AS well as being a most welcome day off from the grind, Bank Holidays are a chance to get out and about and see some of the city. Unless you are one of the lucky ones with a caravan or holiday home to retreat to. The Bank Holiday after Easter usually signals an upsurge in visitors to Newcastle or Belfast Zoo, but this year saw the opening of the signature Titanic Belfast visitor centre. The building, located in the heart of the Titanic Quarter, opened its doors to visitors on March 31 and has seen tickets sell out throughout the coming weeks as people step inside to have a look – at a cost of £13.50 for adults and £6.75 for children between five and 16 – and learn about the infamous liner.

The Andersonstown News paid a visit to the Kennedy Centre to ask local shoppers if they had visited our city’s newest attraction.

New Barnsley resident Kathleen Cush said: “No, I haven’t been down to the attraction. The Titanic is away 100 years – why spend all that money bringing it back again?”

But Kathleen’s son Joseph said he was hoping to see the attraction later in the year. “I’m hopefully starting a new course at the Belfast Met in the Titanic Quarter in September. It looks good, but I haven’t seen it yet or been down. Hopefully they will have a concession price for student tickets,” he said.

Paula McDonnell, who was shopping with son Rory, told us: “I haven’t had a chance to go and visit, but I am hoping to get down to see the new attraction. Lots of people have already been to see it and I’m sure many more will come.”

“If I’ve nothing better to do then I’ll go and visit it,” said Andersonstown’s David McCullough. “But I’m not that interested in seeing it, to be honest.  I’ve got wee ones so taking them to the zoo would be better.”

Visiting West Belfast from Birmingham, Guy Dodd said he would be back to Belfast to get tickets for the new attraction. “My family and I were at a Titanic exhibition at the City Hall over the Easter break and we really enjoyed it. There was a lot of archived information on display and it was free to take the family. We probably won’t get time to visit the main Titanic Quarter building but we will come back and try and get tickets,” he said.

Finally, Brenda Lee said she and her husband are intending to see the Titanic visitor centre. “We will definitely be down, but when the hype dies down a bit. I couldn’t be doing with the crowds at the minute as I hear it is sold out for a couple of weeks. The ticket prices are a bit dear but they have to get their money back. The building looks very impressive and I hope to get down and see the staircase.”