The Whelan Partnership, which specialises in licensed premises, has sold two of the North's best-known pubs, which have been released to the market by Guinness's Northern Ireland pub-owning group, Croft Inns. The Shaftsbury Inn, on the Antrim Road, is the biggest pub in the north of the city and is set on the slopes of Cave Hill with views over Belfast Lough. It has 5,000 sq ft of floor space and a large car-park. The other pub is the Homestead, at Drumbo, set in the rolling countryside to the south of the city. The Homestead is the oldest coach-house in the North and is popular with clientele from Upper Malone to Lisburn. Whelans did not release the details of the sales and offers, which were by way of sealed bids.

The same agents have also sold the Magheramourne Hotel, overlooking Larne Harbour and Islandmagee, on the Antrim Coast. The hotel, with 40 bedrooms, is set in 40 acres of mature gardens, which include a ravine and waterfall. Magheramourne House was built for a Belfast merchant family at the end of the last century and is one of the finest houses along the Antrim coastline. It is understood it sold for £800,000 sterling.