People make Places.
About Us
Native is a community café and event space connecting Belfast’s river to the city.
We opened in December 2024 with a simple goal: not just to serve great coffee, but to show how thoughtful, values-driven design can bring an underused space to life, foster community, and model inclusive urban regeneration.
Before Native, the site was completely vacant, even used as a scrap yard until recently. Through a collaboration with OGU Architects, MMAS, the Maritime Belfast Trust, Belfast City Council and the Department for Communities, the kiosk became something new for Belfast: a small landmark and a shared public space designed with care and intention.
From day one, the heart of this project has been community. We’ve always believed a café is nothing without the people in it. By working closely with the architects and understanding the brief, we knew the kiosk needed to belong to Belfast, its residents, its makers and its visitors.
Since opening, the kiosk has become a platform for local makers, artists, and independent businesses to share their work. Our pop-up space has hosted yoga, music, crafts, activism workshops, Critical Mass meet-ups, Sunday runs, and Sober Social evenings. It’s been incredible to watch people gather by the river - one of Belfast’s most overlooked assets - and enjoy coffee with views that make people say, “It feels like I’m on holiday.” It’s still Belfast, and we’re proud of that.
The Future
Queen’s Quay Kiosk is a “meanwhile space,” meaning it isn’t a permanent fixture. Eventually, the wider site will be developed, and the kiosk will need a new (possibly temporary) home. In the meantime, the space lets us learn what the community hopes to see from the longer-term development and ensures the area is lively and useful rather than left vacant.
As Queen’s Quay takes on a rich and beautiful life of its own, we’re committed to bringing our ethos of community-building through coffee to other parts of Belfast. We love to get out into the city. Our mobile horsebox lets us meet new people and be part of Belfast’s brilliant events. We even built a bike-led coffee trailer for a local climate festival. It needs a bit of tinkering, but we had fun experimenting with low-carbon coffee making.
“Designing a dream city is easy; rebuilding one takes imagination.” — Jane Jacobs
Even though the map we show below is a bit old, it still shows just how many vacant spaces Belfast holds and how much potential they offer.
Belfast’s growth and change require collaboration, creativity, and spaces where people can come together. We’re here for that.
If this interests you, take a look at our blog post about the importance of Third Spaces.
