CastleCourt

Last updated

CastleCourt
Castlecourt Shopping Centre - geograph.org.uk - 1305252.jpg
Outside CastleCourt in 2009
CastleCourt
Location Belfast, Northern Ireland
Coordinates 54°36′1″N5°55′53″W / 54.60028°N 5.93139°W / 54.60028; -5.93139
Opening date1990 [1]
OwnerWirefox
No. of stores and services77 [2]
No. of anchor tenants 1
Total retail floor area 31,121 m2 (334,980 sq ft) [3]
No. of floors2
Parking1600 [4]
Website www.castlecourt-uk.com

CastleCourt is a shopping centre on Royal Avenue in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is Northern Ireland's third largest shopping centre after Victoria Square and Rushmere Shopping Centre in Craigavon. As of 2007, it had approximately 16 million visits a year, [3] and sale densities ranked in the top 10% in the UK. [3]

Contents

History

Inside in 2010 Castle Court, Belfast, July 2010 (09).JPG
Inside in 2010

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 third largest shopping complex in Northern Ireland after the construction of the new Victoria Square shopping centre, [6] which is also located in Belfast, and Rushmere Shopping Centre in Craigavon.

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 Donegal Arcade years ago and a leisure centre.

Related Research Articles

Lurgan is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland, near the southern shore of Lough Neagh and roughly 18 miles (29 km) southwest of Belfast. The town is linked to Belfast by both the M1 motorway and the Belfast–Dublin railway line. Lurgan had a population of about 28,634 at the 2021 UK census, and falls within the Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon district. For certain purposes, Lurgan is treated as part of the "Craigavon Urban Area", along with neighbouring Craigavon and Portadown.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Craigavon</span> Town (founded 1965) in Northern Ireland

Craigavon is a town in northern County Armagh, Northern Ireland. Its construction began in 1965 and it was named after the first Prime Minister of Northern Ireland: James Craig, 1st Viscount Craigavon. It was intended to be the heart of a new linear city incorporating Lurgan and Portadown, but this plan was mostly abandoned and later described as having been flawed. Among local people today, "Craigavon" refers to the area between the two towns. It is built beside a pair of artificial lakes and is made up of a large residential area (Brownlow), a second smaller one (Mandeville), plus a central area (Highfield) that includes a substantial shopping centre, a courthouse and the district council headquarters. The area around the lakes is a public park and wildlife haven made up of woodland with walking trails. There is also a watersports centre, golf course and ski slope in the area. In most of Craigavon, motor vehicles are completely separated from pedestrians, and roundabouts are used extensively. It hosted the headquarters of the former Craigavon Borough Council.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Westfield Parramatta</span> Shopping mall in New South Wales, Australia

Westfield Parramatta is a shopping centre in the suburb of Parramatta in Greater Western Sydney.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Westfield Southland</span> Shopping mall in Victoria, Australia

Westfield Southland is a shopping centre in the suburb of Cheltenham in Melbourne. Southland has a floor area of 129,180m², making it one of the biggest shopping centres in Australia by size. There are approximately 400 retailers in Southland, including Myer, David Jones and Harris Scarfe. According to the Melbourne 2030 Metropolitan Strategy, Southland is recognised as one of 26 Principal Activity Centres. The centre is also one of the most profitable shopping centres in Australia, with an annual turnover of $857.9-million recorded in 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sprucefield</span> Retail park

Sprucefield is a major out-of-town retail park in the townland of Magherageery, County Down, Northern Ireland. It is on the southern edge of Lisburn; about one mile from Lisburn city centre, and ten miles (16 km) from central Belfast. Sprucefield is located beside the M1 motorway and the A1 road. It is split in two parts: the Sprucefield Centre and Sprucefield Park.

