Administrators of NCP confirm major Belfast car park will close on Thursday night
One of the largest car parks in Belfast is set to close on Thursday night following the collapse of NCP last month.The car park operator, which has eight sites in Belfast, fell into administration on March 16 after struggling to fill spaces since Covid-19 and grappling with losses.While NCP’s car parks continue to trade under the joint administrators from PwC, some 20 of the 95-year-old company’s 340 sites were deemed commercially unviable and have already closed. Another four sites are set to close on Thursday night, including one close to Belfast’s Dublin Road. Located on Hardcastle Street, the 547 space car park is located next to the former Movie House Cinema site, which has been demolished to make way for new student accommodation for Queen’s University and a new office complex for Belfast IT group Kainos.The NCP car park next to Belfast's Dublin Road, pictured before the demolition of the Movie House Cinema next door. It’s understood the car park had also been used by the nearby Clayton Hotel for guest parking.In a statement, the joint administrators at PwC: Zelf Hussain, Rachael Wilkinson and Toby Banfield, said they had been unable to reach an agreement with the owner of the Dublin Road car park, with the result it will close at 11.59pm on Thursday night.“Since our appointment, the company has continued to trade as normal while undertaking an assessment of the options for the business.“Following the closure of 20 commercially unviable sites on 27 March 2026, it has not been possible to reach agreements to enable the continued operation of a further four loss-making sites.”The Belfast car park will close with three others in England, with the loss of five jobs.The administrators said the employees will be supported through the statutory redundancy payments process.The Dublin Road site was NCP’s second largest of its eight Belfast car parks after The Tannery, which includes 610 spaces next to the Castle Court shopping centre.Built in the early 1990s alongside the former multi-screen cinema, the Dublin Road car park was sold in 2019 as part of a £28 million deal that included the 447 space NCP car park on Montgomery Street in the city centre. While the city centre site was bought by CBRE Global Investors, the buyer of the Dublin Road site was not disclosed, with Lambert Smith Hampton (LSH) describing the new owner as “a private investor”.At the time of the 2019 deal, LSH said the car park had 19 years to run on its lease with NCP.It’s unclear if or when the car park may reopen.Outside its three large Belfast car parks, NCP’s portfolio in the city includes five much smaller sites located at Cromac Quay, Lanyon Terrace, Charlotte Street and Seymour Row.PwC said the administrators continue to engage with key stakeholders, including landlords, to assess the business and improve the viability of as many sites as possible.
