Shops to Let in Belfast

Business character

Health and the public sector are the biggest single employers: the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust employs 22,000 staff across the Royal Victoria, Belfast City and Mater hospitals, and Queen's University Belfast has around 4,800 staff. Professional and financial services have grown into the largest private cluster, led by PwC, whose 2,400-strong Northern Ireland practice is its largest office outside London, Citi (around 3,000 on 2022 figures) and Allstate (around 2,300 on 2022 figures), with CME Group, TP ICAP, Liberty Mutual and FinTrU among the fintech and operations centres that have chosen the city. Technology is home-grown as well as inward: Kainos is building its international headquarters in the Linen Quarter, and Belfast is described as having one of the highest concentrations of cyber security businesses worldwide, in a sector employing about 2,700 people across Northern Ireland. Advanced manufacturing survives in the Harbour Estate, where the former Spirit AeroSystems plant, split between Airbus and Boeing in December 2025, employs around 3,700 and Harland and Wolff is back in shipbuilding. The Cathedral Quarter is the city's cultural quarter, with the MAC, bars and restaurants that make it the natural home for creative, media and hospitality businesses, and Belfast Harbour Studios anchors a film and television sector on the North Foreshore. Other significant employers include Ulster University (Belfast campus), BBC Northern Ireland (Ormeau Avenue), Danske Bank (HQ, Donegall Square West) and Translink (HQ, Great Victoria Street).

Transport & connectivity

• Motorway: M1, M2, M3 (Junction M1 J1 (Broadway) and M2 J1a (York Street), 1 miles)
• Nearest rail: Belfast Grand Central (also Lanyon Place)
• Airport: Belfast City (George Best); Belfast International (Aldergrove) (3 (City) miles)
• Key A-roads: A1 (Lisburn Road), A2 (Shore Road and Sydenham Bypass), A12 (Westlink), A24 (Ormeau Road), A55 (Outer Ring Road)

Market context

Belfast is a cheaper office market than the big English regional cities, but the top end has tightened sharply. Prime Grade A rents stood at £25.50 per sq ft at the end of 2024 and have since risen to £26.50 by Q1 2026, with further increases expected because of limited supply, and less than 250,000 sq ft of Grade A space remained by mid-2026. Take-up was 132,456 sq ft in the first half of 2026, and lettings at The Ewart on Bedford Street, over 80 per cent let, show the preference for refurbished, energy-efficient buildings. Older secondary offices let for far less and many are heading for conversion. Industrial supply is tight around the port and the motorways. Average asking rents for Belfast industrial space run at around £5 per sq ft. Retail has recovered well in the core: Donegall Place reached full occupancy in summer 2025 with arrivals including Victoria's Secret and Rolex, and city centre footfall was up 6.5 per cent. Retail rents are lowest in the suburbs and highest on and around Donegall Place.