Indoor leisure group We Are Vertigo closes Belfast operation after 12 years blaming ‘prohibitive, rising costs’

Indoor leisure adventure business We Are Vertigo has closed its last remaining site in Belfast.

It’s understood the indoor bounce and ski centre at Newtownbreda Industrial Estate closed with immediate effect on Tuesday.

In a statement to The Irish News, a spokesperson for the company said: “We’ve had 12 years of success delivering cutting-edge, world class entertainment facilities, jobs, choice and value as part of a multimillion-pound investment.

“However, following a strategic review of our business which noted the prohibitive, rising costs of doing business including insurance, energy, labour costs and rates, we have taken the decision to consolidate our interests elsewhere while also reviewing exciting new opportunities for the site.”

Originally launched just south of Belfast by Gareth and Lorna Murphy during 2013, the leisure business later expanded into the Titanic Quarter, where it launched an indoor skydiving centre in 2018.

We Are Vertigo expanded into Belfast’s Titanic Quarter, where it opened a ‘ski-diving’, indoor inflatable park and later an open air restaurant.

An inflatable park and restaurant followed at the Titanic Quarter centre, while the Newtownbreda site was relaunched as an ‘inflata-park’.

It’s understood the Titanic Quarter centre closed in 2024.

According to Companies House, one of Mr Murphy’s leisure-related businesses entered insolvency proceedings during 2024.

Garlor Limited, which traded as Vertigo Adventure Limited between 2012 and 2020, was liquidated in 2024.

It followed a High Court order to wind up the company in April 2024, following a petition by Land and Property Services.

Gareth Murphy (centre), in the Haymarket site with Martina Connolly (left), chief executive, Belfast One BID and Haymarket’s director of operations James Joyce. (Kelvin Boyes/Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye )

While Mr Murphy’s original ambitions for We Are Vertigo involved opening multiple sites, the post-Covid period saw him increasingly focus his attention and investments on city centre hospitality.

Haymarket Belfast first opened on Royal Avenue during 2021 on the site of the former Hudson bar.

The complex, which stretches to Gresham Street, has been expanded in phases over the past four years, with new leisure and novelty features introduced, including ‘The Stock Exchange’ and ‘The Armoury’.

Three new bar areas were introduced last month, doubling its overall floor footprint.

Mr Murphy said around £5 million has been invested in the site since 2021.

Around 100 people are currently employed throughout the complex.