CANADIAN coffee chain Tim Hortons looks set to open its first outlet in west Belfast.
The company, which opened its inaugural shop in the north at Belfast’s Wellington Place two years ago, has steadily expanded since.
In May, a planning application was lodged to open a new drive-thru in the Boucher Road area. Now a similar application has been lodged for the Kennedy Centre in west Belfast.
The proposal for a drive-thru coffee pod at the Falls Road shopping centre was lodged last month by HJS Developments, the company led by Curley’s founder Hugh Kennedy.
Although Tim Hortons’ name does not expressly appear in the planning application, documents uploaded to the planning portal have pointed to the Canadian coffee giant.
One such document, featuring a computer generated image of the proposed coffee shop is labelled ‘Tim Hortons at Kennedy Centre’.
The design, colour scheme and signage are identical to those deployed by the Tim Hortons group.
The coffee chain currently operates just three stores in the north, including two drive-thru outlets in Glengormley and the Connswater Retail Park and the shop close to Belfast City Hall.
Planning approval has been secured for a fourth at Coleraine’s Riverside retail park.
At least three more are currently in the planning system at retail centres in Portadown, south Belfast and now west Belfast.
In a report produced late last year in support of its application for a coffee shop next to the Meadows Retail Park in Portadown, Tim Hortons’ parent owner, the SK Group, indicated that it wants to eventually open 25 outlets in Northern Ireland.
