Tenant Stories
Outpost Post-Production: A Journey into the World of TV, Film & Cinema
How Robin Morgan grew Outpost Post-Production from a one-man band into a full-service post-production house at Portview Trade Centre.
Read moreNews, stories and the Portview archive
Follow what is happening across Portview today and explore the stories that have shaped the site over time - from business growth and learning partnerships to heritage, regeneration, events and the changing life of Strand Spinning Mill.
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Portview News
Ulster Watercolour Society returns to Portview for a second year
More than 2,000 people visited the Ulster Watercolour Society’s 49th Annual Exhibition at Portview, held alongside master workshops with professional artists.
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Portview News
Hop to it: Belfast Beer & Cider Festival returns to Banana Block
CAMRA’s Belfast Beer & Cider Festival is back at Banana Block from Thursday 5 to Saturday 7 November, with more than 150 beers and ciders, live music and street food.
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Portview News
Stepping back in time: walking history tours at Portview
22 people joined walking history tours of the former Strand Spinning Mill on 10 and 24 October, led by photographer and author Rebecca Brownlie of Abandoned NI.
Read moreFrom the Archive
A New Purpose for the Mill: The Making of Portview
How the Belfast Development Agency transformed a former spinning mill into workspace for independent businesses, creating a new chapter for the Newtownards Road.
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Regenerating the Mill
Listening before designing: how East Belfast helped shape Portview’s future
How residents, tenants, young people and partners helped shape the future of Portview.
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Tenant Stories
Leadership consultancy TOWARD makes Portview its Belfast base
Leadership and coaching consultancy TOWARD has made Portview its Belfast base, bringing an established professional-services business into the site’s tenant mix.
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Tenant Stories
Thompson Clarke expands its studio at Portview
Long-standing Portview tenant Thompson Clarke expanded its studio footprint in 2025 as its Belfast interior design team continued to grow.
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Portview News
Opening the doors to Strand Spinning Mill
Portview opened the former Strand Spinning Mill for European Heritage Open Days, giving visitors a closer look at its history, architecture and ongoing reuse.
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Portview News
Portview joins partners to focus on East Belfast’s economic future
Portview joined EastSide Partnership and East Belfast Enterprise to support a new conference focused on inclusive, place-based economic growth in East Belfast.
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Tenant Stories
McGonigle McGrath’s Tollymore wins major RIBA awards
Portview-based McGonigle McGrath added to its award record in 2026 as Tollymore was named Northern Ireland Building of the Year and received a RIBA National Award.
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Regenerating the Mill
Five ideas that shaped the Portview masterplan — and what happened next
Heritage, skills, resilience, employment and tourism — and what happened next.
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Tenant Stories
Behind the scenes: Shoot Communications at Portview
From major television productions to festivals and live events, Portview-based Shoot Communications supplies the communications infrastructure that helps complex productions run.
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Portview News
RENDR 2026 brings global creative talent to Portview
RENDR returned to Portview and Banana Block for two days of talks and experiences spanning film, gaming, animation, immersive technology and digital art.
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Regenerating the Mill
Building the evidence for the Mill’s future
How surveys, design, business planning and specialist studies created the evidence base for regeneration.
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Portview News
Building Skills, Supporting Business: Investing in Our Business Community
Five fully funded workplace training workshops supported 48 participants from 13 businesses at Portview Trade Centre, thanks to Urban Villages capacity-building funding from The Executive Office.
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Regenerating the Mill
From investment to partnerships: what the 2020 Heritage Project unlocked
How the 2020 project created new relationships around heritage, skills and regeneration.
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Portview News
Our Freedom: young filmmakers and an east Belfast story at the Mill
In 2025, Portview hosted a youth film-making workshop and a showcase for Our Freedom: Then and Now, Strand Arts Centre’s project on what freedom meant in east Belfast in 1945 and what it means today.
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Learning & Impact
Learning across borders at Portview
An International Fund for Ireland project delivered by BURC with LMETB brought schools together around advanced manufacturing, with Portview providing a setting for learning and exchange.
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Tenant Stories
From car boot to growing business: The Green East at Portview
The Green East grew from selling houseplants from a car into a Portview-based retail and plant consultancy business serving homes, offices, hospitality and events.
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Learning & Impact
Boom Clap Play brings creative Art Clubs to Portview
Children explored character design, printmaking, life drawing and sensory play through three creative Art Clubs held at Portview with Boom Clap Play and PlayBoard NI.
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Portview News
Portview 'Exchange' funding and business case update
£600,000 Council funding is committed towards Portview Exchange, while the business case for primary funding through The Executive Office’s Urban Villages programme remains under consideration.
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Tenant Stories
From Banana Block to three Belfast locations: Bodega Bagels grows across the city
Bodega Bagels grew from a home-based start-up and Banana Block resident into a Belfast food brand with three permanent locations across the city.
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Learning & Impact
Young innovators showcase advanced manufacturing ideas at Portview
Students from Belfast and County Louth showcased 3D-printed ideas at Portview after a year of cross-border learning and collaboration.
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Regenerating the Mill
A destination within a destination: opening Portview to new audiences
How Portview began testing the idea of opening the Mill to visitors and wider public activity.
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Tenant Stories
Design with a Belfast base: Thought Collective at Portview
Thought Collective combines branding, graphic design and digital work from studios in Belfast and Dublin, with its Belfast team based at Portview Mill.
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Tenant Stories
Storybox grows from studio to shop at Portview
Storybox NI expanded its Portview presence in 2024, adding a public-facing shop to its studio and creating a new space for ethical gifting, workshops and local makers.
