Best Of Belfast is a podcast that celebrates Northern Ireland and the incredible people in it. We publish unfiltered, hour-long conversations every Monday morning with someone interesting from this part of the world for you to listen to while commuting to work, walking the dog, or doing the dishes!

With 100+ episodes featuring: Oscar-winning directors, 91-year-old park-runners, Silicon Valley CEOs, Michelin Star Chefs and bearded candle makers we pride ourselves on sharing the stories of household names and unsung heroes alike.

Our listeners love finding out the behind-the-scenes stories of well-known people like Mary Peters, Foy Vance, Zoe Salmon and Shane Todd; but they’re even more surprised by the hidden gems we introduce them to like Norman Surplus from Larne — the first man to fly around the world in an gyrocopter.

While our diverse mix of guests come from different walks of life, the things that ties it all together is our mission to challenge the negative narratives around Northern Ireland and create a culture of celebration by showing-off the incredible people who call this place home.

Plus through the radical honesty of our guests, we encourage, educate and inspire listeners to start businesses, make art, dream big and slay the dragons in their personal lives.

The show is crowd-funded by people who want to give back to Northern Ireland through ‘The Producer’s Club’ and is hosted by Matthew Thompson, a 27-year-old writer and entrepreneur.

How To Listen

A lot of people have never listened to a podcast before, and aren’t really sure where to start. Others don’t even know what they are.

(We tell our grannies they’re like online radio shows you can listen to at anytime — like Netflix or catch-up TV for audio).

There are three different ways to tune into the show and we’ve made them really easy for you to do so!

1. Straight From Our website

Each episode we produce come with its own page on our website featuring photos, contact information and relevant links to stuff for every guest.

There’s also a handy audio player like the one above for you to listen in-browser, or download the file to play later.

2. Through Podcast apps On Your Phone Or Computer

This is the most popular way to listen to podcasts, because its also the most handy. The majority of people listen to podcasts while driving, going out for a walk, hitting the gym, waiting around in airports or doing the housework.

Having podcasts on your phone means all you gotta do is connect it up to your bluetooth speaker, car sound system or headphones and simply press play.

Here’s a quick video to help you download or find podcasts apps on your phone.

Apple Podcasts is usually already installed on iPhones/iPads and for other phones we recommend downloading Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher or Overcast.

Once you have an app installed and opened, all you gotta do is search ‘Best Of Belfast’ and click on an episode you wanna listen to.

You can also subscribe to automatically get new episodes when they are published.

3. In person at Live Podcasts (Producer’s Club members only)

We host regular live podcasts with mystery guests, food, and great local people.

The podcasts are recorded in a unique venue for members of our Best Of Belfast Producer’s Club, a small exclusive group of local legends who support the podcast financially. 

We absolutely love doing these, they’re a great opportunity to connect with incredible local people and ask questions directly to the guests we have the privilege of sitting down with.

If you would like to support the show and get invited to our live events you can find out more information here.

Why start a Northern Irish Podcast?

Belfast has a long, rich history of storytelling. From the epic works Seamus Heaney and C.S Lewis to the 'old wives tales' told around the Belfast sink.

We're not great at celebrating ourselves (though experts at giving each other a good slagging.)

The Best Of Belfast Podcast is a space where we can celebrate individuals and allow them to share their story — all while hopefully still preserving the infamous banter and humour we're known for.

There's so much happening in the creative and business world that falls through the cracks of local media and as a result, many local folk sadly miss out on what is going on right here on their own doorstep.

This ‘Northern Ireland’ podcast seeks to show off our wee country to the world — but more importantly for the people who call this place home and don’t know about all the amazing things that are going on.

Plus we can be quite a nosy bunch. We like to know who's who and more importantly how we know them through friends/family.

('Here my second-cousin went to school with her uncle' kind of thing.) 

What type of guests are on the Best Of Belfast Podcast?

The simple answer is anyone from Northern Ireland who has an interesting story to tell.

Our goal is to champion the diverse mix of characters in Northern Ireland from well-known legends to unsung heroes.

If you have a story or would like to recommend/put us in touch with someone you think would be a good fit, please contact us.

Who hosts the Best Of Belfast Podcast + How did it start?

That would be me. (Yes I am interviewing myself on a website page, it’s a bit weird for me too, don’t worry).

The official answer is: ”Matthew Thompson is a 25-year-old storyteller dedicated to celebrating the ‘New Belfast’ and challenging the negative narratives about Northern Ireland.”

The unofficial answer is that I grew up hating Northern Ireland and couldn’t wait to leave, so when I was 18 I left “forever.”

After three years working with homelessness and addicts in NYC, I ended up getting married and moving back to Belfast. While working as a Bicycle Courier for Deliveroo (read, burrito delivery boy) fell in love with Northern Ireland and started Best Of Belfast to try and get other people to love it too.

I didn’t have any experience with podcasting, radio, marketing or whatever. I just really enjoyed talking to people. My favourite thing is to ask questions that gets to the heart of who someone is and to unpack the experiences that have shaped them.

I’ve never really been interested in small talk. I’d rather just jump in at the deep end straight away and see what happens when we’re brave enough to talk freely and bravely about what we really want and what life is really like.

I also realised that a lot of great Northern Irish stories were going left untold. So I started the podcast.

100+ interviews later I’m having a blast discovering the nitty-gritty specifics and big picture principles of how people from Northern Ireland have gone on to live exciting, purposeful lives that make an impact.

It’s my biggest honour in life that I get to share it all with you.

When can I find the time to listen to This Northern Irish Podcast?

Listening to podcasts about Northern Ireland is a great way to captivate the dead time in our day.

Whether it's while exercising, doing the dishes, hoovering the house, or commuting to work you can stick one on and multi-task while listening to some inspiring local stories.

Podcasting is growing week on week in Northern Ireland and we’re excited to see more and more local people discovering the best medium on the planet! (In our bias opinion).

What Band Plays Your Intro Music?

A Northern Irish podcast needs a great tune from a Northern Irish band…

The Wanderers are one of Ireland’s best kept musical secrets and their song ‘Light It Up’ has been our intro music from the very first episode.

Although sadly the band is no longer together, you can still find their music on Spotify and YouTube.

Ok, I've read all this... Now What?

That's a decent amount of reading. Fair play. Here's how you can connect with us and take this relationship to the next level. 

1. Sign up to our free email newsletter

You’ll get a weekly email with photos, links and contact information for each of our guests. It’s a quick way to see who we’ve got on the show each week so you can decide whether or not you wanna listen.

To get the latest shows delivered to your inbox please sign up to here.

2. Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts.

It’s a great way for us to see how much you enjoy the show and is one of the most important factors for helping the show grow.

(Aka, spreading the good news about Northern Ireland to the world). Click here to leave a review.

3. Join ‘The Producer’s Club’

Support the show and get access to the inner-circle of Best Of Belfast.

Producers get to enjoy exclusive content, gift boxes, invitations to live podcasts and much much more.

Find out more here.

Get In touch

Our inbox is always open. We’d love to hear where your from, what your favourite episodes are and if you have any recommendations for future guests.

It’s a real privilege to do what we do and we’re all ears about how we can do it even better.

Contact us here, or shoot an email to producer@bestofbelfast.org

Thanks a lot for being here. Really appreciate you taking the time to read. Looking forward to connecting with you soon.

— Matthew