Image:DSCF8047.JPG Portrush (in Irish: Port Rois, ie port of the promontory) is a town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. The main part of the old town, including the railway station, most hotels, restaurants and bars, is built on a mile long peninsula, Ramore Head, pointing north-northwest. It had a population of 6,372 people in the 2001 Census. In the off-season, Portrush is a dormitory town for the nearby campus of the University of Ulster at Coleraine.

It is the base for the Katie Hannon, a Severn class lifeboat and Ken and Mary, a D class inshore lifeboat of the RNLI. Lifeboats have operated out of Portrush Harbour since 1860. For more information see the RNLI web site.

Contents 1 Places of interest 2 Events 3 History 3.1 The Troubles 4 2001 Census 5 People 6 References 7 See also

[edit] Places of interest

• Attractions in the seaside resort, next to Portstewart, include the famous (at least in Northern Ireland) Barry's Amusements, Portrush Countryside Centre, the Dunluce Centre and a swimming complex. Also in the town is the renowned Royal Portrush Golf Club which hosted the 1951 British Open golf championship. There are sandy and rocky beaches to the east and west.
• Portrush is home to one of Northern Ireland's best known nightclubs. The Kelly's complex consists of a multitude of bars and clubs and is Northern Ireland's largest nightclub complex. It includes the nightclub Lush, which attracts many of the world's top DJs and hosts BBC Radio 1 events.
• There are two long sandy beaches in the town, known as the West and East Strand. White Rocks and Curran Strand stretch on from the East Strand and are backed by dunes and the famous Royal Portrush golf course.

[edit] Events

• Portrush hosts an annual air show.
• The local RNLI raft race is also a popular annual event.
• On June 172006 Norman Cook DJed to 20,000 people on the town's East Strand beach. Cook had previously played similar gigs on Brighton beach and Flamengo Beach in Rio de Janeiro. The PSNI made eleven arrests at the event, on suspicion of the possession of drugs with the intent to supply. [1]

[edit] History

[edit] The Troubles

For more information see The Troubles in Portrush, which includes a list of incidents in Portrush during the Troubles resulting in two or more fatalities.

[edit] 2001 Census

Portrush is classified as a Small Town by the NI Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) (ie with population between 4,500 and 10,000 people). On Census day (29 April 2001) there were 6,372 people living in Portrush. Of these:

• 20.8% were aged under 16 years and 23.1% were aged 60 and over
• 46.2% of the population were male and 53.8% were female
• 23.6% were from a Catholic background and 70.6% were from a Protestant background
• 5.1% of people aged 16-74 were unemployed.

For more details see: NI Neighbourhood Information Service

[edit] People

• Rev. James Law, father of Canadian born Andrew Bonar Law, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, (1922-1923) was born here.

[edit] References

• NI Conflict Archive on the Internet
• Culture Northern Ireland
• Deane, Ciarán The Guinness Book of Irish Facts & Feats. Guinness Publishing 1994 ISBN 0-85112-793-2

[edit] See also

• List of towns in Northern Ireland
• List of villages in Northern Ireland

ga:Port Rois

no:Portrush sv:Portrush