Ballymena: County Antrim's Market Town and the Gateway to the Antrim Coast Road
Ballymena sits in the broad valley of the River Braid in County Antrim, about 28 miles north of Belfast. The population is around 30,000, making it the largest town in the Mid and East Antrim council area. The town has long served as an agricultural market centre for the surrounding farmland. Ballymena was known for its linen industry in the 18th and 19th centuries, and more recently as the home of the JTI Gallaher tobacco factory, which closed in 2017 with the loss of around 800 jobs. The Rev. Ian Paisley, founder of the Democratic Unionist Party and First Minister of Northern Ireland, represented the area for decades and was born in Armagh but raised nearby. Actor Liam Neeson grew up in Ballymena and attended the town's schools before moving to Belfast.
The town centre along Church Street, Wellington Street, and the Tower Centre serves as a retail base for the wider rural area. Ballymena is on the Belfast to Derry/Londonderry rail line, with services to Belfast Central taking about 40 minutes. The A26 connects north to Coleraine and the Causeway Coast, while the M2 motorway runs south to Belfast. Slemish Mountain, visible to the east, is associated with St Patrick, who is said to have tended sheep there as a captive youth. For those exploring adult companionship in the mid-Antrim area, the legal position in Ballymena is the same as in every other part of Northern Ireland, and it is fundamentally different from the rest of the United Kingdom.
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Ballymena sits in the broad valley of the River Braid in County Antrim, about 28 miles north of Belfast. The population is around 30,000, making it the largest town in the Mid and East Antrim council area. The town has long served as an agricultural market centre for the surrounding farmland. Ballymena was known for its linen industry in the 18th and 19th centuries, and more recently as the home of the JTI Gallaher tobacco factory, which closed in 2017 with the loss of around 800 jobs. The Rev. Ian Paisley, founder of the Democratic Unionist Party and First Minister of Northern Ireland, represented the area for decades and was born in Armagh but raised nearby. Actor Liam Neeson grew up in Ballymena and attended the town's schools before moving to Belfast.
The town centre along Church Street, Wellington Street, and the Tower Centre serves as a retail base for the wider rural area. Ballymena is on the Belfast to Derry/Londonderry rail line, with services to Belfast Central taking about 40 minutes. The A26 connects north to Coleraine and the Causeway Coast, while the M2 motorway runs south to Belfast. Slemish Mountain, visible to the east, is associated with St Patrick, who is said to have tended sheep there as a captive youth. For those exploring adult companionship in the mid-Antrim area, the legal position in Ballymena is the same as in every other part of Northern Ireland, and it is fundamentally different from the rest of the United Kingdom.
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