The Dock Cafe

About

The Dock Cafe opened its doors in March 2012 with little more than those deckchairs and kettle – but as the months went by, more and more donations started to fill the place, as the people who ate, relaxed, met up and chilled out in The Dock Cafe began donating sofas, dining tables, mugs, art, games, armchairs, and a thousand other quirky little touches to make a big empty concrete space a home-away-from-home.

Cafe

The cafe is a space where absolutely anybody can feel at home. We have a wide range of Sukí teas (including Belfast Brew, of course) and we grind our own Dock Blend and weekly guest blend coffee beans. Our scones, breads, biscuits, traybakes and buns are handcrafted by the French Village bakers, and there’s a daily choice of two soups served with a bap or wheaten bread. We’ve plenty of sofas, seats, chairs and tables, so there’s lots of space to relax too.

But what other cafe allows you to choose your price and pay what you like into the honesty box? Or allows you to BYOF (Bring Your Own Food) so you can bring your packed lunch or a fresh sandwich from the deli bar next door?

On Saturdays, you can order and pay for brunch in the Green Deli next door, then come get a mug of tea or coffee in The DOCK Cafe, take a seat and they’ll bring your food to you - just pop a donation in the honesty box to cover your drinks.

Prayer Garden
There's also a little quiet space - a light-filled prayer garden in a quiet corner of the cafe - where you can add your own thoughts, prayers or reflections to the walls.

Art Gallery
There’s certainly plenty of inspiring artwork, photography and sculpture around the place, all the work of local artists; there are even some Titanic Guitars (which you can strum if you’re at least a 3-chord wonder).

Museum
There’s an ever-expanding display of quirky pieces of history from the Belfast docks – from Titanic memorabilia, to models and unique pictures of shipyard life, to artefacts from the lovely old H&W Drawing Offices. You can see Edward Harland’s signature and Thomas Andrews’ door. But it’s not a hushed museum with exhibits in glass cases – you might be eating your lunch off one of the old tables from the Drawing Offices.

Market
After the sell-out success at the Giro Big Start 2014 and the Maritime Festival, The Dock Market is back!
"If you make it - you can sell it" is the only rule for traders at Dock Market - so there's nothing mass-produced, just the hand-made creativity of local Belfast entrepeneurs at their best!
An exciting range of food, crafts and arts stalls, with new traders joining! Tthe market regularly hosts over 20 stalls featuring everything from gourmet waffles to award-winning burgers to melt-in-your-mouth cupcakes and fresh bakes... and when your appetite is satisfied, you can tempt yourself to something unique from stalls showing the very best of Belfast's art, photography, craft, fashion and loads more. There's lots of space to eat, drink, or just chill out and relax on comfy sofas - and a constant stream of freshly-brewed coffee (and just like in Dock Cafe, you just pay what you want into the Honesty Box).

Every 2nd and 4th saturday of each month.

Cafe Opening Times -
Summer: Monday to Friday 11:00 -19:00, Saturday 11:00 -17:00
Winter: Monday- Saturday 1:00 - 17:00

The Dock Market: Every 2nd and 4th Saturday of each month 11:00 -16:00, special opening hours see website www.the-dock.org/market.

The Dock Cafe is accessible – for full details of their accessibility features, see The Dock Cafe and Gallery | AccessAble