Weekends will never be the same again thanks to the Belfast Telegraph’s fabulous new lifestyle magazine.

The new 64-page Weekend supplement, which hits the streets tomorrow, is packed with revealing celebrity interviews, real life stories and fashion features. The cutting edge magazine, a first for Northern Ireland, is also brimming with restaurant reviews, travel guides, gardening tips, cookery and health advice.

Leading columnists, including acclaimed novelist Carlo Gebler and the hugely popular Belfast Telegraph regular, Frances A Burscough, will also be contributing every week.

Weekend was officially launched at Belfast’s hippest venue, Ba Mizu in Victoria Square last night, where the crowds who attended were treated to a sneak preview of this weeks’ edition.

Belfast Telegraph editor Martin Lindsay hailed Weekend as one of the best products ever.

“This Weekend magazine is proof of our commitment to the Northern Ireland market,” he said.

“I have worked in the Telegraph for very many years and I can say hand on heart that this 64-page magazine is the best product we have ever produced in terms of supplements. It beats anything else we have done in the past by a country mile.

“It is a quality product and it does complete the line-up of a string of supplements we produce every week in Northern Ireland. It is the best, professional, classy supplement we have ever produced.”

Gail Walker, Belfast Telegraph features editor with responsibility for Weekend, added: “This isn’t just an add on to the newspaper, we do a lot of supplements but this is something that is very different. It’s a new step for us and we are very proud of it. I think it reflects how we are all living in a new environment in Northern Ireland — politically and culturally.

“Lifestyle is not something that’s confined to a social class. It applies to everyone and we have something for everyone and we are proud of that fact. It reflects the self-confidence of Northern Ireland.

“You’ll find in the Telegraph we will write and address the kind of issues that no other newspaper here will do.

“It’s a lifestyle magazine but it also has a cutting edge to it.

“We’ll be looking at world events, events here and how they impact on us. We’ll have narrative as well.

“But of course it’s not all serious. It is a lifestyle magazine and we do have a lot of fun within it too. You’ll see we have Christine Bleakly in it, we have a really good feature on female plastic surgeons who are making a breakthrough in what was traditionally a male environment.

“We have a brilliant feature on age gap couples. It’s all real life, all human interest, all things that happen here and we are entitled to see it here and talk about it here and behave as if we are just like everywhere else.

“No other newspaper in Northern Ireland is going to give you a magazine like this which is packed with lifestyle, packed with good human interest stories every week.”

And the magazine went down a storm with new readers.

Among those attending last night’s launch was PR guru Cathy Martin.

She said: “I absolutely love it. It’s a really nice mix of all things lifestyle — travel, fashion and beauty as well as looking at celebrities both international and those that we know like Liam Neeson’s wife and even Gemma Garrett.

“It’s very much packaged like the weekly glossys which mix glamour stories with celeb stories and then top tips on fashion. It’s definitely up there in terms of content.”

Meanwhile Gareth Oakes, from furniture company Dekko, said: “I think it’s great. It is a breath of fresh air. It reflects the new vibrant Belfast with a new vibrant magazine. It is very colourful, well produced and put together with interesting articles.”

Kathryn Burns from Harper on Belfast’s Lisburn Road added: “It’s very well made. It covers everything — all a girl needs for fashion, lifestyle, clothes, food — so I love it. It’s great and much needed in Northern Ireland. We are vastly progressing here, we are becoming a lot more cosmopolitan and it really covers all the aspects that you would find in every magazine.”

Sally Smyth, deputy centre manager for Victoria Square, said: “The fashion and lifestyle offering in Northern Ireland has grown substantially in recent years and the addition of Victoria Square has greatly increased choice, so this type of high quality magazine is well placed to meet the demand for up-to-date fashion trends and modern lifestyle features.”

Click here to watch from the launch

View the launch edition of Weekend Magazine in PDF format