WETHERSPOON has ruled out opening a new venue in Belfast city centre in the near future.
The hospitality chain this week announced plans to open 18 new pubs as part of a £145 million investment strategy.
Dublin was among the ten locations identified by the group.
But the company has said its recently acquired premises on Belfast’s Arthur Street will not be among its new venues.
The pub chain, headed by former Belfast schoolboy Tim Martin, bought the former Café Vaudville in 2019.
The property is currently let to the Revolution Bars Group and trades as Revolucion de Cuba.
A spokesperson for Wetherspoon has confirmed that Revolution Bars hold a long lease on the venue.
It means Mr Martin’s group is not in a position to take over the central spot in the short or medium term.
Wetherspoon also owns a former JJB sports store in Royal Avenue and a former Methodist church in University Street.
But the group has been persistently frustrated in its efforts to secure a license to serve alcohol in the properties.
Wetherspoon withdrew its University Road drinks license application around the same time it acquired the Arthur Street property.
Wetherspoon spokesman Eddie Gershon told The Irish News: “The licensing system in Northern Ireland reduces the level of investment from companies wishing to open pubs there.
“It is easier to get permission to build a pub in London, Dublin and Edinburgh.
“We would have opened new pubs in Belfast many years ago if it wasn’t for licensing issues.”
The north’s licensing system is due for an overhaul. Communities Minister Carál Ní Chuilín announced in July 2020 that the Executive had backed proposals to modernise some aspects of the law.
It includes longer drinking hours and removing restrictions around Easter drinking and serving alcohol at events.
It could become law in time for Easter 2022, but the current proposals look unlikely to aid Wetherspoon’s efforts to secure new drinks licenses.
