Traffic

Most routes around the city centre were backed up with traffic on Monday as shoppers raced to secure presents in time for Christmas. To see which roads are currently affected click here.

There were severe delays on ALL Metro bus services as a result. Translink is providing updates on Twitter.

Weather warnings

Snow looks unlikely, but the Met Office has issued a yellow warning of rain across Northern Ireland which could cause flooding, between 9pm on Monday 22 and noon on Tuesday 23.

Bin Collections

If your black or blue bin is due to be collected on Christmas Day, it will now be collected this coming Saturday, December 27. If your collection falls on Boxing Day, it will now take place on Sunday, December 28.

If your bin is due to be collected on New Year’s Day, it will be collected on Saturday, January 3. Bins collected on Wednesday, December 24 and Friday, January 2 will still be picked up as normal.

Public transport

Translink will operate its holiday timetable from Christmas Eve right through to New Year's Day. Timetables can be found here.

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Whatsapp Gridlock in the city centre

No Ulsterbus, Metro, Goldline, Airport Express, NI Railways or Enterprise services will operate on Christmas Day.

There will be some limited Goldline, Ulsterbus and Metro services operating on Boxing Day, including Goldline Express X1 from Belfast to Dublin serving Dublin Airport.

Taxi fares

Both of Belfast's main taxi companies Valuecabs and Fonacab are charging "fare-and-a-half" from 5pm on Christmas Eve to 5am on December 27th; and the same applies again from 5pm on New Year's Eve to 5am on January 2nd.

Shop opening hours

Castle Court



To 23rd December: Monday to Friday 9am – 10pm

Christmas Eve 9am – 5pm

Christmas Day Closed

Boxing Day 10am – 6pm

Saturday 27th 9am – 6pm

Sunday 28th 1pm – 6pm

Monday 29th 9am – 6pm

Tuesday 30th 9am – 6pm

New Year’s Eve 9am – 5pm

New Year’s Day 12pm – 5pm

Victoria Square

To 23rd December: Monday to Friday 9.30am – 10pm

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Whatsapp St George's Market is open for three extra days in the run up to Christmas

Christmas Eve 9.30am – 5pm

Christmas Day Closed

Boxing Day 9am – 6pm

St George's Market

As well as the usual weekend opening hours, the market will also be open on the following dates:

Monday 22 December: 10am - 9pm

Tuesday 23 December: 10am - 9pm

Wednesday 24 December: 8am - 2pm

There will be normal opening hours on Saturday 27 and Sunday 28 December. It will be closed on Friday 2 January 2015, reopening on Saturday 3 and Sunday 4 January 2015 as normal.

Pub opening hours

Christmas Eve: Bars will close at 11pm - or midnight if they have a late extension.

Christmas Day: 12.30pm - 10pm.

Boxing Day: Bars to close at 11pm - or 1am with a late extension.

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Whatsapp A surprising number of pubs are open on Christmas Day

Off sales

Christmas Eve 8am - 11pm

Christmas Day - none allowed.

NI Water industrial action

Hundreds of Northern Ireland Water workers have begun industrial action which they have warned will have a major impact on customers.

Union bosses have said that water supply and treatment services are set to be disrupted over the Christmas period.

Leisure centres

Open until 4pm on Wednesday 24 and Wednesday 31 December.

Closed on Thursday 25 and Friday 26 December and Thursday 1 and Friday 2 January.

Cemeteries and crematorium

Open to the public as usual: Monday to Friday 8am - 4pm, Sunday 10am - 4pm.

Something we're missing? Email digital.editorial@belfasttelegraph.co.uk

Belfast Telegraph