Golden Tulip UK, part of Golden Tulip Hotels Inns & Resorts, is to build its first Tulip Inn in Northern Ireland in Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter.

The £8.5m, 129-room hotel is to built on a site at the junction of Donegall Street and Waring Street, which has been derelict for years.

Brian Scurrah, Golden Tulip UK’s development director, said: “We have been actively looking at Belfast for a number of years, waiting for the right site to come along, and we feel we have found it.

“We have plans to develop further sites in Northern Ireland and with the increase in business and recreational tourism in Belfast and throughout Northern Ireland.”

The Bank of Scotland, Ireland, is financing the hotel development, which is being provided to Golden Tulip on a design and build basis by the main contractor, Ballymena-based Patton Group.

Golden Tulip announced in May that it had plans for the development of three other sites in the UK – Chippenham, Stoke and Sheffield – adding 500 rooms to its portfolio with a total development cost of more than £30m.

The Belfast Tulip Inn will be in operation from 2007. Details: www.goldentulip.org.uk