From pop-up bars to transport: What can Fleadh thinking do for Belfast all-year round?

As Sunday night turned into Monday morning, and the strains of fiddles and flutes drifted through the city streets, people hailed the success of Belfast's first ever All-Ireland Fleadh.

The festival brought eight days of music, thousands of people and tens of millions of pounds of investment to a city once plagued by fear and violence.

This year's Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann saw more than 200 events, alongside competitions, concerts and street performances. Organisers described it as the largest Fleadh in history.

But part of making this Fleadh the largest was a major logistical effort, which saw vast pedestrianisation of Belfast's city centre, derelict buildings transformed into performance spaces and the city changed totally for the eight days of the Fleadh.

This was not the usual Belfast - but what can the city learn from hosting the world's biggest Irish music festival? And could it use some of what it's learned at other events, not just when the Fleadh returns next summer?

The pedestrianisation debate has long pre-dated the Fleadh, but calls for it to be introduced, potentially permanently, have ramped up in the last week.

A large vehicle-free zone was created over the course of the festival, allowing the crowds to mingle, enjoy street performances and, on a number of occasions, break into impromptu sing-alongs.

Representatives from the Alliance Party have written to the council and other bodies calling for a "comprehensive review of pedestrianisation" in the city centre.

Infrastructure Minister Liz Kimmins said she would support permanent pedestrianisation of the city centre "if it works for the community".

However, disability campaign groups, such as Disabled People Against Cuts Northern Ireland (DPAC NI), said pedestrianisation could exclude many disabled people from accessing the city.

DPAC NI spokesperson Dermot Devlin said that "many disabled people can only walk or wheel short distances".

South Belfast MLA Kate Nicholl said that any expansion has to be designed with disabled people and accessibility organisations from the start and "not bolted on afterwards".

The manager of Cathedral Quarter Business Improvement District Damien Corr said he would love to see permanently pedestrianised streets in Belfast.

"Our experience with pedestrianising Union street and Hill street was that it worked for businesses. It's safer, it's cleaner and it just makes everybody feel better."

Pedestrianisation requires a lot of buy-in, not just from people and shoppers, but all kinds of businesses that call the city centre home. There's a long road to walk before something akin to what happened over the last week can be introduced but expect this debate to keep on running.

So what do people in Belfast think?

Julia Richards said she would worry that drivers could be put off coming into the city but added she could see the value of pedestrianisation.

Ita McCormack said Belfast should be pedestrianised.

"It brings people together and it's safer. It means that everybody's mixing rather than just passing each other in cars."

For many of those who know Belfast, one of the most striking aspects of the Fleadh was the transformation of previously forgotten spaces.

Buildings that had lain dormant for years were suddenly filled with music and dance.

Architect Dr Rachel O'Grady, who specialises in urban strategy, told BBC News NI "the bare bones of a really excellent city is there".

Belfast Chamber CEO Clare Guinness said the transformation of the city centre had caused people to "fall in love" with it.

"It felt vibrant, it felt safe," she said.

Part of the appeal for many were the pop-up bars that appeared across Belfast.

Boyd Slater from Reclaim the Night said people need to embrace venues like these.

"The sky is not going to come tumbling in on top of us if we think about increasing the amount of spaces and venues we have in Belfast," he said.

Slater added that creating "more venues and more spaces" would make it easier to attract people to the city centre.

O'Grady also suggested that the River Lagan should be incorporated into next year's festival, which will once again take place in Belfast.

Although some people had raised concerns about having events close to, or on the Lagan, she believes the safety risk of the river might have been overstated.

Guinness agreed, saying: "We should be using the Lagan more."

Speaking to BBC News NI in the city centre, William Hamill said some of the buildings that were converted into bars became "the best bars in Belfast".

Elizabeth McWilliams said there was "certainly scope" for these buildings to be used again".

At various points across the eight days, Belfast's public transport came under criticism.

On Saturday, Translink apologised after rail passengers were left stranded on a platform when a late-night train arrived into Newry station - which was already shut for the night.

The train was among a number of extra late-night services which were running to and from Belfast during the Fleadh.

There was also heightened demand for bus and train services to and from the city during the festival.

Several people contacted Translink via social media to report problems with packed buses and trains, or to say they could not board services as they were already full.

On Friday, Translink apologised to customers using the 17:54 Lisburn to Belfast train which did not call at seven stops due to a "large number of passengers".

Belfast Night Tsar Michael Stewart said there were "lots of issues" with transport during the Fleadh.

However, he praised the night buses that ran during the festival, and said he hoped they would run again during next year's event.

"We're going back to Stormont to make sure that we get the funding for the night buses that are currently in to make sure we have those for next year as well."

Ian Campbell, Translink's director of service operations, said planning for the Fleadh in 2027 is "already underway".

"Over the last week we have seen the importance of public transport for Northern Ireland and events such as that," he said.

Campbell added that, like after every event, Translink will review their "passenger loadings".

"Where we can bring in more services for the Fleadh in 2027, we will look to do that."

In a statement, a Translink spokesperson said record numbers used public transport during the Fleadh.

"More than 1.7 million passenger journeys were made across the Translink bus and rail network during Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann, with over 620,000 additional journeys compared with the equivalent period last year.

"Delivering transport for an event of this scale required extensive planning, significant capacity enhancements and hundreds of additional bus and rail services.

"While there were periods of exceptionally high demand, our teams remained focused on adapting to changing travel patterns and doing everything possible to help customers reach their destinations."

About 800,000 visitors in one week in Belfast? Those predicted numbers seemed wildly ambitious and yet it's turned out to be an underestimation.

What made hundreds of thousands of people take to the streets of Belfast city centre for eight days straight?

Certainly the music played a big part, the children busking on every spare square of pavement, a joyful cacophony of tin whistle, fiddle, bodhrán.

The pedestrianisation of streets gave people the freedom to go where they wanted, where the crowds took them.

At several points, mainly on Friday and Saturday nights, the numbers started to feel overwhelming, controlling that may be an issue next year if the anticipated additional crowds turn out.

"I'm taking the whole week off next year," was heard more than once.

The social media videos pumped out by many of the city's venues including the newest "pop-ups" made a star out of Charlie the Pug, and everyone green with envy if they missed the latest singalong.

"Fleadh fever" entered the lexicon, as did "Fleadh flu" (when you overdid it the night before).

"Fleadh FOMO" too – the fear of missing out on a session while you're somewhere else.

And even though Ed Sheeran didn't make an appearance, this All-Ireland Fleadh will be talked about for the next 12 months, and for long after that.