New ‘drive-thru’ restaurant/cafe proposed at Newtownabbey’s Longwood Retail Park

An application has been made for a single storey “drive-thru” at Longwood Retail Park.

The Costa Coffee chain already has an outlet on the site.

Canadian brand Tim Hortons opened a branch of the coffee and doughnut chain at Antrim Road in Glengormley in 2019.

Tim Hortons is an increasing presence in Northern Ireland. The company’s first outlet in Belfast opened at Fountain Street in May 2018 followed by the chain’s first “drive-thru” in the Province at Connswater Shopping Centre and Retail Park in December 2018.

Outside Belfast, branches are now located at Glengormley, Cookstown and Coleraine with a sixth due to open in Bangor.

A new branch could also be in the pipeline at the site of the former Frankie and Benny’s restaurant  in Ballymena where a planning application has been made to Mid and East Antrim Borough Council for alterations to the premises at Larne Road Link for a drive through cafe with outdoor seating.

A spokesperson for Tim Horton’s UK and Ireland told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “Unfortunately, we are unable to comment about the site in Newtownabbey.”

Meanwhile, coffee chain rival Starbucks has a drive-through in Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough at The Junction, Antrim.

Michelle Weir, Local Democracy Reporter

--

Click here to read: Tribe Technology creating 120 new jobs at Enterprise Way, Mallusk, facility

--

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this article. We’re more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by Coronavirus impacts our advertisers.
Please consider purchasing a copy of the paper. You can also support trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription of the News Letter.