The Merchant Hotel is a 5 star hotel located in the Cathedral Quarter and occupies the former headquarters of the Ulster Bank. The building, designed by Scottish architect James Hamilton, cost just £30,000 to build. Opened in 1860 it has been home to a functioning bank throughout its history until a few years before the Merchant Hotel opened.

The £10million hotel opened in April 2006 after two years of restoring the Grade-A listed property.

The original brief given to the designers was to make the hotel the “most beautiful hotel in the world”. Taking on this task were local architects Consarc Design Group and Dublin based interior designers O’Donnell O’Neill Design Associates.

The Merchant Hotel won the Commercial Development of the Year Award at the Belfast Telegraph’s 2006 Property Awards.

In November 2006 an expansion of the hotel was announced which was followed by planning approval in May 2008. Demolition of the properties located on the site of the extension where demolished in August 2008 and construction on the £16m extension began in early 2009. The 38 new bedrooms (the largest in the city) will be completed, along with a Jazz Bar, Spa, Gym and Roof-top Garden, in mid-2010. Consarc Design Group who were also involved in the restoration and renovation of the original Merchant Hotel building have been brought back to work on the extension and have designed an art-deco style building with frontages onto both Skipper Street and High Street. It was reported in the press that Skipper Street could potentially be pedestrianised when the Merchant Hotel and National Hotel are completed. This has not been confirmed but Bill Wolsey (owner of the Merchant) had expressed his intentions to contribute to such an idea at the time.

Original Architect - James Hamilton  

Interior Design: O’Donnell O’Neill Deisgn