We’re number two on Trip Advisor for best shopping in Belfast...

5 August 2015

THE many tourists from around the world stopping at what they think is just another coffee shop can initially look puzzled.

“There’s no charge, but if you like make a donation” they’re told and are pointed towards the ‘honesty box’.

A brief look of anxiety is usually replaced by a smile as they look around and realise this is not your average cafe.

The Dock at Belfast’s Titanic Quarter, opposite the imposing Titanic Belfast, is an unusual venture, but one that has seen it top Trip Advisor recommendations since it opened in 2012 with little more than some deck chairs and a kettle.

Now there’s a virtual art gallery, Harland and Wolff memorabilia and great coffee in an airy, peaceful location overlooking the docks. You could even be eating your scone off one of the old shipyard drawing room tables.

One of the people involved in the social enterprise is Lynne Gibson, from Crossgar, who helps run the market at The Dock on Saturday mornings.

The market is an outlet for independent and artisan traders, who again give an ‘honesty’ donation to the Dock after their takings on a Saturday.

“It is up to them what they put in,” said Lynne. “They can put in £10, they can put in £20, we are not going to say anything to them.”

But it seems like most folk are honest because the market is celebrating its first year in operation and Lynne hopes local people will consider making the trip and supporting some of the Down traders who take part.

“We are number two on Trip Advisor for best shopping in Belfast,” said Lynne. “One and two are both markets, St George’s and The Docks.

“It’s really exciting when people in Northern Ireland choose to support local.”

Traders at the Dock market are either from Northern Ireland or from further afield and making their home here.

“We have 23 stalls every week,” said Lynne. “They range from baking and jewellery to beard oil, beards are a thing now — apparently your beard needs washed.”

Accupressure massage from Comber’s Heather Finnegan and treats from the Blue Bird bakery from Saintfield’s Sarah Keown are just some of options on the menu.

The organisation behind The Dock is a registered charity, aiming to create a community hub in a new area where hundreds of apartments, a new Belfast Met and big businesses have all sprung up.

There is a religious element to it, with Church of Ireland minister Reverend Chris Bennett, who helps run the cross-denominational cafe along with counterparts from other faiths in Northern Ireland, describing his venture as a “community living room”.

Apart from a prayer garden tucked in the corner the religious side may be unapparent to most visitors.

“It’s a different way of expressing church,” said Lynne, a former Down High School student, who also has a lay role as an assistant chaplain at Queen’s University and lives with her husband at the chaplaincy student accommodation.

“I literally fell into what I am doing. I studied set design as part of drama degree and worked for six months in what I was trained to do and then ended up in youth work.

“I absolutely love what I do at Queen’s. I would say you do have

to have a certain personality to do this. You do get texts after midnight from students saying I can’t get my tap to stop running and the sink is blocked.

“The Elms halls are well known at Queen’s but this is another accommodation option for students. “The students we have range from those of faith to those who fancy the closest accommodation to Queen’s.

“It tends to be a case of ‘I love Jesus’ or ‘I love my sleep’. We get a lot of computer science students as they can roll across the street.”

Clearly with the sense of humour required for such a job, Lynne is keen to promote her idea of religion at The Dock and at Queen’s as something different.

“Christianity is not getting a good reputation because of different things that different politicians say,” she said.

“My message to anybody regardless of background or sexual orientation is that there is somebody out there who loves you more than anybody else.”

Lynne said she didn’t always follow the rules and never thought she would be working for the church, imagining a lot of “baking tray bakes or making sandwiches”.

“I don’t think there is a mould for what I do,” she said. “I have never been a person to fit the mould. It’s a case of round peg square hole.”

The Dock market runs from 11am to 5pm every Saturday from 18th July. See more at http://www.the-dock.org/

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