Portrush - Places of interest, History, 2001 Census, People

55°12N 6°40W, pop (2000e) 5800. Town in Coleraine district, Antrim, NE Northern Ireland, UK, on the N coast; railway; engineering; tourist centre for the Giant's Causeway, 11 km/7 mi NE.

Portrush (in Irish: Port Rois, ie port of the promontory) is a town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. In the off-season, Portrush is a dormitory town for the nearby campus of the University of Ulster at Coleraine.

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. Portrush is home to one of Northern Ireland's best known nightclubs. 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. On June 17, 2006 Norman Cook DJed to 20,000 people on the town's East Strand beach.

History

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.

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

People

Rev.