📍16 Burren Way, Belfast BT6 0DW, UK
1946 – 1961“I was born in Belfast in May 1946, the eldest of six children of Dickie Best, a shipyard worker at Harland and Wolff, and Anne, a fine hockey player. When I was three we moved to a new council house at 16 Burren Way on the Cregagh estate in east Belfast, one of the post-war estates of neat houses and open greens. The green opposite our house was where I spent my childhood, kicking a ball, often a tennis ball, against walls and kerbs for hours until I could make it do anything I wanted. I was a small, skinny, shy boy, but I was quick and clever with the ball, and I played for the Cregagh Boys' Club under Bud McFarlane. I passed the eleven-plus and went to Grosvenor High School, a grammar school, but they played rugby there, not football, and I was unhappy and moved back to the local secondary, Lisnasharragh. Glentoran, our local club, turned me down as too small and light, and so did the Northern Ireland schoolboys. But Bud told Manchester United's Belfast scout, Bob Bishop, about me, and Bob sent a telegram to Matt Busby saying he thought he had found a genius. At fifteen I went to Manchester for a trial, but I was so homesick that I came home after a couple of days. My father persuaded the club to take me back, and I made my debut in 1963. I won the European Cup in 1968 and the Ballon d'Or, and became football's first pop star. Our house on Burren Way has been restored to look as it did in 1961, and Belfast's airport bears my name.”
🗺️ Approximate location today
📍 Street view today