Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Belfast Live
Belfast Live
Entertainment
Sophie McLaughlin

Co Antrim man exploring forgotten parts of NI goes viral on TikTok

TikTok has become the go-to app for almost everything nowadays - whether you are looking for food reviews, date ideas or style recommendations, the video-sharing app has you covered.

One Co Antrim man and his friends have decided to use the platform to allow others to join them in their adventures across the country.

22-year-old Jamie Robinson, @jamierob2 on TikTok, from Greenisland in Co Antrim found himself taking an interest in the "abandoned and forgotten" aspects of Northern Ireland during lockdown.

Read more: The Belfast man going viral on TikTok for his Ralph Lauren collection

Now with millions of likes and views later on the video-sharing app, Jamie has been giving people a wanderlust and nostalgia fix they may have never known they needed.

Speaking to Belfast Live, Jamie said: "Over lockdown when everything was closed, there wasn't really much to do and I think I saw someone on Snapchat exploring a place and I thought that I would go and just check it out to see what it was.

"I found it really interesting and I guess it all just went from there.

"I go to places that people will remember maybe visiting as a kid that are no longer here - places that we can remember going to ourselves so it's a strange but interesting thing to see how it looks now compared to how it once was."

He says that when exploring the old and more run-down places there can often be a creepy or weird atmosphere.

"Some places have a feeling like there is something there with you - you can feel it in the air," he added.

At a friend's suggestion, Jamie jumped into the world of TikTok to take people on adventures with him and show off what he was exploring and found interesting.

He continued: "I didn't even have the TikTok app downloaded and someone said to be about uploading one on there. I ended up uploading a couple of them and it just went mad.

"One of the first had around 4.1 million views and that sort of started it all - you get the buzz and excitement when something blows up like that.

"Because it has gone so well, you get a lot of word of mouth of people suggesting places to check out and we get a lot of suggestions that people don't really know about."

With almost 75k followers, 1.4 million likes and views tallying up into the 10s of millions, Jamie says the app he once knew nothing about has become a great community where he has been able to meet other creators with similar interests sharing tips and ideas.

"We've been all over Northern Ireland and places like Donegal, Dundalk, Dublin and at the minute, we are looking at heading over to England."

Read more: NI woman's viral TikTok video of odd sandwich combo leaves people divided

Read more: Co Antrim uncle and nephew on TikTok success through light-hearted videos

To get the latest breaking news straight to your inbox, sign up to our free newsletter.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.