The Park Centre is a retail and leisure development that was constructed in a largely built-up residential area in South-West

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

. The complex was constructed by Brookmount Properties Limited and opened on 15 April 1985. Today it is currently owned and operated by Latt Limited.

Retail Stores

In recent times, The Park Centre has had a £400,000 renovation, which included an extension that expanded retail space. Currently, there are 35 shops within the centre including

JD Sports JD Sports Fashion plc, more commonly known as JD Sports or JD, is a British sports-fashion retail company based in Bury, Greater Manchester, England. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. Pentlan ...

Poundland Poundland is a British variety store chain founded in 1990. It once sold most items at the single price of £1, including Closeout (sale), clearance items and proprietary brands. The first Pilot (experiment), pilot store opened in December 19 ...

and

Specsavers Specsavers Optical Group Ltd is a British multinational optical retail chain, which operates mainly in the UK, Ireland, Australasia and the Nordic countries. The chain offers optometry and optician services for eyesight testing and sells glasse ...

. The complex also has a number of anchor tenants including Peacocks,

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

and

Carphone Warehouse The Carphone Warehouse Limited was a mobile phone retailer based in London, United Kingdom. In August 2014 the company became a subsidiary of Currys plc (previously named "Dixons Carphone"), which was formed by the merger of its former parent Ca ...

. The Park Centre also has a number of food outlets including a Subway and a local coffee shop. In the spring of 2018, an investment of £3 million was announced which included the creation of a B&M Bargains and a Home Bargains superstore. B&M will move to the former Dunnes Store Food Outlet from its current unit.

History

Belfast Celtic F.C The grounds of The Park Centre once used to be the grounds of the

Belfast Celtic F.C. Belfast Celtic Football Club was a football club. Founded in 1891 in Belfast, Northern Ireland, it was one of the most successful teams in Ireland until it withdrew permanently from the Irish League in 1949. The club left the league for polit ...

Belfast Celtic Football and Athletic Company purchased the ground in 1900 and moved onto the site, then called Celtic Park, in 1901. While at the site, the club won a plethora of trophies and cups before exiting football in 1949, after the Windsor Park Riot of December 1948 left several players badly injured. The ground consisted of a grandstand and covered enclosure known as the Willowbank Stand. As well as football, athletics, boxing, pony trotting and dog racing meetings were held on site. Famously, in 1912, Winston Churchill, then a Liberal MP, addressed a 5,000 strong political meeting on the site, arguing in favour of Irish Home Rule. Later, in the run up to the Easter Rising of 1916, Irish Volunteers drilled at Celtic Park and were inspected in 1915 by Irish Nationalist leader John Redmond. There is now a dedicated retail unit as a museum giving information on the football club and grounds. Sean Graham Bookmakers In 1977, the ground was sold to Sean Graham Bookmakers Ltd who continued to run greyhound meetings at the Park, but this was unsuccessful, due to the political and economic unrest at the time. Brookmount Properties The 11-acre site was acquired by Brookmount Properties Limited from Belfast Sport and Leisure in 1982, and a planning permission application was submitted in 1983 to build the shopping complex. The Park Centre opened its doors to the public in 1985. It was one of three such centres in the whole of

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

at that time.

References

External links

Park Centre
{{DEFAULTSORT:Park Centre Shopping centres in Northern Ireland Buildings and structures in Belfast Shopping malls established in 1985 1985 establishments in Northern Ireland