Roving Reporter | Smithfield Market

Sam McAughtry narrates as the camera visits the shops and stalls of this Belfast institution that had something for everyone. From the swinging youngsters browsing the LPs in the record shop to 80-year-old Mrs Dawson 'sitting like a wee queen on her throne' and from the schoolboys trying on false noses in the joke shop to the pawn emporium selling a shrunken head, all manner of goods and services are found here.

From the late 17th Century onwards, as it became the main port in the area, Belfast developed a thriving community of markets. Smithfield variety market was established in 1848 on the site of the old trading place for corn and hide. It was firebombed in 1974 but has since been rebuilt and now sells everything from comics to camping equipment.
Writer and broadcaster Sam McAughtry was the founding Chairman of the Peace Train Organisation and in 1996 he became the first Northerner to be elected to the Senate of Ireland.