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Delighted to be featured in local rag The Newsletter, they contacted us because they liked the story of how despite Covid-19 restrictions and not being allowed to operate we continue to grow and connect with our audience. We always wanted to offer gifts and services for our Tours customers. Guests would ask us where to pick up drinks, snacks, what presents they should get the birthday boy or girl and we were always wanting to point them in the right direction. Always recommending what to buy locally, so much gorgeous local artisanal food these days. The next logical step was to build our own store and make things easier our customers. So we did, so we did! We opened our store. Full of delicious hard to source local specialties and Wee Toast paraphernalia for the Tour lovers of the world. And The Newsletter tells it like it is. Thank you to Claire Cartmill for getting in touch and writing our story.
The Newsletter features the launch of Wee Toast Shop
Over the years, Wee Toast Tours has been voted the ‘Top Four Things To Do in the UK’, however with Government restrictions, the business with services in both Belfast and London has had to diversify.
The brainchild of husband and wife duo, Jenn and Ron Kenna, the Wee Toast Shop is a celebration of the best Irish and British products which can be put together into hampers. These include the Seaside Picnic in Ireland which offers products inspired by the sea and The Craic Hamper which is a collection of local favourites like Bushmills Whiskey, Suki Tea, Gubbeen cold cuts, Snow Patrol Hot Sauce, beautiful ceramics, Ulster Weaver Tea Towels and much more.
Jenn explained: “On our Tours, our guests are always after some yummy treats and drinks. So I’ve had my eye on delicious local specialities for a long time. Our new online store is a one stop shop to pick up some party supplies or cheer someone up by ordering a hamper for delivery straight to their home.
“Visitors to Wee Toast Shop are loving local artist posters by Illustrator Neal McCullough at Hand Drawn Creative in Bangor. Also popular are homeware items by local potter Thomas Powell, Ulster Weavers and Emma Bridgewater. But the real hit so far is the hampers.
“At a time that businesses are being asked to stay closed, we have found a way to safely stay open and launching the online shopping experience has been welcomed by our loyal following as it replicates the same sense of fun the brand is known for.”
Offering the same friendly customer service as the tours, Wee Toast Shop is also keeping their team working.
Jenn continued: “We make up a diverse group and our goal has alway been to create meaningful enjoyable jobs that develop career skills. We plan to grow our shop with our existing base as well as finding new customers worldwide. Our hampers have already gone out to some lovely folks in the UK, Europe, and the USA including the governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo and his family.
“If we can’t party together, we can party apart. Launching Wee Toast Shop has been a work of love. I am from the States and in our business we host visitors as well as locals and loads of corporate groups. This week we celebrate Thanksgiving back home and across North America. It’s a major holiday and a time when families gather from far and wide. Our family and friends here in Northern Ireland have always celebrated Thanksgiving together. It’s a fabulous holiday and an enjoyable low stress tradition that I had to pass on in my new homeland. This year we can’t gather but we can find ways to celebrate and express our renewed sense of thankfulness.
“The new retail side is helping both business and customers with food, drinks, gifts and fun accessories. Wee Toast Shop is all about making time with family and friends memorable. Let’s give gifts, throw parties and have fun virtually and together. Let’s enjoy one another and toast to the beginning of the end of this challenging year.”
Visit: https://shop.weetoasttours.com
Ireland Before You Die put Wee Toast Tours on their Bucket List. We came in 10th position, after visiting Belfast Castle and before going for a drink at the Duke of York and the Cathedral Quarter. Totally chuffed to be part of this fabulous guide for visitors and locals. We’ll make sure to tick these off our bucket list.
But Wee Toast Tours is perfect for multiple visits with family, friends and colleagues. Cycling around the city listening to your favourite music with your favourite people NEVER gets old.
Trip Adviser Bestows Top Honour on Wee Toast Tours
You guys are so great, thank you for reviewing us on Trip Adviser, year after year we get the Top Outdoor Belfast Activity from 2015 to 2019 in fact. And this year, well 2020 is a weird one, but still… we took the cake and got the top Trip Adviser honour. We won the Travellers Choice Awards!
Bells, tambourines, music maestro. We’re so excited. Thank you for dancing on the streets with us and tooting your horns. It is 100 per cent true that the experience on a Wee Toast Tour is frankly quite unbeatable. The special combination of a night out with friends, the tunes you want to hear and the adrenalin that comes from pedalling, you can not but smile. We can see it in your faces and in the faces of people waving us by, it is joyful. Now. Let’s party.
What is Travellers’ Choice?
TripAdvisor gives a Travellers’ Choice award to accommodations, attractions and restaurants that consistently earn great reviews from travellers and are ranked within the top 10% of properties on TripAdvisor.
Look who we bumped into during our ‘Wee Tour’ of London 😀🍻🎉 James Corden
The Late Late Show with James Corden and the cast from Dark Phoenix.
Wee Toast Tours capable of hosting even the most celebrated of guests. They had a blast and so did we.
Check out our video here: James Corden on Wee Toast London
We whole-heartedly love Belfast. We love it’s stories, it’s people, it’s traditions and craic. We never tire of it’s landmarks and beauty and as a small gesture to it’s greatness, we are launching our City Hero series with a little profile of what exacty makes Belfast so great. Thank you to Clare Dwyer Hogg for this beautiful salute to the city….
