Business

Independent coffee chain Bob & Berts to open in Belfast city centre within months

caffeIne hits: Bob & Berts owners David Ferguson, left, and Colin McClean
caffeIne hits: Bob & Berts owners David Ferguson, left, and Colin McClean caffeIne hits: Bob & Berts owners David Ferguson, left, and Colin McClean

POPULAR Northern Ireland coffee chain Bob & Berts is set to open in Belfast city centre in the spring, with a further two locations set to be open across the north this year.

As part of multi-million pound expansion plans unveiled last year the independent coffee company is opening two new Belfast stores, with the first location now open on the Lisburn Road. The second, is set to  be housed in the Lesley Buildings on Fountain Street. It is understood Bob & Berts will join Canadian coffee chain Tim Hortons within the vacant ground floor of the six-storey building. The multi-national confirmed last year it is open its first store in the north in September as part of a major UK expansion.

The owners of Bob & Berts have confirmed the two new stores in Belfast, with the city centre outlet due to open in the spring.

The coffee chain has also outlined plans for new stores in Portadown and Cookstown, which are due to open this year, while the owners have stated they expect to complete three new outlets in Scotland before the end of 2018.

Bob & Berts coffee shops are littered across the north, including four on the north coast, as well as locations in Dungannon, Ballymena, Lisburn, Limavady, Bangor, Omagh, Newtownards and Belfast on Stranmillis Road.

In August last year Bob & Berts announced it was to open 30 new stores across the north, Republic of Ireland and Scotland in the next four years creating 600 jobs.

The major expansion plans are being fuelled by £2 million from UK investors BGF (Business Growth Fund). At the time it was the third company in Northern Ireland to secure a major equity investment from BGF, the UK's most active investor in small and mid-sized companies.