Dark forces are at work on Fountain Street in Belfast city centre. The dark side of the Louisiana bayou has found a local host in new bar, Voodoo.

Helmed by the inimitable Micky Brown (the 11 year veteran of another long standing Belfast establishment) the new emporium promises a unique take on a regular night out.

If it’s not the gumbo and jambalaya on the menu, or the elaborately decorated upstairs live music venue that tempts you, maybe it’ll be their signature drink – 21 Chilli Rum. Yes, that is rum with 21 chillies added to the bottle.


Legend has it that this was the favourite tipple of Baron Samedi, the voodoo god of death, amongst other things – he appears to be quite an accomplished multi-tasking deity. Depicted with a top hat, black tuxedo and dark glasses, he is noted for ‘disruption, obscenity, debauchery, and having a particular fondness for tobacco and rum’, quite the role model then.

A full license for the upstairs music venue lets it accommodate up to 200 people until 2am for an already impressive array of clubs nights, including: the reincarnated Radiation, Distortion Project gig nights and brand new Molten Magazine night, all on Fridays.

Alongside this the venue is available to bands looking for an exciting new spot to put their gig on, with Triggerman, A Northern Light and Kasper Rosa already lined up.

Downstairs is the bar, managing to be both spacious and cosy. The layout is simple, one room leading from the door directly to the bar.

We met with Micky to get the lowdown on what his hopes and plans are for the new venture.

“The place used to be Copperfields, an old mans pub where you couldn’t see in the windows. I must have walked past it thousands of times but you never knew what to expect inside. So the first thing we did was open it up, open up the front so you can see in, people tend to feel more comfortable when they know what they’re walking into.”


Are you aiming for a particular crowd?
“No, it has an alternative feel to it with of the name and the décor but I haven’t pushed it in any particular direction. We want to have as much live music during the week and clubs at the weekend so anybody that wants to come to us and hire the venue, it’s there for the taking.”

You’ve taken an interesting approach with your menu…
“We tried to be a bit more adventurous with it, with Louisiana stuff like the jambalaya and gumbo, and lots of Cajun. It goes with the name and the image; we didn’t want to just be serving up normal Belfast pub grub.”

Has the location of the bar had an impact on your trade?
“We are kind of out on our own a bit here but that could also work in our favour. We have the opportunity to do something with the street and open things up a bit. We’ve already had discussions with La Boca (which is directly opposite) about some exciting summer plans. Some sort of party, a Mardi Gras type festival, maybe.”