A few years ago I found myself in Belfast, in need of a night’s accommodation. It wasn’t long after the second lockdown; Airbnbs were scarce. I went browsing through the local hotels until one caught my eye.
It was called The Harrison Chambers of Distinction. The photos looked a riot: fantastically decorated rooms, artwork spanning every era from Victorian onwards, freestanding baths, gaudy wallpaper, sculptures of various animals. It was hospitality by way of a Lewis Carroll fever dream. I abandoned the initial plan of finding the cheapest possible digs that weren’t a health hazard and booked it on the spot.
The hotel had only been open a few months, a good portion was still a building site. Whatever, I was totally smitten. It had character: the character of an eccentric yet delightful great aunt who rode a moped and drank neat tequila from a coupe. To be more specific, it had the character of its owner Melanie Harrison. I don’t know if Mel’s a great aunt – she seems too young – or whether she rides a moped but she’s certainly delightful and I suspect has enjoyed a few tequilas in her time. All hotel owners must be a little eccentric, especially the successful ones – that's where the brilliance comes from.
The breakfast conservatory
It’s a terrible cliche but true here: returning to the Harrison felt like catching up with an old friend. In case, an old friend who’s experienced a massive glow-up and become incredibly popular. Music videos, TV shows and films have been shot here in recent years; multiple celebrities are returning guests. The hotel has doubled in size since my last visit; the building site has transformed into a bar and breakfast conservatory.
Over the years, Mel has expanded across five townhouses – navigating the place is an adventure unto itself. There are maps on each floor to assist but honestly, it’s more fun to wander the stairs and corridors, encountering all sorts of weird and wonderful things along the way – oh look, it’s a frog in a tricorne. Here’s a bookcase that guests are encouraged to borrow from. Right, where exactly am I?
I visited just before Christmas. Mel was naturally swept off her feet, hosting a gig in the conservatory and a Christmas party in her own apartment, which is situated in one of the townhouses. She still made time for a catchup cocktail. Like the hotel itself, Mel is a fabulous dresser: that afternoon she wore a flowing kimono accessorised with a massive Cupid pendant. I try one of the bespoke cocktails, a delicious twist on a margarita only made with poitín. The wine is French, the beer Irish – and brewed by Seamus Heaney’s niece.
A tour of the rooms
As we chat, the singer Dana Masters is rehearsing down the other end of the room ahead of her performance that evening. Gigs and performances are a constant fixture of the Harrison. This is a place seeped in creativity and culture, rather like Belfast itself. Mel tells me there are now three jazz bars in Belfast, up from zero a few years ago. Later I listen to Masters from the bar – the conservatory is totally booked up. She’s fantastic and earns a standing ovation after her final song.
The Harrison is very much a family affair. Mel’s father Derek played a massive role in setting up the hotel, while her property developer brother has proved great help with the many expansions. One of her sons is working behind the bar while back from university, sporting a mustache that gives strong Paul Mescal vibes. However Mel is the visionary, the person responsible for creating a hotel unlike any other in the country.
Take the bar, christened Napoleon’s Nose. The entire back wall is painted with a blown-up reproduction of View of Cavehill from the Lagan by Irish painter Hugh Frazer – a supposed inspiration for Jonathan Swift when writing Gulliver's Travels. Another wall has three toucans taking flight. The magnificent curtains once belonged to the Bulgarian embassy. A gigantic chandelier. And of course there’s a sculpture of a nose, tricolour and a tricolour for old Boney. Mel recently purchased a Battle of Waterloo chess set for the adjacent snug.
Napoleon's Nose bar
Every room – or chamber – is named after someone with a notable connection to Belfast and specifically decorated with that person in mind. So the CS Lewis Suite has a typewriter, lion-embroidered cushions and a wardrobe filled with fur coats. The Lewis Carroll room – yes, Carroll is more than merely a spiritual presence here – includes a white rabbit ornament, a carriage clock and a flowery yellow tea-set. There are 30 rooms in total and each one is totally unique, a portal across time and space, reality and imagination.
Is the place standing still? Of course not. Tablets are getting installed in each room. An antique shop will shortly open next door. Events will only grow bigger and better. Are further rooms on the way? From a selfish perspective, I do hope so. Mel deserves to enjoy the fruits of her labour but somehow I suspect she’ll always be dreaming up new ideas – and there are plenty more Belfast luminaries still to honour. Surely the George Best suite has to happen one day…
We leave in an age of increasing homogenisation, the same moribund chains on every high street. A place like The Harrison must be cherished – utterly unique, gloriously alive. There are many brilliant hotels in the world but it might just be my favourite of the lot.
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45 Malone Rd, Belfast BT9 6RX; The Harrison
