THE Bewley Campbell group has dramatically reduced its presence in Northern Ireland, terminating franchises in three cafes in Portadown and Belfast. In months it has also ended a agreement for a Bewleys in Dundalk, Co Louth.

The group, which continues to operate two cafes, which it fully owns, in Belfast and in Bangor, has decided to reduce its involvement in Northern Ireland for "commercial reasons", chairman Mr Patrick Campbell said yesterday.

The hotel and catering company, he said, had "hit a few unfortunate patches in Northern Ireland.

Its franchised cafe in Belfast was in the "wrong location", Mr Campbell said. In that case the group reached a mutual agreement with the franchisee to end the arrangement, according to Mr Campbell.

Other franchises had been ended for a variety of commercial reasons, he said. "There will always be situations where it's not a mutual win win situation."

The Bewley Campbell group currently operates 25 franchises, and owns cafes in Dublin, Belfast and Edinburgh.

Some of the franchises are also partly owned by the group, and it is involved in joint ventures with Aer Rianta.

Bewleys has recently opened a new outlet in Waterford.

The company is working on developing its Irish cafe brand and is considering opening four roadside cafes adjacent to hotels in the Republic.

It also has British outlets in Luton, Stansted and Southampton airports.