Sinking feeling in Belfast as clouds gather over Titanic shipyard

With the music blaring at full volume, it was standing room only at the Harland & Wolff Welders Football and Social Club in east Belfast.

The Wednesday Club at the Welders, where the walls are festooned with Union Jacks, is a weekly gathering where young and old come together from 3pm to sink a pint (or ten) and reminisce about the good times working at one of the world’s most famous shipyards.

“This is the best sing-song on a Wednesday afternoon in Belfast,” proclaimed the compere after finishing his rendition of Almost Jamaica by the Bellamy Brothers. “Of course, it’s also the only sing-song on a Wednesday afternoon in Belfast.”

Harland & Wolff is one half of an industrial double-act that stands as a historic