly Victorian, although there are a couple of new builds and some house that are influenced by the Arts and Crafts movement. Because of the large amount of open space, these trees and the area in general seems to be a haven for squirrels. You see a lot of them around here. I think if I were a squirrel I’d move in here too.
Everything just looks so well kept and the autumn leaves make it all the more beautiful, though I’ve noticed that you sometimes see gardeners out on the road with leaf blowers.
In Belfast house prices are relatively low compared to other major cities in Ireland and the UK, but I think you’d be talking about a minimum of £2 million plus for most of these houses and I hate to estimate what that upper end of the market might yield.
It’s such a lovely place for a walk, particularly at this time of year, in Autumn with the leaves crunching underfoot. Actually, people often walk their dogs up here and you get the occasional jogger too.
Please let me know in the comments if you walk in the street, or perhaps you own one of the houses here or know someone who does, we’d love to hear from you.
It’s interesting sometimes to see the fleets of cars outside these houses too. No bangers. Ranger Rovers and German executive cars, and maybe the one-off smaller car belonging to the teenage children? You’ll notice people don’t seem to park on the road itself. I wonder if that’s actively discouraged.
The Lisburn Road up ahead, that we’ll be emerging onto, unlike the Malone Road is a very busy area populated by retail outlets and businesses, which is probably why they keep the gates closed at this end.
If you want to live here, start saving, and I’ll see you very soon in the next Naked Ireland video.
8 сен 2024
