Bangor Lifeboat Station
| Inshore Lifeboat | |
|---|---|
| Launch Method | Carriage |
| Address | Sea Cliff Road, Bangor, County Down BT20 5EZ |
| Telephone | 02891 459376 |
Explore two centuries of RNLI lifeboat history, heroic rescues, and the enduring tradition of saving lives at sea.
Bangor Lifeboat Station sits on Sea Cliff Road overlooking Belfast Lough, in the city of Bangor at the top of the Ards Peninsula in County Down. Established by the RNLI in May 1965 as part of the new inshore fleet, it has become one of the busiest inshore lifeboat stations in Ireland, covering the southern shore of Belfast Lough. The station operates an Atlantic 85 inshore lifeboat.
An RNLI lifeboat had earlier served nearby at Groomsport, from 1858 until 1920. As leisure boating grew in the 1960s, the RNLI placed a D-class inshore lifeboat at Bangor Harbour in May 1965, stored at the Tower House yard and launched from the slipway. Four D-class lifeboats served between 1965 and 1988, when the station received its first twin-engined Atlantic 21, later named Youth of Ulster by HRH Prince Edward in 1991.
A new station building, provided by North Down Borough Council, opened in 1984, and in 2002 a further new boathouse and crew facilities were built to house the latest inshore lifeboats. In 2006 Bangor took delivery of the first Atlantic 85 in Ireland, Jessie Hillyard (B-805), which over 18 years launched 643 times and saved 20 lives. The current Atlantic 85, Ruby Robinson (B-944), arrived in June 2024, funded by the legacy of Norfolk farm manager Dennis Filby and named after the farmer he served.
She was formally named in 2025, the year of the station’s 60th anniversary.