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Portview News
Portview shortlisted for Belfast’s Best Business Hub
Portview was shortlisted for the 2024 Aisling Award for Best Business Hub alongside three other Belfast business centres.
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Portview News
Shared Island proposal for new learning opportunities at Portview
Portview and LMETB AMTCE are seeking Shared Island support for a proposed advanced manufacturing and technology learning facility in East Belfast. The application remains pending.
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Portview News
Portview helps shape a new vision for the Newtownards Road
Portview contributed to the wider regeneration conversation behind Our Vision for Newtownards Road 2030, a five-year plan for the East Belfast corridor.
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From the Archive
Understanding the Mill: what the 2020 condition survey revealed
What the 2020 condition survey revealed about Strand Spinning Mill’s historic fabric, repair needs and approach to conservation
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Learning & Impact
International Fund for Ireland invests £276,561 in two BURC skills programmes
IFI committed £276,561 to two BURC-led programmes supporting young people through advanced manufacturing training, qualifications and cross-border learning.
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Portview News
International learning for Portview’s next chapter
Gareth Neill, Portview’s Operations & Development Manager, joined a three-week leadership exchange in the United States, exploring enterprise, innovation and social enterprise with delegates from around the world.
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Learning & Impact
More than 200 students take part in cross-border manufacturing programme
More than 200 students from eight schools took part in an advanced manufacturing programme delivered by BURC and LMETB with FIT and IFI support.
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Learning & Impact
US Special Envoy visits Portview as $100,000 digital skills programme launches
The Irish American Partnership launched a $100,000 digital skills programme with FIT at Portview, designed to support 350 participants over three years.
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Tenant Stories
Monday’s Child grows at Portview
Independent jewellery brand Monday’s Child opened a new Portview store, moving from online growth into a distinctive bricks-and-mortar customer experience.
Read moreTenant Stories
Contagious Creativity at Creative Exchange
Creative Exchange gives local artists affordable studio space at Portview, building a creative community whose members exhibit and sell their work in Belfast and around the world.
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Portview News
East Block Bazaar grows at Portview
East Block Bazaar developed into a regular Portview marketplace, giving independent traders a platform and bringing new audiences into Banana Block.
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From the Archive
Half Timers brings Belfast’s linen story back into the Mill
Roma Tomelty’s Half Timers was revived at Portview, bringing a play about young linen workers back into a former Belfast spinning mill.
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Learning & Impact
International Fund for Ireland backs cross-border manufacturing skills project
The International Fund for Ireland awarded £112,389 to BURC and LMETB for a cross-border schools programme focused on advanced manufacturing and STEM careers.
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Learning & Impact
F.I.T brings employment focused learning to Portview
Our on-site education partner FIT delivered employment academy training at Portview, connecting local learning with technology and financial services opportunities through Belfast City Council programmes.
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Tenant Stories
Boundary Brewing expands from Portview into hospitality
Boundary Brewing opened a permanent taproom at Portview and took on the leasehold management of The John Hewitt, marking a major expansion into hospitality.
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Learning & Impact
Portview signs landmark Ireland–US innovation and skills agreement
Portview joined partners in Dundalk and Pittsburgh in a cross-border, transatlantic agreement focused on advanced manufacturing, skills and economic opportunity.
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From the Archive
BBC Radio 4 visits Banana Block
BBC Radio 4’s Farming Today visited Banana Block in early 2022 to explore how part of the former Strand Mill had become a new home for events, food and growing.
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From the Archive
Banana Block opens its doors
Banana Block opened at Portview in October 2021, transforming part of the former mill into a new space for heritage, events, enterprise and culture.
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Learning & Impact
Portview’s advanced manufacturing partnership gains shared-island recognition
Portview’s partnership with the Advanced Manufacturing Training Centre of Excellence in Dundalk formed part of a growing all-island approach to future skills and manufacturing.
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Tenant Stories
Sound Advice opens at Banana Block
DJ and producer Marion Hawkes opened Sound Advice at Banana Block, bringing a new independent record shop and music destination to Portview.
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From the Archive
When Banana Block began to take shape
Tourism NI investment, matched by Portview, helped transform around 700 sq m of vacant mill space into the project that would become Banana Block.
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From the Archive
A Dutch masterpiece comes to Portview
Jan van Huysum’s 18th-century masterpiece Flowers in a Terracotta Vase was displayed at Portview as part of a UK-wide National Gallery tour.
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From the Archive
Portview and National Museums NI establish heritage partnership
By the end of 2021, Portview and National Museums NI had formalised a partnership to explore new ways of conserving, interpreting and sharing the heritage of Strand Spinning Mill.
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From the Archive
Capturing the memories of Strand Spinning Mill
Portview invited former mill workers, their families and the East Belfast community to help preserve the stories and social history of Strand Spinning Mill.
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From the Archive
Heritage Fund investment supports the future of Strand Spinning Mill
A £221,200 National Lottery Heritage Fund award helped Portview begin developing a sustainable long-term vision for the former Strand Spinning Mill.
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Tenant Stories
Root & Branch finds room to grow at Portview
Root & Branch moved its coffee roastery into the former Strand Spinning Mill, gaining the space it needed for roasting, storage, training and a public coffee bar.
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Tenant Stories
Room to grow: Zenith Networks expands at Portview
Belfast IT company Zenith Networks moved into a 4,000 sq ft Portview office, tripling its operating space and creating room for further growth.
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