HughesTools Belfast Gone But Not forgotten

At it's height there were 400 skilled local men working on this former Hughes Tools site. The Hughes in the name refers to Howard Hughes, American millionaire, aviator, industrialist, film producer etc Now this extensive building on the upper Castlereagh road is being knocked down for a new Lidl extension. It is yet another example in a long list of a once thriving industries lost to Belfast. In this case the precision bit drilling was relocated to Venezuela and then to Houston Texax. Most of our traditional industries has gone to the Far East and China. We now manufacture very little.