Two new tenants for Larne's Laharna Retail Park mean site is 'almost fully let'

Vodafone opened a branch at Laharna Retail Park earlier this month, with Poundland also making the move to the Circular Road site.

It follows a difficult year for high streets nationally, with several businesses at the premises shutting up shop since the start of the pandemic.

These included New Look and Carphone Warehouse, along with M&Co, which had a presence in the town for 13 years.

The completion of the Poundland and Vodafone deals means the retail park is now fully let with the exception of a small first-floor office space, according to property services company CBRE Northern Ireland.

The Vodafone branch, located at unit 5B, will employ four members of staff. “We will look to increase [this] over the coming months,” said Vodafone franchisee, Andrew Kerr.

The branch will be open from 9.30am - 6pm Monday to Saturday and 1pm to 6pm on Sundays, he added.

Earlier this year, there were calls to examine parking charges at the Laharna retail site.

Mark Dobbin, vice chairperson of Larne Traders’ Forum suggested that the introduction of parking penalties in the adjacent carpark has “chased people away from the shops”.

Smart Parking, which operates the carpark, said that the “parking management system” was introduced in October 2019 to “counter high levels of parking abuse and to ensure genuine customers can always find a place to park”.