Restaurants, Cafés and Hot Food Takeaways in Shopping Centres and Arterial Routes

Whilst restaurants, cafés and hot food takeaways complement the main convenience shopping function of district and local centres, when compared to other retail uses, they are more likely to have a detrimental impact on amenity, the retail character and vitality of shopping areas. Where concentrations of restaurants, cafés or hot food takeaways occur in centres, they can pose a threat to the primary role of the centre in providing for local convenience shopping needs. Hot food takeaways can also often be shuttered up during the day, leading to dead frontages and a loss of visual amenity. The council have undertaken a survey of the locations of restaurants and cafés within Belfast LGD. This has been informed by a number of information sources including planning permissions, web-based research and site visits. However this is not considered an exhaustive list; there may be some premises omitted, or there may be some establishments which have subsequently closed or changed use. The survey included restaurants within mixed-use premises but only those which appeared to have a dominant restaurant/café element. The survey did not include sandwich bars or coffee shops as these types of premises are considered to fall under an A1 (retail) use class. Map 1 shows the location of restaurants and cafés in the district and cross-referenced against the city centre, existing district and local centres, and along arterial routes. The map shows that there are 119 restaurants and cafés located within Belfast city centre. Outside of the city centre the majority of restaurants and cafés are located along arterial routes, with hotspots along the Lisburn Road, lower Ormeau Road, Botanic Avenue and surrounding Queen's University area, and within Ballyhackamore. There are fewer restaurants and cafés located within the west and the north of the city. The council is committed to monitoring the location of restaurants and cafés within Belfast on an annual basis.