One of Belfast’s best known nightlife spots has closed its doors for the last time as it is set to make way for more than 200 student apartments.
Filthy McNasty’s and its sister cocktail lounge Liquor XXX on the Dublin Road both closed their doors for the final time on new year’s eve.
It’s understood staff at the venues were initially told the bars would close at the end of January, but were later told days before the new year that it would not reopen in January.
Plans were submitted to Belfast City Council in December 2022 and approved a year later to demolish the current site and convert it into 201 student accommodation units.
FMN Properties Ltd is the company behind the latest student accommodation development to be proposed for Belfast city centre.
A separate planning application lodged by FMN Properties proposed turning a former car garage across the road on Ventry Street into a new public house.
Both FMN and Filthy McNasty’s parent company Bachus Group are ultimately owned by former Co Tyrone pharmacist Peter Dolan, who went on to become one of the north’s most prominent property developers before the 2008 collapse eventually resulted in bankruptcy.
Prior to Filthy McNasty’s opening in 2009 it had been known as Dempseys, which closed in September 2007 after being badly damaged in a fire.
In a post on social media on new year’s eve, Liquor XXX said: “So as I’m sure you’ve heard today is our last day on the Dublin Road.
“We’ve shared some amazing memories with every single person who’s walked through our doors and we would like to say a massive thank you to everyone who has supported us over the years.”
A post on Filthy McNasty’s advertising a new year’s eve party at the venue said it was the “final chapter in our story” as “we close our doors for good”.
The management of Filthy McNasty’s has been contacted for a statement.
A 20 foot mural advertising disgraced MMA fighter Conor McGregor’s Forged Irish Stout brand on the side of the Dublin Road premises remains in place, despite management saying in November it would remove the mural following a successful civil damages claim against him by a woman who said he raped her six years ago in a Dublin hotel.