Portrush

Sunset from the promenade

Portrush (in Irish: Port Rois, ie port of the promontory) is a town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, beside the border with County Londonderry. The main part of the old town, including the railway station, most hotels, restaurants and bars, is built on a mile long peninsula, Ramore Head, pointing north-northwest. It had a population of 6,372 people in the 2001 Census. In the off-season, Portrush is a dormitory town for the nearby campus of the University of Ulster at Coleraine.

It is the base for the Katie Hannon, a Severn class lifeboat and Ken and Mary, a D class inshore lifeboat of the RNLI. Lifeboats have operated out of Portrush Harbour since 1860. For more information see the [RNLI] web site.

Contents

1 Places of interest
2 Events
3 2001 Census
4 References
5 See also

Places of interest

Attractions in the seaside resort, next to Portstewart, include the famous (at least in Northern Ireland) Barry's Amusements, [Portrush Countryside Centre], the [Dunluce Centre] and a swimming complex. Also in the town is the renowned Royal Portrush Golf Club which hosted the 1951 British Open golf championship. There are sandy and rocky beaches to the east and west.
Portrush is home to one of Northern Ireland's best known nightclubs. The Kelly's complex consists of a multitude of bars and clubs and is Northern Ireland's largest nightclub complex. It includes the nightclub Lush, which attracts many of the world's top DJs and hosts BBC Radio 1 events.
There are two long sandy beaches in the town, known as the West and East Strand. White Rocks and Curran Strand stretch on from the East Strand and are backed by dunes and the famous Royal Portrush golf course.

Events

Portrush hosts an annual [air show].
The local RNLI raft race is also a popular annual event.
On June 17 2006 Norman Cook DJed to 20,000 people on the town's East Strand beach. Cook had previously played similar gigs on Brighton beach and Flamengo Beach in Rio de Janeiro. The PSNI made eleven arrests at the event, on suspicion of the possession of drugs with the intent to supply. [link]

2001 Census

Portrush is classified as a Small Town by the [NI Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA)] (ie with population between 4,500 and 10,000 people). On Census day (29 April 2001) there were 6,372 people living in Portrush. Of these:

20.8% were aged under 16 years and 23.1% were aged 60 and over
46.2% of the population were male and 53.8% were female
23.6% were from a Catholic background and 70.6% were from a Protestant background
5.1% of people aged 16-74 were unemployed.

For more details see: [NI Neighbourhood Information Service]

Portrush

Places of interest

Events

2001 Census

References

See also