The Europa Hotel is a four-star

Star (classification)

Stars are often used as symbols for classification purposes. They are used by reviewers for ranking things such as movies, TV shows, restaurants, and hotels. For example, one to five stars is commonly employed to categorize hotels.-Restaurant ratings:...

 hotel in Great Victoria Street, Belfast

Belfast

Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...

, Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...

. It has hosted presidents, prime ministers and celebrities, including President Bill Clinton

Bill Clinton

William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...

 during his visits to Belfast in 1995 and 1998.

It is known as the "most bombed hotel in Europe" and the "most bombed hotel in the world" after having suffered 28 bomb attacks during the Troubles

The Troubles

The Troubles was a period of ethno-political conflict in Northern Ireland which spilled over at various times into England, the Republic of Ireland, and mainland Europe. The duration of the Troubles is conventionally dated from the late 1960s and considered by many to have ended with the Belfast...

.

Features

The hotel has 272 bedrooms following major refurbishment, including 92 executive suites. On the first floor is the Piano Bar Restaurant and there is also a bistro and bar. It also has a Eurobusiness centre, conference and exhibition centre and 16 flexible conference and banqueting suites, as well as a 12th-floor penthouse suite.

History

It opened in July 1971 and was built on the site of the former Great Northern Railway

Great Northern Railway (Ireland)

The Great Northern Railway was an Irish gauge railway company in Ireland.The Great Northern was formed in 1876 by a merger of the Irish North Western Railway , Northern Railway of Ireland, and Ulster Railway. The Ulster Railway was the GNRI's oldest constituent, having opened between Belfast and...

 station. The architects were Sydney Kaye, Eric Firkin & Partners and the building height was 51 metres. During the Troubles

The Troubles

The Troubles was a period of ethno-political conflict in Northern Ireland which spilled over at various times into England, the Republic of Ireland, and mainland Europe. The duration of the Troubles is conventionally dated from the late 1960s and considered by many to have ended with the Belfast...

, the hotel, where most journalists covering the Troubles stayed, was known as Europe’s most bombed hotel, earning the name “the Hardboard Hotel”. The hotel was blown up by the Provisional IRA in 1993 and damaged so badly that it sold for only £4.4m.

The Europa Hotel became part of the Hastings Hotels group on 3 August 1993, whereupon it was announced that it would close for the first time in its 22-year history to allow for major refurbishment. Following an £8m investment, the hotel reopened in February 1994, the first official event being the Flax Trust Ball, a gala evening for 500 local and international dignitaries. President Clinton and First Lady, Hillary Rodham Clinton

Hillary Rodham Clinton

Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton is the 67th United States Secretary of State, serving in the administration of President Barack Obama. She was a United States Senator for New York from 2001 to 2009. As the wife of the 42nd President of the United States, Bill Clinton, she was the First Lady of the...

 stayed in the hotel in November 1995. The presidential entourage booked 110 rooms at the hotel. The suite used by the Clintons was subsequently renamed the Clinton Suite.

Started in early 2008, an extension to the hotel increased the height of a rear wing of the hotel by seven floors to twelve and increased bedrooms from 240 to 272. The extension was designed by Robinson McIlwaine Architects and was completed late in 2008.

General Managers

The following men have served as General Manager

General manager

General manager is a descriptive term for certain executives in a business operation. It is also a formal title held by some business executives, most commonly in the hospitality industry.-Generic usage:...

 of the hotel.

• 1971-1984: Harper Brown.
• 1984-1986: John O'Carroll.
• 1993-2003: John Toner.
• 2003- : James McGinn.

Lobby Lives

Two series of a BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 documentary

Documentary film

Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...

 series Lobby Lives were filmed at the hotel.

The Europa Hotel - Bombs, Bullets and Business as Usual

An hour long documentary

Documentary film

Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...

 called The Europa Hotel - Bombs, Bullets and Business as Usual to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Europa Hotel was aired on BBC1 Northern Ireland on 26th September 2011. Produced and Directed by Richard Weller, the documentary tracked those eventful 40 years through the eyes of a diverse array of contributors.