Business

A taste of what’s to come

John Long’s fish and chip shop in Belfast recently obtained a licence to sell alcohol
John Long’s fish and chip shop in Belfast recently obtained a licence to sell alcohol

MAJOR changes to our high street retail economy in the face of online shopping have been well documented and show little sign of letting up, with House of Fraser, Debenhams and Patisserie Valerie just three of the latest big names to face the the high street’s biggest challenge in a generation.

However, one person’s struggle is another’s opportunity, and the burgeoning food and drink sector in Northern Ireland, in particular Belfast city centre, reflects a change in both how our typical high street looks and also in consumer trends and demands. You only have to consider the plethora of cafés, coffee, and doughnut shops that appear to have sprung up on seemingly every street corner in Belfast to see how this sector is taking over from retailers that were once housed in those same buildings.

The monthly liquor licensing courts provide a fascinating insight into just how well this sector is doing, detailing the number of new restaurants that are appearing and how existing bars and restaurants are adapting, expanding or changing their offering to suit customer demand. The likes of Willie Jack, Michael Deane, Niall McKenna and other leading lights of the food and drink scene often present themselves in court, discussing their businesses and how they see customer profile and demand changing. For example, one prominent city restaurateur described how one of the major reasons they were changing the layout, food offering and pricing of their restaurant was to be more suitable to the many tourists, particularly Americans, whose tastes and preferences may differ from the locals.

The public increasingly want more than just a retail destination. Shopping on its own can be done online. People want a location to eat, meet and drink as well as shop and the buzz term is now ‘the customer experience’. Those businesses that can reinvent themselves to offer customers ‘the experience’ will be best equipped to survive.

Some quirky examples of businesses adapting in this way in Belfast are a hairdressers, which successfully obtained a liquor licence allowing them to offer their predominantly female clientèle food and drink, turning the mundanity of going to the hairdressers into an event to look forward to in itself, adding to the excitement of the customers evening ahead or whatever the case might be.

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Meanwhile, John Long’s fish and chip shop, one of the oldest in the city, recently obtained a licence to sell alcohol, again breaking down the barriers of what is expected of ‘your local chippy’ and offering something new to customers. Likewise, Tim Hortons opened a drive thru in Connswater, allowing customers to buy their doughnut and coffee without even leaving the car.

But changing and adapting costs money. Staff and the new living wage cost money, and our business rates often appear disproportionate meaning not all our retailers will survive and many will continue to be challenged. It is perhaps not surprising that many of the aforementioned cafés and coffee shops flourishing on our street corners are those of large corporates with deep pockets.

:: Christopher Bullock (Christopher.Bullock@oreillystewart.com/ 028 9032 1000) is an associate solicitor in the commercial department at O’Reilly Stewart Solicitors.