Twelve decades of history in east Belfast.

The Watson name has been synonymous with estate agency in the east of the city since 1889 when W.J. Watson established the firm only one year after the rank of city was conferred by royal charter upon Belfast.

The Sydenham Tramway was also opened in 1889 and was part of a once extensive public transport system that made it much easier for the population to connect to the centre of Belfast across the River Lagan and become part of a growing Belfast, the Albert Bridge was built in 1890. Infrastructure was vitally important in helping C19 east Belfast develop from a group of small villages and agricultural land into the largest of Belfast’s four parliamentary constituencies and the leading industrial powerhouse of C20 Ireland in only a few decades.

The rapid development of heavy industries in east Belfast attracted families and workers into town from the countryside and this part of the city soon played a major role in the manufacture of ocean liners, aircraft, rope, tobacco processing, engineering, metalwork and glasswork. East Belfast once boasted the world’s largest shipyards and the world’s largest rope works and was the childhood home to such greats as Chronicles of Narnia writer C.S. Lewis, many talented footballers including George Best, F1 racing driver and motor sports journalist John Watson, Grammy Award winning musician Van Morrison and popular local radio presenter George Jones. In C19 Herr Gustav Wilhelm Wolff, the co-founder of Harland and Wollf shipbuilders and the Belfast Ropeworks chose to make east Belfast both his home and workplace; many entrepreneurs have made the same choices since.  As the population of Victorian and Edwardian Belfast grew, so did the numerous rows of artisan housing, and the modest detached houses of the emerging middle classes. From the 1930’s, Belfast began to build the popular suburban semi and many good examples of the earliest and most attractive type of semi are to be found in the Castlereagh area. Post WW2 saw the construction of some large scale social housing projects, the clearing and redevelopment of the poorest quality housing and in line with the decline in the heavier industries, the migration of many of these displaced inhabitants to the developing commuter towns like Bangor and Newtownards. Since WW2 home ownership gradually became possible for many people and many of the houses that were originally built for the rental market are now owner occupied, many have changed hands many times as new people have made their home in this part of the city.

Nowadays east Belfast is evolving to become an increasingly high standard residential area for all, offering a wide range of property types and benefiting from many restaurants, shopping and leisure facilities such as the Odyssey Arena, Strand Cinema, Dundonald International Ice Bowl, Holywood Exchange (Featuring the UK’s largest Ikea outlet) Connswater Retail Centre. Traditional grocery shopping still thrives particularly on the Belmont, Cregagh and Woodstock Roads and in Ballyhackamore and Dundonald villages, with many friendly small businesses offering a wide variety of produce and providing an important service to local communities. Shoppers who favour the formulaic blandness of the supermarket experience are also well provided for as there is an abundance of such superstores across east Belfast. Good schools and important institutions such as the Stormont Parliament Building, Belfast City Airport, and the Ulster Hospital; a number of sports grounds; heritage gems such as the art deco style Strand Cinema, the charming and tranquil Cyprus Avenue and the once typical cobbled McMaster Street, Belfast’s only listed street. There are also public parks including Sydenham, Orangefield and Belmont and the new SUSTANS cycle path and nature walk leading all the way from Dee Street to Comber. More recently east Belfast has also become home to the first ever Polish restaurant in Belfast!

Since the Victorian era the Watson family have continuously been part of the growth and development of east Belfast and as one of the longest established family estate agencies in Northern Ireland we continue to serve local people well into the 21st century.