Bridgewater (formerly known as The Outlet Park) is a major retail development in

County Down County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 552,261. It borders County Antrim to the ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

, near

Banbridge Banbridge ( ) is a town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies on the River Bann and the A1 road and is named after a bridge built over the Bann in 1712. It is in the civil parish of Seapatrick and the historic barony of Iveagh Upper ...

. It consists of a shopping outlet, retail park, drive-thru's and petrol stations.

History

The Boulevard

The Boulevard opened in 2007 as The Outlet. the shopping outlet is a home to discount outlets for big-name fashion retailers. The site was derelict and struggled with footfall, with only a third of its units filled. In 2016, The Outlet was acquired by Tristan Capital Partners and Lotus Property from its previous owner

Ulster Bank Ulster Bank is one of the traditional Big Four Irish clearing banks. The Ulster Bank Group was subdivided into two separate legal entities: National Westminster Bank Plc, trading as Ulster Bank (registered in England and Wales and operating i ...

, who acquired it from original owners GML Estates and Landsec. Tristan and Lotus invested in the struggling site to become one of the biggest leisure and shopping destinations in Northern Ireland. The investment included opening a 8 screen Omniplex cinema, a

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation, doing business as McDonald's, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain. As of 2024, it is the second largest by number of locations in the world, behind only the Chinese ch ...

drive-thru restaurant and an implementation of a glass roof. The Outlet was rebranded to The Boulevard in 2018. In 2024, another investment was announced, with a Hollywood Bowl opening (the 2nd one in Northern Ireland) and an expansion of the area close to the Omniplex cinema, which will be redeveloped into a food and entertainment quarter. The development is expected to be finished by early 2026.

Banbridge Retail Park

In 2014, the Bridgewater (then called The Outlet Park) development began to expand, with a new

Tesco Tesco plc () is a British multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in the United Kingdom at its head offices in Welwyn Garden City, England. The company was founded by Jack Cohen (businessman), Sir Jack Cohen in ...

store opening, this site would later become Banbridge Retail Park when Home Bargains opened in 2016. In 2020 and 2022 respectively, The Range,

Marks & Spencer Marks and Spencer plc (commonly abbreviated to M&S and colloquially known as Marks & Sparks or simply Marks) is a major British multinational retailer based in London, England, that specialises in selling clothing, beauty products, home produc ...

and EZ Living Interiors were announced to be tenants of an expansion of the retail park. M&S and The Range opened in 2022 while EZ Living opened in 2023. In 2024, another expansion was announced, 5 retail units, 3 restaurants and a garden centre were announced to be added to the retail park.

The Gateway

The Bridgewater development expanded further in 2019 with the opening of a

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restaurant, this area would be known as The Gateway. Like The Boulevard, the area is owned by Tristan Capital Partners and Lotus Property. The area quickly expanded from 2023 to 2025, with a Go motorway service and coffee drive-thru, a

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drive-thru and an electric car charging station powered by Fastned.

References

External links

The Boulevard official website

Banbridge Retail Park official Website
{{Coord, 54, 19, 51.1, N, 6, 16, 36, W, display=title Shopping centres in Northern Ireland Tourist attractions in Northern Ireland 2004 establishments in Northern Ireland 2007 establishments in Northern Ireland Retail parks in the United Kingdom