The Newtownards Road has been well-known in the past, for such icons as Inglis’s Bakery, the Sirocco Works and Irvine’s shoe shop.

Norman Kennedy and Jim Patton, of the East Belfast Historical Society, recall the shops of the past and their memories of growing up on the Newtownards Road.

” it was great, at Christmas.. my mother would have gone in for messages.. and you would’ve got a box of grapes, or a sugar loaf.. just put in as a wee extra.”

The future of the Newtownards Road is firmly in the hands of the East Belfast Partnership, with the new NR2012 scheme.

“As this area regenerates.. it is going to attract new businesses,” reflects Elma Newberry, Chief Executive, “there is no reason why it couldn’t it be a Lisburn road”.