{"id":8573,"date":"2020-10-14T16:00:48","date_gmt":"2020-10-14T15:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theathenaeum.org.uk\/?p=8573"},"modified":"2020-10-15T11:09:18","modified_gmt":"2020-10-15T10:09:18","slug":"reciprocal-review-ultster-reform-club","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enda.studiodev.co.uk\/wp\/reciprocal-review-ultster-reform-club\/","title":{"rendered":"Reciprocal Review: Ulster Reform Club"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On a typical Irish summer\u2019s day (gale force winds,\nhorizontal rain), we were lucky enough to take refuge in the Ulster Reform Club\nin the heart of Belfast. Being founded in the 1880s, it is one of our more\nmodern reciprocals, but clearly has its traditions and they are well\nmaintained. The Club is on Royal Avenue, a main shopping street, if you know\nthe area it is an unassuming entrance between the Castle Court Shopping Centre\nand the recently (and tragically) burned out historic Primark store. Once\ninside, the Club is anything but unassuming, and has maintained much of the\nVictorian splendour and style it must have enjoyed when first opened. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, we visited in the midst of COVID precautions, we\nhad booked for lunch and the welcome and efficiency could not have been\nbettered. We were greeted warmly at the door, a greeting which grew warmer when\nit was disclosed we were from the Liverpool reciprocal. In our new norm, we\nwere safely sterilised, escorted up the stairs to the dining room,\nre-sterilised, lightly sprayed with Dettol and shown to our table \u2013 quite\nrightly, no germ was going to get the better of this Club! All staff wore\n\u201cClub\u201d face coverings and (stereotypes aside) whilst you could not see the\nsmiles, the \u201cIrish eyes\u201d always smiled. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The lunch was excellent and portions very hearty. All food was homemade from local suppliers, complemented by a very exciting wine list (see https:\/\/www.ulsterreformclub.com\/dining<\/a> for the daily menu and wine offering). The dining room was well populated, and quite formal (all gents with jacket and tie for lunch), with tables clearly being \u201cCOVID spaced\u201d. Fabulous food is one thing, but the visit was made special by the staff, so friendly and welcoming, just as you\u2019d hope for in a reciprocal Club. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The downside was not being able to see all the Club, out of\nrespect to the COVID restrictions. However out of such hardship and adversity\nthere is always opportunity \u2013 it does give us an excellent reason to return!\nThere is always a very warm welcome in Northern Ireland, and Belfast in\nparticular, especially when you mention Liverpool, and the Ulster Reform Club\ntypified this \u2013 visiting was a splendid experience and one of the real\nprivileges of Athenaeum membership. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark and Adrienne Cronin<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On a typical Irish summer\u2019s day (gale force winds, horizontal rain), we were lucky enough to take refuge in the Ulster Reform Club in the heart of Belfast. Being founded in the 1880s, it is one of our more modern reciprocals, but clearly has its traditions and they are well maintained. The Club is on … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11556,"featured_media":8578,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,61],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8573","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-general-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/enda.studiodev.co.uk\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/db9ab3fc-b11c-4fe3-a15c-e0a793a616b2.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/enda.studiodev.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8573","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/enda.studiodev.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/enda.studiodev.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enda.studiodev.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11556"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enda.studiodev.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8573"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/enda.studiodev.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8573\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8577,"href":"https:\/\/enda.studiodev.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8573\/revisions\/8577"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enda.studiodev.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8578"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/enda.studiodev.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enda.studiodev.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enda.studiodev.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}