Journey around Belfast, and there’s a very good chance you’re retracing the footfall of James Joyce. The story goes that our literary hero came to the city only once, for a day trip, in November 1909. He arrived looking for a place to open a cinema… and left with an armful of Belfast Linen. Maybe it’s a tall tale, but as you explore this city, you’ll get the feeling that maybe Belfast is part built on myth. That’s what makes it so beautiful.
The Linen Quarter is where Joyce would have bought his luxury bedding, so no better place to begin than at the stately Belfast City Hall, an incarnation of the original White Linen Hall. At one time, it attracted international merchants for trade – now, it deals in a different kind of politics, while people from across the globe come to soak up culture and wander around the markets it hosts. Directly behind it is Linen Hall Street, which will take you right into the heart of the Linen Quarter. These days, it’s not for sheets, but opportunities to shop are plentiful, as are exciting new places to eat (try Harlem on Bedford Street, for one). And if you’re feeling learned, have a peek inside the Linen Hall Library, the oldest library in Belfast, founded in 1788 by a group of artisans who wanted to “promote general enquiry”.
With that in mind, be sure to engage in some enquiries around the very hip Cathedral Quarter. It’s a unique blend of artistic and historic: the Metropolitan Arts Centre (MAC), St Anne’s Cathedral, and the Ulster University’s new art studios are jigsawed together here, just steps apart. This is where cobbledstreets run past cool boutique hotels, Belfast’s oldest building still stands, and contemporary murals are ever-changing. It’s where the hipsters hang out, too, so you can be sure of a good coffee (try Established & Co for that; they serve excellent food as well). For the dreamers: stand in Saint Anne’s Square with the sculpture of Anne behind you. This is the best spot to gaze up at the sky through the aperture of the square’s modern architecture, as the silent Cathedral rises before you.
That feeling – the tapestry of new stories in old – isn’t unique to one place: it’s part of Belfast’s tangible atmosphere. There has always been a well established creative scene in the city, but there’s space for burgeoning ideas too. This is true not least in the Gaeltacht Quarter, where Irish language is the central vision, and history is unfolding in present day. A good place for a pit stop there is Culturlann, a hub for Gaelic Arts, where you might catch a poetry reading, workshop, or concert (there’s no requirement to speak Irish!), and are always guaranteed a good cup of tea and choice of literature. Carry that cultural thread with you as you leave – it’s part of the line that travelled before you, in the spirit of many who left Belfast’s port for adventures untold.
The Titanic Quarter is a fascinating monument to this, where glittering modern architecture pays tribute to past graft and the embrace of tragedy and dream. It’s a clear statement of past and future coinciding for our discovery. Drink it all in – and more – under the protective arms of Samson and Goliath: two cranes by Harland & Wolff, the makers of the original Titanic. They’ve watched over Belfast for so long that they too have become a talisman in modern myth.
And that’s only the beginning. Gather what you can, and Belfast will stay with you long after you leave. Joyce is testament to that.
Written by Award Winning journlist Clare Dwyer Hogg
Photo Credit William, of Somewhere In Belfast, another Belfast lover
At one of the busiest time of year, with festivities already flowing, imagine our delight at receiving a surprise visit on New Year’s Eve, from the legendary team of Unilad.com! The lovely and brilliant team asked to make a WTT pitstop on their tour of NI and frankly, we were more than flattered to be included on their list of all that is great and essential in this small but mighty country of ours!
Thank you Team Unilad, from start to finish, we loved every second of hosting you. Oh, and we can’t possibly forget the beautiful video of the Unilad Team enjoying their Wee Toast Tour which has now gone viral, reaching audiences of more than 7.8 million viewers.
Look out, WTT have gone global!
There is nothing sweeter than knowing we’ve hit the spot with local and visiting Wee Toasters in Belfast so imagine the glee when we saw that our Tours had been featured in The Culture Trip’s list of ‘The Top 10 Unusual Things To Do In Belfast’ earlier this year.
The team at The Culture Trip pride themselves on going beyond the obvious and finding out what is intriguing and exciting about the locations they visit around the world. Since we originally conceived Wee Toast Tours to offer Belfast something different, something irreverent and fun, we are delighted that The Culture Trip agree that’s what we’ve done!
Read the full article here and get inspired to make your visit to Belfast even better than you’d imagined.
No, not quite that one, but we are launching our own Titanic adventure by adding a new Wee Toast route to our tour offerings. Now, in addition to Belfast City Centre and Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter, you have the option to select to tour Belfast’s world-famous Titanic Quarter, home to the ill-fated RMS Titanic not to mention many other draws to this beautiful urban-waterfront regeneration project.
Find out more about our Titanic Tour here.
This winter, the WTT team are delighted to be welcoming two more bikes to the family. Expanding our Toast reach, we’ll be working with more bikes, which means more jobs, more Wee Toasters, and most importantly, getting to hang out with more of you, more often! We are thrilled to be growing and beyond grateful to everyone who has supported us along the way. We Toast You!
