Pictured are left to right Phelim Devlin (Crumlin Road Gaol), Jim Flannery (Tourism Ireland), Brian Ambrose (Tourism Ireland) and Kieran Quinn (Crumlin Road Gaol). PIC: Darren Kid, PRESSEYE

CRUMLIN Road Gaol in Belfast celebrates is celebrating its first anniversary of being open to the public.

The North Belfast Visitor Attraction & Conference centre re-opened its doors to the public one year ago and has since become one of the most popular attractions to visit in Belfast.

It has been a successful year for the tourist attraction which has proven its capabilities and established itself to be both a multifaceted venue as well as a must-see historic landmark for tourists to Northern Ireland. The

Gaol exceeded its forecasted annual visitor numbers in advance by welcoming the 100,000th visitor in October this year and is continuing to exceed these targets with 130,000 visitors to date and welcomes further growth and expansion in 2014.

Board members from Tourism Ireland were present for the occasion and to mark the first anniversary.

Speaking at the event this morning, Kieran Quinn, Managing Director of Crumlin Road Gaol said: “It has been a fantastic first year for the Gaol, and it is wonderful to have exceeded our initial expectations.

“We’re thrilled to have welcomed visitors from all over the world,” he added.

“It is great to see such a tremendous interest from those closer to home and within the Belfast area.

“We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their continued support and look forward to 2014.”

Throughout the year the Gaol has been host to a vast range of high profile corporate events and visits.

Highlights of the year includes, the Gaol being selected as the chosen location to host the launch of the popular Game of Thrones Exhibition to the worlds media in June.

At Halloween it showcased a sold out two weeks of events including the popular Paranormal Tours and Jail of Horror Scare Attraction which seen over 20,000 visitors over the Halloween period.

Crumlin Road Gaol, known to visitors as ‘The Crum’ was built in 1845 and closed as a working prison in 1996.

Today the public can take a guided tour of the prison and visit The Circle, C-Wing, the Condemned Mans Cell and the famous Tunnel leading to the Crumlin Road Courthouse and hear the history of the prison and about its past inmates over the years.