Belfast Night Czar Michael Stewart & Foodie Entrepreneur Caroline Wilson at The Common Market!

We found the right guides for Belfast’s burgeoning food and festivities scene in Michael Stewart and Caroline Wilson.

Caroline is a lawyer-turned-serial-entrepreneur of food and drink experiences. She founded Belfast Food Tour, co-founded Taste and Tour, Ahoy Belfast, Fooday and Belfast Gin Fest and she’s on the Board of Visit Belfast and The Strand.

A well-known man about Belfast, Michael Stewart, spent close to 40 years in hospitality--and was he ever hospitable to us, helping us arrange for the lion’s share of our #LostinBelfast interviews.

A past president of the Belfast Chamber, Michael now reigns as Belfast’s Night Czar, tasked with promoting the nighttime economy of the City Center, Linen, Cathedral, and Belfast One Business Improvement Districts.

We met the mad duo at The Common Market, an indoor international street food festival, open to all--including dogs--in a cavernous old fruit market in the Cathedral Quarter, with our mics picking up all the background craic in this on-location recording session.

There’s a seat for you at the table, so join us!

Links
Michael Stewart

• Bar Czar
• Facebook
• Instagram
• LinkedIn

Caroline Wilson

• Taste and Tour
• X
  • Taste and Tour
  • Ahoy Befast
• Instagram
• LinkedIn

Episode Details: Season 7, Episode 13; Total Episode Count: 116

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction
• 4:30 Belfast Food Scene and Common Market
• 8:32 Caroline: How Taste and Tour Started
• 12:18 The Belfast Experience
• 13:28 Michael Stewart: The Night Czar Job
• 16:59 Measuring Tourism Successes
• 21:10 The Taste and Tour Experience
• 24:10 When Michael and Caroline Ovelap
• 26:52 Overcoming Nightime and Other Challenges
• 37:22 Tourism From the Republic
• 42:36 Imagining a Big Belfast Tourism Investment
• 46:24 Learnings from Off Shore
• 48:55 Seamus Plugs
• 51:12 John and Martin Recap
• 53:52 Credits