US fast-food chain Popeyes scraps central Christchurch plans for Papanui site

Thursday, 25 June 2026

An artist’s render of the approved Popeyes restaurant for the corner of Papanui Rd and Wyndham St, which will include a two-lane drive-through and seating for 68 patrons.

American fried chicken franchise Popeyes has abandoned its planned central Christchurch drive-through and has been granted resource consent for a new restaurant on Papanui Rd — on land a Canterbury family business has owned for almost 70 years.

Tahua Group Limited, which manages and operates other franchises including Starbucks, Burger King and Number One Shoes, lodged a new application for a standalone Popeyes restaurant on the corner of Papanui Rd and Wyndham St.

Consent was granted on May 25 for the site, which is currently home to several shops, a car park and an automotive workshop.

Christchurch Lock & Key director Mike Barltrop at the company’s former Papanui Rd premises, which his family has owned since the 1960s.

The group initially sought consent for a shared Popeyes and Starbucks drive-through site between Moorhouse Ave and Bath St, opposite the Durham Street New World. But Christchurch City Council confirmed the application was withdrawn on May 28.

Christchurch Lock & Key director Mike Barltrop said his family had owned the Papanui Rd land since the 1960s, after his grandfather first started the shop there.

The business relocated two weeks ago following the sale. While cleaning out the old premises, Barltrop found his grandfather's diary, including an entry describing the shop’s first day at the site.

“It was a bit sentimental,” Barltrop said.

He said the land had been on the market for some time. “The shops are a little bit older and needed a revamp — and if we did that [it] probably would’ve cost us a lot of money yet stayed the same set of shops anyway.”

Christchurch Lock & Key, pictured here in the 1980s when it traded as Christchurch Security Centre under Mike Barltrop’s grandfather.

He’s happy with the new site at 16 Winston Ave, as it’s “bigger, better and a nicer layout”.

The remaining tenants, Groovy Groomers and Nunes Tiles, both plan to relocate and have been approved to stay on a month-by-month basis until Popeyes begins work at a currently unknown date.

Baltrop has no hard feelings about selling the site to one of the world’s biggest fast food chains.

The site on the corner of Papanui Rd and Wyndham St, now vacant after Christchurch Lock & Key’s relocation, is set to be cleared for the new Popeyes restaurant.

“I tried Popeyes the other day — it was pretty good,” he said. “We wish them all the best.”

The development will see the 1404m² site cleared — including the car park and an automotive workshop attached — to make way for a 265m² restaurant with seating for 68 patrons and a two-lane drive-through wrapping around the rear of the site.

Nunes Tiles and Groovy Groomers will remain open, mainitaing a lease on a month by month basis in agreement with Popeyes.

The restaurant is approved to operate 24/7, though the application notes the dine-in area is more likely to run from 6am to 2am. On-site parking is provided for 13 vehicles, with cycle parking for the public and staff.

The drive-through is expected to generate around 120 vehicle trips during peak hour — about half of which are anticipated to be pass-by traffic already in the area.

Popeyes first New Zealand restaurant opened in South Auckland in April last year, with its first South Island store opening in Invercargill in September.

Tahua Group Ltd confirmed no work had yet been completed on the existing site. The company could not confirm when the store would open, as it is still working through consents, but said information would be released in due time.