Belfast City Centre is the central business district of Belfast, Northern Ireland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Westfield Knox</span> Shopping mall in Victoria, Australia

Westfield Knox is a shopping centre, outdoor entertainment and professional services complex in the outer eastern Melbourne suburb of Wantirna South, in the Australian state of Victoria. The centre opened on 9 November 1977 with 88 stores and 2300 parking spaces.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Derbion</span> Shopping mall in Derby, England

Derbion is a large indoor shopping centre in Derby, England. It is the largest shopping centre in the East Midlands and the 15th largest in the United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Westfield Hornsby</span> Shopping mall in New South Wales, Australia

Westfield Hornsby is a large indoor/outdoor shopping centre in the suburb of Hornsby on the Upper North Shore of Sydney.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Westfield Chatswood</span> Shopping mall in New South Wales, Australia

Westfield Chatswood is a large indoor shopping centre in the suburb of Chatswood in the Lower North Shore of Sydney.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Westfield Bondi Junction</span> Shopping mall in New South Wales, Australia

Westfield Bondi Junction is a large shopping centre in the suburb of Bondi Junction in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Westfield London</span> Shopping centre in White City, London

Westfield London is a large shopping centre in White City, west London, England, developed by the Westfield Group at a cost of £1.6bn, on a brownfield site formerly the home of the 1908 Franco-British Exhibition. The site is bounded by the West Cross Route (A3220), the Westway (A40) and Wood Lane (A219). It opened on 30 October 2008 and became the largest covered shopping development in the capital; originally a retail floor area of 1,600,000 sq ft (150,000 m2), further investment and expansion led to it becoming the largest shopping centre in the UK and Europe by March 2018, an area of 2,600,000 sq ft (240,000 m2).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Victoria Square Shopping Centre</span> Shopping complex in Belfast, Northern Ireland

Victoria Square is a shopping complex located in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The area includes over 62 shops, 16 restaurants and an Odeon cinema. Opened on 6 March 2008, Victoria Square is a commercial, residential and leisure development that took 6 years to build. Its anchor tenant is the largest House of Fraser that the retailer has opened in the UK, at nearly 200,000 square feet (19,000 m2).

Castle Towers Shopping Centre is a shopping centre in Castle Hill, New South Wales, Australia. The shopping complex is owned by the Queensland Investment Corporation.

The Tribeca Belfast development, formerly known as North East Quarter and previously Royal Exchange, is a planned £500 million development based in the north east of Belfast City Centre. It is a major mixed-use regeneration scheme, with a total area of 1.5 million sq ft (0.14 million m2) as of 2018. The development has generated controversy since its inception in 2003. Over the years, opposition has been levelled against its lack of care towards existing important built heritage, lack of integration with local small businesses and arts organisations and even its brand name, and much of its existence so far has been in the context of an arson attack on one of the existing buildings in 2004, while under the ownership of the developers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal Avenue, Belfast</span> Street in Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK

Royal Avenue is a street in the heart of Belfast city centre, Northern Ireland. It runs for about 500 metres from the junction with Castle Place and Donegall Place to the junction with Donegall Street. It lies between the Cathedral Quarter and the Smithfield and Union Quarter of the city. It has been the city's principal shopping thoroughfare since its establishment in 1881. Today Royal Avenue is one of Belfast's main commercial centres and is home to the £40 million shopping complex Westfield CastleCourt.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Westfield Hurstville</span> Shopping mall in New South Wales, Australia

Westfield Hurstville is a shopping centre in the suburb of Hurstville in the St George area of Sydney, Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Allan Hill</span> British structural engineer

John Allan Hill FREng, FIStructE, FICE, FIAE, FIEI is a British structural engineer born in 1938.

Rushmere Shopping Centre is a shopping centre in Craigavon, County Armagh, Northern Ireland, opened in 1976. The anchor tenant of the centre is Primark.

References

  1. "Castlecourt Shopping Centre". www.mybelfast.co.uk. Archived from the original on 5 November 2002.
  2. Moen, David (8 October 2019). "CastleCourt Shopping Centre Belfast". www.castlecourt-uk.com.
  3. 1 2 3 "BELFAST - CASTLECOURT". westfield.com. Archived from the original on 19 October 2007.
  4. "Castle Court Shopping Centre". Archived from the original on 17 January 2008. Retrieved 21 January 2008.
  5. "Belfast's CastleCourt sold for £125m to Wirefox". BelfastTelegraph.co.uk. 29 July 2017. ISSN   0307-1235 . Retrieved 31 October 2023.
  6. 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.
  7. "CastleCourt". Future Belfast. 28 March 2016. Retrieved 27 April 2024.