‘A Street of Butchers’. An Economic and Social Profile of Hercules Place and Hercules Street, Belfast 1860–90

Hercules Street and Hercules Place were two of Belfast’s oldest streets and, by the mid-nineteenth century, they were in the town centre. These streets always had a large concentration of butchers (a cluster). This cluster was broken up in 1880 when the area was cleared to create a new, modern street and did not reform. The clearance was to improve traffic flow but also for reasons of civic pride; despite the unpleasant nature of the butchery trade neither that, nor public health were stated reasons for this clearance. This article examines the economy and society of these streets and the effects of the dislocation caused by the clearance of this area.