Hi, I’m Dolores and I’ve lived in Belfast for most of my live. I set up Creative Tours Belfast in 2021 because I loved showing visitors around the city in a previous role and decided this was what I wanted to do full-time. I am a professionally qualified and insured Belfast Green Badge Tourist Guide, a qualification awarded by the UK-wide Institute of Tourist Guiding (ITG). I am a member of ITG and of the Northern Ireland Tourist Guide Association. I also hold a Master of Arts degree from the University of St Andrews, in English with French and Spanish, (and have reasonable spoken French and Spanish).

Previously I worked for many years, in London and then back in Belfast, as a journalist, editor and publisher in book, magazine and newspaper publishing, and have also run a PR and publishing services consultancy. (This included setting up a new ‘In Belfast’ arts magazine for a time.) More recently, I held Communications and Public Engagement posts at one of Belfast’s Universities. I like to think that my years as a writer and editor help me to craft a plethora of entertaining stories to share with guests on my tours

I am a passionate and knowledgeable music and arts fan, with a particular expertise in the music heritage of Belfast and the current music scene across all genres. I played the Bodhran (the drum of traditional Irish music) from a young age, progressing to a rock drum kit. I have experience of both singing and drumming (badly) in bands, and have written and recorded my own songs. I’ve helped to run Girls Rock School Northern Ireland and am currently a member of the Cathedral Quarter Choir and the OTH Music Collective.