Ulster Museum

You can run a conference of up to 160 in a tiered lecture theatre, then move your guests next door to a four-storey atrium for a dinner of 160 or a reception of 200, all on one ground floor of a national museum in Belfast’s Botanic Gardens. The museum says its in-house kitchen cooks with Northern Irish producers, and you can add a curator talk or a private guided tour of the galleries. National Museums NI runs the Ulster Museum, which opened on its Stranmillis site in 1929 and sits next to Queen’s University, about 1.1 miles from the city centre.

Event spaces and capacities

You get eight bookable spaces, which the museum says you can hire separately or together, all on the ground floor. The largest is the Atrium at 281 m², taking 200 standing or 160 for dinner. The Lecture Theatre has 160 fixed tiered seats, and the Belfast Room, one of the original 1929 galleries, seats 100 theatre style with its own foyer for registration or drinks. Smaller rooms cover breakouts, a speakers’ green room and a café overlooking the gardens. The venue does not publish exhibition floor space.

Capacities as published by the venue in its corporate brochure and on its spaces page, checked 5 November 2026. The Atrium and the Window on Our World Gallery are available from 5pm Tuesday to Sunday, after the museum closes, or all day on Mondays. The café is available before 10am, after 5pm or all day on Mondays, and the Learning Zone has limited availability in school term time. The spaces page gives the gallery a range of 20 to 150, against 100 standing in the brochure.

Getting there and parking

Your delegates can reach the museum on foot or by train without needing a car. The museum says Botanic station is about a 10 minute walk, with City Hospital station also in walking distance. Metro 8 buses (8a to 8d) run from Howard Street to Queen’s University, then it is a 2 to 3 minute walk through Botanic Gardens, and the walk from the city centre takes 20 to 25 minutes. Drivers leave the M1 at exit 1 or the M2 at exit 1b and use postcode BT9 5AB.

There is no general parking on site. The museum lists five blue badge spaces outside, a free car park on Stranmillis Road (BT9 5DT, 15 minute walk) and a paid car park at the PEC, Queen’s Sport (BT9 5EX, 8 minute walk). Stranmillis Road is an urban clearway from 4.30pm to 6pm on weekdays, which matters for evening events that start at 5pm. There is no EV charging on site, and there are cycle rails for five bikes plus Belfast Bikes docks at Queen’s.

Catering, AV and accommodation

You deal with one in-house team for food and the room. The museum says its chefs build menus around each event, from working lunches and grazing tables to seated banquets, using growers and suppliers across Northern Ireland. Its Christmas package in the Atrium starts from £58 plus VAT per person for 80 to 160 guests, with arrival drinks in the Window on Our World Gallery.

The Lecture Theatre comes with a projector and screen, a Windows PC, a DVD and Blu-ray player, room lighting control, a lectern microphone, two roving, two lapel and two desk microphones, an audio feed for recording and public Wi-Fi. The Belfast Room has a built-in screen, projector and sound system. The museum holds a Bronze Green Tourism Award and says it is cutting food waste and single-use plastics at events. It has no bedrooms, so you will need to book hotels separately.

On access, the museum says most of the building suits wheelchair users, with ramps, staff-operated stair lifts, wheelchairs to borrow and a ground floor accessible toilet with a hoist and wet room next to the Window on Our World Gallery.

What to ask before you book

• If your conference runs in the daytime, can you still use the Atrium for lunch or networking, given it opens to hirers only from 5pm Tuesday to Sunday?
• Which capacity applies to the Window on Our World Gallery for your format, the 100 standing in the brochure or the 150 on the spaces page?
• Can the Belfast Room foyer give your guests a private entrance when the museum is open to visitors?
• How do guests with blue badges park, since the directions page lists five spaces outside and the FAQ lists four on the Stranmillis Road side?
• Will the Stranmillis Road clearway affect coach or taxi drop-offs before a 5pm start, and where can suppliers unload?
• Is the Learning Zone free on your date if it falls in school term time?

Related on Events Review

• Conference venues in Belfast
• Unusual event venues
• Historic event venues
• Titanic Belfast
• Belfast City Hall
• Ulster Hall
• ICC Belfast
• Riddel Hall
• Grand Central Hotel Belfast
• National Museum Cardiff
• Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum
• Turn venue accessibility claims into a usable event plan
• Choose the venue around the event, not the headline capacity

Sources: Ulster Museum venue hire, corporate brochure, Lecture Theatre, Belfast Room, Christmas at the Ulster Museum, getting to the museum and FAQs, checked 5 November 2026.