Albert Memorial Clock

«who’s that named after?» still can’t believe my mum asked that. In the times that a loss of a member of the royal family seen mass public mourning the Albert clock was built and stood ever since, if even at various degrees off vertical. A great landmark and considering like most of Belfast its basically built on mud and survived war and bombings in Belfast. It had been straightened and restored and I think its still one of Belfast’s best landmarks.

No need to get excited people, it is a slightly wonky clock. That is it. On the plus side it is used frequently as a directional marker for locals, like ‘head towards the Albert Clock’. In front of it there are some pretty dancing fountains that get turned on in spring and summer and some bus stops. Despite this, I do have a soft spot for it, so if you happen to be passing, say hi to our tiny Big Ben.

It is sort of a mini Big Ben but it is not as beautiful and it is not at a similar beautiful location. But in itself the clock is beautiful but I have seen better.
It is a kind of attraction that, when you have seen it you have seen it and it does not make the biggest impact on you.

I think I kind of agree with John M when he finds it difficult to get excited about the Albert Clock. I mean, it’s pretty to look at, but the most interesting thing about is that it leans. And that’s not even that interesting!
I don’t mean to be hard on it, it’s just not really a landmark I could honestly recommend to people! That said, it’s in a nice location, so you can walk from the town over to the clock, grab some lunch in McHughs and go for a dander along the water.

I would say that although I respect the architecture, style and locality of this clock, it is just a clock. I’m just making sure a whole raft of tourists don’t decide to go out of their way to bus it down and visit this (it’s in a nice modern and somewhat vibrant area but it is not the sagrada familia)
The Albert Clock is located at the now Customs House Square and marks the skyline for the north side of the city centre.
It’s certainly worth a poke around if you are out and about, visiting the city or if you just happen to be browsing the local bar scene. I would say that in close proximity you have lots of great bars to choose from, McHughs being the closest along with the John Hewitt and Duke of York as well as the Spaniard and more up market hotel bars.

The Albert Clock is a piece of architectural beauty and a landmark that makes me proud to call Belfast home. It’s also the centre of the local red light district, so I wouldn’t advise doing the tourist thing and getting your photo taken at it any time after 5 O’Clock.

Big Clock — Big whoop!
This kind of big wonky clock was built in the 1800’s commissioned by Queen Victoria in memory to Prince Albert. It stands at over 100ft tall which sounds quite big but actually its a bit of a non entity.
For me, I suppose it did at one point kind of symbolize arriving in Belfast, but these days its kind of paled into the background as other, newer sculptures have proven more popular — such as the big fish and the lady with the big ball?
The tower was given an extensive face lift in 2002 costing millions. Could Belfast not have used the millions in other areas? It is now clean, not as wonky as it used to be and kind of marks your arrival at the custom house square area of Belfast, which is up and coming.
This isn’t much but I suppose it is something for the tourists to take pictures of.
I’m calling time on this review — there really is nothing else to say about the big clock thingy, as my sister calls it.

When I went to Belgium, I visited the infamous Mannekin Pis. I was expecting a small, peeing boy (not literally, it was a fountain silly), but what I found was a small peeing boy. Yes, I know.
I have no idea why such a strange attraction was the height of fascination for so many tourists (including me, I add), all so incredibly desperate to have themselves pictured with the Mannekin Pis, a seemingly useless and unimportant tourist vocal point. But that was just it. It was a vocal point, both for tourists and for the locals. The famous image of this tiny water fountain represents Belgium all over the world, and rightly so.
The same could be said for the Albert Clock — it’s a clock, albeit a slightly wonky one (no, you haven’t been drinking), but it doesn’t really serve much of a purpose, and some might argue it’s pointless. But the fact that it maintains a story and a heritage, and represents Belfast all over the world is good enough for me. That’s why the tourists love it.
And heck, this brute of a clock is way more impressive than a tiny, toilet-​going fountain of a boy. It’s had a great facelift, and looks incredible for it, and the whole Custom House area has been regenerated with it, so it’s a wonderful place to be extremely proud of.
Which I am, and I hope you are too.

So it’s a big clock. But it is a very good clock and one which is well worth a look. As Emma said, it is very much like a Little Ben and after walking around it a few times, I can admit that it is leaning over a little… it took me an embarrassingly long time to work that out…
The surrounding area has been redeveloped and done up to make it look more impressive. On its own it is probably a bit boring, but having it surrounded with Custom House Square and the River Lagan it is a strangely picturesque part of Belfast so close to the city centre.
The infamous (because you can never get tickets for the gigs you want) Belsonic festival happens here and in my opinion there are no other places I would rather have an outdoor concert than under the shadow of the big, falling over clock.
Well worth a visit for any tourists

The Albert Clock has been part of the makeup and history of Belfast since 1865 when it was built — and is of course a memorial to Prince Albert, the much loved husband of Queen Victoria. It kind of blends into the background for normal Belfast citizens, but when you actually stop to have a gander at it, you remember how pretty it actually is, like a mini version of ‘Big Ben’ in a way. It’s quite close to the dock area, and as a result is famously leaning over a little, because the ground underneath its foundations is quite sandy and marshy, being so close to the waters edge. They’ve recently strengthened the foundations though, to stop it from leaning over any further. It isn’t quite the leaning tower of pizza, but it’s kept clean and of course has historical significance, so I’m sure the tourists all enjoy a wee visit, especially since the nearby Custom House Square and Queens square have been given a facelift and are enjoying many public concerts and festivals in recent years.