Clements Coffee closures mark end of high street stores
Clements Coffee is closing three of its outlets, marking the end of its time on the high street.
The properties based at Royal Avenue, Botanic Avenue and Rosemary Street are back on the market, with only two branches in operation —at the campuses of Queen’s University and Ulster University, Jordanstown.
Established by entrepreneur John Elliot in 1999, Clements quickly became a fixture in Belfast’s coffee culture. At its peak it had 10 stores in the city.
The Clements chain is yet another victim of the crisis facing the high street, with many coffee shops impacted by skyrocketing rental prices, increasing energy bills and spikes in the price of raw materials such as milk..
Rob Bell, managing director at SD Bell & Co Ltd, is an expert in the coffee industry, with the business established in 1887. As well as having an over 100-seat café, situated in Belfast, said: “It’s a difficult trading environment at the minute. Costs have increased massively since Covid. Rents are very high and footfall in the high street has dropped.
“City centre coffee shops rely on footfall from office workers and those in and around the city every day, but with people working from home, this level of footfall can’t be relied on.
“In the non-alcoholic hospitality sector, the percentage of wages to come out of sales has increased. Pre-Covid we would have wages to sales at around 40%, it’s now over 50%. That’s without the increase of the cost of food and energy.
“All these things have hit our sector and you can’t pass all these costs on to costumers, so inevitably we are less profitable than pre-Covid. Before the pandemic it was easier.
“Rents are very high in the city. Thankfully, we aren’t impacted by such price increases as we own our premises. But rental prices can be extortionate.”
