The news that Belfast has lost out in the competition to be the European capital of culture has been greeted with disappointment by the team that co-ordinated the city's bid.

Belfast failed to win a shortlisting place in the contest to become a Centre of Culture.

It would have been the first step along the way to being chosen as the European Capital of Culture for 2008.

In our view we were confident that we had done more than enough to get through to the shortlist

Tom Collins Imagine Belfast chairman

Chairman of Imagine Belfast, which co-ordinated the city's bid, Tom Collins said he was disappointed about the decision.

Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Liverpool, Newcastle/Gateshead and Oxford were announced as the front-runners for the coveted title by Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell on Wednesday.

Twelve cities entered the race but were whittled down by an advisory panel chaired by Sir Jeremy Isaacs, former director general of the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden.

The panel visited all the cities which put themselves forward and examined the bids in detail and will now go on to do more detailed work on their entries.

Belfast had allocated about �1m to the effort to win shortlisting.

Speaking after the announcement, Mr Collins said: "I am not in the mind of the judging panel but in our view we were confident that we had done more than enough to get through to the shortlist and we felt that we had one of the strongest bids," he said.

"Obviously we are disappointed, it is a knock for us.

"I am confident that in terms of what we put out, I was happy to stand over every line of it."

Huge benefits

The city had been a favourite in early betting, but took a knock with a new survey which showed Birmingham as the hot tip, followed by Cardiff and Newcastle - Gateshead.

Belfast Lord Mayor Alex Maskey said the benefits created by the bid meant all those involved must continue their work.

"Culture has been put to the top of people's agendas and it has a huge amount to offer us by improving the quality of life," he said.

"Breaking down barriers and creating wealth - both financial and in terms of adding real value to people's lives."

Northern Ireland Office minister Angela Smith said the decision was not the end of the road for Belfast's efforts to become a cultural centre in Europe.

Angela Smith: "We must continue to promote Belfast as an international cultural venue"

Ms Smith took over responsiblity for the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure following the suspension of the Stormont Assembly.

"The challenge therefore is to harness the tremendous work we have already produced and continue to promote Belfast as an international cultural venue to the benefit of everyone in the province," she said.

The benefits are expected to be profitable for whichever city is named Capital of Culture.

The only other UK city to have been a City of Culture, as it was known then, was Glasgow in 1990 and it claims to have reaped huge benefits.

Whereas, other cities in the running noisily promoted themselves and claim they deserve the title, the attitude in Belfast was much more low key.

People in the street were sceptical that their city might have a chance of beating off opposition from some of the other shortlisted cities.

They pointed to litter in the streets, the continuing bomb alerts and the suspension of the assembly as evidence that Belfast was not ready for the added challenge of being a leader of European culture.