Starbucks is the latest retailer to take a spot at Grand Central Station in Belfast

​It’s logo now appears on the windows of an empty cafe space at the far end of the bus side of the terminal.

However, it could be a couple of months before the outlet opens, which would bring the total number of stores in the city to 14.

It will compete with Pret-a-Manger, the upscale cafe which is currently being kitted out in readiness for opening, hopefully by the end of the month.

In the meantime, a cafe stand called Fuelled is selling coffee and sandwiches.

There is also, as previously reported, a Marks & Spencer food shop due to open (probably in October) and a pub upstairs run by the Scottish brewery BrewDog (which is expected sometime before Christmas).

Looking at the bigger picture around the future of transport in Northern Ireland, the BBC radio show Talkback discussed the issue on Monday.

On the agenda was the idea that the government is going to start pivoting away from catering to cars, and towards buses, trains, and bikes.

One of those on the panel was Wesley Johnston, an author with a particular focus on the Province’s transport network.

He said: “[It is] perhaps not in the public consciousness, but you can see it coming through in reports and what we’re hearing the Executive say.

"I think that’s right – the difficulty the general motoring public have is this is the way we’ve always done it here.

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