SerpApi.Org
American chicken food chain Popeyes is set to open its first outlet in Belfast city centre after clearing its final planning hurdle in recent days.
The New Orleans-style fried chicken brand has acquired the former Game premises at Donegall Arcade on Castle Place.
After securing planning permission at the end of May to convert two floors of the retail unit into a fast food restaurant, the green light was granted on Friday for new signage at the former Game shop.
Work is now under way at the city centre site.
The application was submitted by PLK Chicken Limited, which owns the master franchise rights for Popeyes in the UK and Ireland.
The company is majority owned by TDR Capital.
After making its Irish debut at Belfast’s Forestside in September 2024 and adding a drive-thru venue opened at The Junction in Antrim in July 2025, Popeyes is set to take its Northern Ireland portfolio to five sites.
Plans are in place to add outlets at the Abbeycentre shopping complex in Newtownabbey and the Bloomfield Shopping Centre in Bangor.
All five of the Popeyes outlets in the north are located in retail assets owned by either the Herbert Group or the Frasers Group.
Michael and Lesley Herbert’s property company bought the Abbeycentre for £58.8 million in June 2025.
It came just one year after the couple bought Bloomfield Shopping Centre and Retail Park in Bangor for around £22m and less than three years after they bought Forestside Shopping Centre in south Belfast for £42m.
Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group, best known for owning Sports Direct, acquired Donegall Arcade in 2015.
The retail group completed the acquisition of both The Junction in Antrim and The Boulevard in Banbridge last month for an undisclosed sum.
The Co Down retail site is now top of the list of likely additional locations for the next phase of Popeyes’ expansion.
Frasers also owns the Tower Centre in Ballymena, while the Herbert portfolio includes retail sites in the Boucher Road and the north west.
Popeyes’ UK and Ireland franchise owner has also signed a deal with Applegreen to open a series of roadside locations across the Republic over the next four years.
There are currently just two Popeyes sites in the Republic, located at Blanchardstown in Dublin and the Applegreen at Portlaoise.
The opening of Popeyes’ first Belfast city centre site comes just months after the closure of the last remaining standalone Game store in Northern Ireland at the end of last year.
Originally founded in 1992, Game once boasted 16 standalone stores in Northern Ireland before entering financial difficulties in 2011.
Just five stores in the north survived the subsequent administration process in March 2012.
The video game specialist, which was acquired by the Frasers Group in 2019, has been wound down as a standalone high street retailer in recent years, effectively becoming a Sports Direct concession.
