George Best’s family home is transformed into what it looked like in 1961 when he left Belfast aged 15 to follow his dreams at Manchester United…and fans can stay there for £129 a night
- The terraced property on the Cregagh Estate in Belfast has been ‘retro-refurbished’ by EastSide Partnership
- Fans can stay at the home on 16 Burren Way for around £129 per night, according to booking website Airbnb
- Self-catering accommodation has three bedrooms, a garden, a digital television, wi-fi and fully-fitted kitchen
George Best’s childhood home has been transformed into its former 1960s glory, making it almost identical to when the footballing legend left to play for Manchester United aged just 15.
The terraced property on the Cregagh Estate in Belfast has been painstakingly ‘retro-refurbished’ by owners EastSide Partnership, featuring a vintage TV set, newspapers from the time period and some Best family photos.
The firm was able to re-create the home with insight from Best’s sister Barbara McNarry, who also helped develop an audio tour which will be available soon ‘for day visitors to enjoy.’
Fans looking for slice of footie history can stay at the home on 16 Burren Way for around £129 per night, according to booking website Airbnb.
Best was famously so homesick when he left the family property in 1961 that after being at Old Trafford for just one day he boarded a ferry across the Irish Sea and ran home to tell his father Dickie that football wasn’t for him.
Fans looking for slice of footie history can stay at the home on 16 Burren Way (pictured) for around £129 per night, according to booking website Airbnb
George Best (pictured) was famously so homesick when he left his family behind that after being at Old Trafford for just one day he boarded a ferry across the Irish Sea and ran home to tell his father Dickie that football wasn’t for him
The home features a retro kitchen with typical black and white checkered flooring
Football fans can sit in the lounge which often became a refuge for the Best family who lowered the blinds while hiding from the press
EastSide Partnership, which owns the property, said the project had funding from Tourism NI (Pictured: Dining area)
A visitor’s log sits next to old newspapers in the dining room of the George Best House
One of three bedrooms available for guests to sleep in at the George Best House
Historic photos of George playing football line the pink-coloured walls of his childhood home
The small council house in east Belfast was home to the Bests from 1949, and was ‘greatly sought after’ because it included a bathroom, according to GeorgeBestHouse.com (Pictured: One of the bedrooms)
The self-catering accommodation has three bedrooms, a garden, a digital television, wi-fi and a fully-fitted kitchen
Eastside Partnerships said in May: ‘Over the past few months we have been retro refurbishing the George Best House to how it might have looked in the 1960s.’ (Pictured: One of the bedrooms)
While he soon changed his mind and returned to the club, he continued writing letters to his father and mother, Anne, and his five siblings – several of which are left dotted around the house for beloved fans to read.
One sent from his early days while staying in digs in Chorlton, south Manchester, reads: ‘I went to see the first team play Arsenal on Mon night …We were robbed … Denis got another two.’
Chris Armstrong of EastSide Partnership, which owns the property, said the project had funding from Tourism NI.
He said: ‘As you come in as a visitor you are coming back and opening the door as he left.
‘There are old photographs of George’s playing career, also personal touches from a family point of view, such as letters he wrote home from Manchester as a young teenager.’
Best died in 2005 at 59 – three years after undergoing a liver transplant following a long and public battle with alcoholism.
He won 37 caps for his country and played 361 games for United.
His childhood home, which often acted as refuge for the troubled star, is available to rent on Airbnb, with one night costing around £129 after cleaning and service charges.
The self-catering accommodation has three bedrooms, a garden, a digital television, wi-fi and a fully-fitted kitchen.
Eastside Partnerships said in May: ‘Over the past few months we have been retro refurbishing the George Best House to how it might have looked in the 1960s.
Cheers: George (far left) with his mother Anne and father Dickie on one of his many trips back to his family home, this time celebrating his parents’ silver jubilee anniversary in 1970
George with his mother Anne, who tragically died aged 54 after a struggle with alcoholism – having been teetotal until the age of 40
George plays football outside his grandmother’s house in Belfast aged just 14 months
George seated second from left just before his 11 plus exam at Nettlefield Primary school – and he was the only one to pass
A young George Best pictured at Manchester United training grounds in December 1964
A series of achievements tell the story of George Best’s illustrious football career on one wall at his childhood home in Belfast
‘Once complete, guests and visitors will be able to experience 16 Burren Way as it might have looked when a fifteen year old George Best closed the door behind him to go and follow his dreams in Manchester.
‘We have to say a massive thank you to George’s sister Barbara, and brother-in-law Norman for their support during the refurbishment and to Tourism NI for funding this project.’
The George Best House website says: ‘Visitors can enjoy; flicking through old school reports and letters a young George sent to his parents; looking at personal family photos on the walls as well as iconic images from George’s illustrious career and exploring an illustrated timeline of George’s football career and achievements.
‘In 2011, EastSide Property, part of EastSide Partnership, purchased George Best’s family home from the Best family in order to preserve and celebrate the legacy of the area’s home-grown footballing superstar.’
The small council house in east Belfast was home to the Bests from 1949, and was ‘greatly sought after’ because it included a bathroom, according to GeorgeBestHouse.com.
Three years after George died in November 2005, his father Dickie also passed, and the family were unsure of what to do with the home.
It continued to have visitors stopping outside to read the silver plaque beside the front door revealing that George had grown up there.
Eventually the house went on the market before being purchased by Eastside Partnership and turned into the George Best B&B in August 2011.
Some United programmes were put out in George’s room, along with a 1950s Wolves kit (Best supported them pre-United) and a Kirk Douglas poster from Spartacus, a favourite Best film.
George would go on to marry Alex Pursey (pictured together) in 1995 but they divorced in 2004, the year before his passing
Fans swarm Best’s white Jaguar as he arrives at Old Trafford during the 1960s
Downstairs you could find Best’s school reports from the late 1950s – with ‘must do better’ being a common theme, though they reveal that he was good at geometry.
Best moved into the house at the age of two-and-a-half in 1949 along with his parents and his then fifteen-month-old sister Carol.
The post-war terraced house was the first to be completed on the new estate and the Best family were the estate’s first residents.
The football star moved to the UK in 1963 when he was signed to play for Manchester United but his parents continued to live at the property after their son found success.
He returned to the house often, during both his best days and his worst.
‘At the height of George’s career the house was often under siege by the press and the family had to sit with the blinds closed on many occasions to try to get some privacy,’ says GeorgeBestHouse.com.
George had a son, Calum Best, with wife Angie Macdonald, but his struggle with alcohol often saw him disappear for long periods of time.
In a heartbreaking book released in 2015, Calum told of how his father took him to Old Trafford for the first time when he was 11, but left him alone in a hotel and didn’t turn up until the next afternoon.
He wrote: ‘Dad doesn’t appear until lunchtime the next day. He comes up to the table where I’m eating on my own and, in ways I don’t comprehend at the time, he tells me he left me last night to go and see a hooker.’
George would go on to marry Alex Pursey in 1995 but they divorced in 2004.
He had flings with Barbara Windsor and singer Lynsey de Paul and countless others – but was always unapologetic for living life to the full when off the pitch. A little black book containing his romantic conquests recently sold for £1,500 at auction.
He famously quipped: ‘In 1969 I gave up women and alcohol – it was the worst 20 minutes of my life.’
The star struggled with alcoholism for the majority of his life and died in London’s Cromwell Hospital from multiple organ failure.
More than 100,000 people gathered for the route of his funeral service, which set off from the house on its way to Roselawn Cemetery in December 2005.
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