The National — Restaurant in Belfast

Turned away from The National on Sunday 24th August at around 9:30pm, beside the Little Wing booth — by two of the most joyless, power-drunk door staff I’ve ever encountered.

I was wearing a plain polo shirt from Urban Outfitters — and even after I showed them the actual label, the blonde woman on the door insisted it was a “football shirt.” At that point, it was clear this had nothing to do with clothes and everything to do with ego.

Her attitude? Rotten. Not firm, not professional — just plain nasty. She spoke to me like I’d spat in her drink and keyed her car, not like a customer simply trying to get in. Beside her, the bloke might as well have been a cardboard cut-out. No presence, no personality and an awfully patchy beard — just standing there as backup to her bad vibes.

Between the pair of them, they managed to turn away a group of 22 people, all ready to spend the night and a fair bit of money. That’s some serious business walked up the street — all because one of them decided to die on the hill of “Urban Outfitters equals football hooligan.”

It’s wild how a place that serves £7 pints and throws up a few fairy lights can act like it’s guarding a velvet-roped members’ club in Soho. Poundland Berghain energy from start to finish.

No professionalism, no common sense, and absolutely no understanding of hospitality. Just attitude, pettiness, and misplaced self-importance.

If The National thinks this is how you treat people, it deserves every empty...

A lovely night in Belfast with some friends turned into the worst night out I have ever experienced due to abhorrent treatment at this bar from staff, which left a young woman alone, unsafe, highly distressed and vulnerable. Bar staff are horrendously rude who seem to single out customers, wrongly accuse them of being too drunk, refuse to serve for absolutely no legitimate or good reason and with no explanation provided for doing nothing wrong. I was shocked and confused at their poor and unfair treatment. They do not listen or acknowledge when they are requested clarification to allow for understanding and reasoning. 3 bouncers physically assaulted me (a very petite female) in the full bar in front of everyone and are far too aggressive and forceful, leaving significant bruising, swelling and bodily harm all over my body when grabbing me, when they are supposed to keep you SAFE. Not only was this harmful, embarrassing and unnecessary, but I had to shout at them to get off of me because they were hurting me and would still not stop, nor did they care. They also refused to disclose their names or ID badges when questioned. This whole experience has been traumatising and unacceptable. I will be taking further action and reporting this incident. I would have not left a single star rating if the choice had...

Walked passed an alley and we heard the most amazing voice singing live, we were on our way to the hotel but decided to go see this man sing. His name was Aiden Logan and my God can this man sing. He has one of the best live voices I've ever heard and I've seen quite a few people live, Coldplay, James bay, U2, etc... but even amongst these he wouldn't be out of place and he deserved a much bigger audience! We ended up staying for 4 drinks just because of him.... and his dedications to my partner! I hope he gets a lot more gigs and gets to read this as it's the only reason we stopped. The place itself was a laid back and reasonable, the people were very friendly... but Aiden if you read this, thank you once more for making our trip... from Daniel and Louise. Go take a visit its...