CANADIAN coffee chain Tim Hortons looks set to add to its expanding store portfolio in Northern Ireland with a new drive-thru outlet at Bangor’s Bloomfield Shopping Centre.
Planning approval already exists for a drive-thru coffee unit next to Starbucks at the north Down retail park.
Tim Hortons’ parent owner, the SK Group, has now lodged its own amended plan for the car park site.
It’s expected to represent an investment of around £750,000, creating around 40 jobs.
The Canadian firm last week opened its fifth outlet in the north at the Riverside Park in Coleraine, just weeks after opening a new drive-thru in Cookstown.
It comes less than three years after Tim Hortons opened its inaugural store in Belfast city centre.
Three more coffee shops are in the planning process. Together with the Bangor bid, it could soon bring the SK Group’s store count here to nine.
The company previously signalled it eventually wants to open as many as 25 coffee shops in the north.
Two additional drive thru outlets are planned for the Kennedy Centre in west Belfast and Balmoral Plaza Retail Park in the Boucher Road are of south Belfast.
The third currently at the planning stage could soon see Tim Hortons’ construct its first outlet in Co Armagh at the Meadows Retail Park in Portadown.
Planning officials in Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon council are still working on the application, which is currently at the consultation stage.
According to the NI Planning Portal, 27 objections have been lodged in respect of the planning application.
