![]() Outside CastleCourt in 2009 | |
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Location | Belfast, Northern Ireland |
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Coordinates | 54°36′1″N 5°55′53″W / 54.60028°N 5.93139°W |
Opening date | 1990 [1] |
Owner | Wirefox |
No. of stores and services | 77 [2] |
No. of anchor tenants | 1 |
Total retail floor area | 31,121 m2 (334,980 sq ft)[3] |
No. of floors | 2 |
Parking | 1600 [4] |
Website | www |
CastleCourt is a shopping centre on Royal Avenue in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is Northern Ireland's fourth largest shopping centre. As of 2007, it had approximately 16 million visits a year,[3] and sale densities ranked in the top 10% in the UK.[3]
History
[edit]The centre was built by John Laing on the site of the former Grand Central Hotel.[5] The nature of the development made it a target for the Provisional IRA: the centre was bombed five times during its construction, four times after it opened, and suffered incendiary bomb attacks. It is now the fourth largest shopping complex in Northern Ireland.[6]
The centre was brought by the Westfield Group and MEPC plc (later with Hermes Retail Estate) in 2000, renaming it Westfield CastleCourt. Westfield sold its share of the centre fully to Hermes Retail Estate in 2012, effectively renaming it back to just CastleCourt.[7]
In 2021, a multi-plan development was announced for the former Debenhams, a store that opened with the centre in 1990 and was their first store in the island of Ireland. The multi-plan development included a new cinema operated by Omniplex Cinemas called The Avenue, a new Starbucks (relocating from their former presence in the centre), New Look, the return of TK Maxx in the centre after moving to Donegall Arcade 15 years ago and a leisure centre. During this redevelopment, Gino NV returned to the centre after a decade by relocating from the Rushmere shopping complex into the former Bonmarché store that abruptly closed in April in May 2024, after closing following the bankruptcy of their owners in January 2014. As of 2024, Filipino charity Ten Foundations occupies the former Gino NV store.
References
[edit]- ^ "Castlecourt Shopping Centre". www.mybelfast.co.uk. Archived from the original on 5 November 2002.
- ^ Moen, David (8 October 2019). "CastleCourt Shopping Centre Belfast". www.castlecourt-uk.com.
- ^ a b c "BELFAST - CASTLECOURT". westfield.com. Archived from the original on 19 October 2007.
- ^ "Castle Court Shopping Centre". Archived from the original on 17 January 2008. Retrieved 21 January 2008.
- ^ "Belfast's CastleCourt sold for £125m to Wirefox". BelfastTelegraph.co.uk. 29 July 2017. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 31 October 2023.
- ^ Sharrock, David. "Belfast basks in new kind of boom; Confusion surrounds attempts to attract foreign investment but on the city's streets the tills are ringing in the benefits of peace".The Guardian, 14 December 1994.
- ^ "CastleCourt". Future Belfast. 28 March 2016. Retrieved 27 April 2024.
External links
[edit]- castlecourt-uk.com — official website