Maldron Hotel has taken the Linen Quarter’s summer boules crown. The hotel side beat Invest NI 13–8 in the final of LQ BID’s 2026 Inter-Company Pétanque Tournament on the piste at Blackstaff Square — the fourth year of a competition that has become a proper fixture for the district’s workplaces.
More than 240 competitors from 40 organisations took part across the summer. The winners walk away with a £300 voucher for the Observatory bar at Grand Central Hotel — a neat Belfast hospitality prize for a hospitality team.
Blackstaff Square and the Linen Quarter
This is not a sports scoop so much as a Linen Quarter business story. The tournament sits inside LQ BID’s £160,000 2026 events programme — money aimed at making the office district feel more like a community than a commute. The dedicated piste went in during 2022; boules can still be borrowed from Maldron Hotel for anyone who wants a go between tournament days.
Since 2020, LQ BID has worked with Belfast City Council and the Department for Communities to lift Blackstaff Square — outdoor FLAXX decking, better lighting and seating, plus the pétanque court — after years when the space struggled with anti-social behaviour.
LQ BID on Blackstaff Square
“Blackstaff Square was once a space overshadowed by persistent anti-social behaviour, but our sustained investment and commitment are helping to rewrite that narrative,” said Chris McCracken, Managing Director at LQ BID. “Our placemaking initiatives have played an important role in this change, with enhanced cleansing and policing helping to create a safer more welcoming environment. Alongside these measures, the introduction of outdoor decking, lighting, planting, and pétanque, help reshape the area into a more animated community space for residents, workers, and visitors.”
He was clear that the current work is still a stopgap: “However, this is only a temporary fix, and securing long-term capital funding remains essential to properly transform the space. With a shared commitment from the Department for Communities and the City Council to renew the Square, the focus now turns to finalising the design work and advancing it into the planning stage.”
Five years of LQ BID investment
Since LQ BID launched in 2018 it says it has delivered £5 million of improvements across more than 50 projects. That includes Great Expectations — a £500,000 refresh of Great Victoria Street and Dublin Road, co-funded by DfC and the City Council — plus a renewed green space at Bankmore Square. After a long stretch of dereliction nearby, three major building projects are under construction and a further five are planned, according to the BID.
At a glance
- Champions: Maldron Hotel
- Runners-up: Invest NI
- Final score: 13–8 at Blackstaff Square
- Scale: 240+ players, 40 organisations, 4th year
- Prize: £300 Observatory bar voucher (Grand Central Hotel)
- Try it: borrow boules from Maldron Hotel
- Events: linenquarter.org/events
For a district that sells itself on work and nights out, a hotel team lifting the pétanque trophy is the kind of local colour that sticks — Blackstaff Square with boules in hand, not just another empty plaza.
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