Northern Ireland is huge in TV, but post-Brexit reality is far less glitzy

Northern Ireland faces economic problems similar to those of rest of the UK, with some extras all of its own. Now what it has achieved is threatened by a looming trade war

Bars are full, restaurants are turning away customers who don't have reservations and, judging by the people laden with bags, the Christmas shopping season is already under way. Belfast has known plenty of crises down the decades but this doesn't feel like one of them.

Instead, on a Thursday evening in November, Northern Ireland's capital has the air of any other big provincial UK city, with a thriving hospitality sector and plenty of money changing hands. Were it not for the accents, it could be Leeds or Manchester.