Council says it will 'contact Five Guys' in plea to get them to open in Cheshire town
Warrington Borough Council will contact Five Guys, says a cabinet member, after a plea to get the fast food chain to come to the town.
Members of the public now have the opportunity to ask questions at cabinet meetings – with the meeting on Monday the first time this has taken place.
A Warrington youth leader asked Cllr Laura Watson – who is cabinet member for economy, growth and quality work – a question.
She asked: “We want to see more shops in the town centre which appeal to young people, not just vape shops and charity shops, we also want to see different types of food outlets, such as Five Guys, what can the council do about this?”
In response, Cllr Watson said: “I’m delighted that you want to shop and eat in the town centre because it’s bringing in the youth that is going to keep the town centre buzzing.
“Five Guys, they are a big business and they would expect us to assist in refurbishing anywhere, any location that they took on to a standard that they would set.
“Currently, the money isn’t available to do that.”
Cllr Watson asked the Warrington youth leader if she has ‘tried the local outlets’, and urged her to ‘shop local’.
She added: “We have some amazing food outlets in town. Widen your horizons. You can get Five Guys in your big cities, but in Warrington we have got Danny’s Kitchen for a start, and we have various local shops and outlets.
“The charity shops, they take up the retail spaces, and they don’t have the overhead costs of other shops, so that’s why you see a lot of charity shops in any town, not just in Warrington, anywhere you go you’ll see a lot of them because their overheads are less than other retail outlets that have to purchase their stock.
“In terms of bringing in other retailers, yes, we would definitely like to do that, we will listen to your suggestions, the council will contact Five Guys - have done in the past, will do again - and see if they would be interested in taking on any of our spaces.
“We have to remember that the high street is very much changing and that it’s in competition with online retailers, and that’s a problem for all towns, not just for Warrington.
“Warrington is doing very, very well in comparison with some towns – what we need is people of your generation and my generation to get back out there, to get into the shops, to enjoy that experience, to go to Warrington Market, to go to Golden Square.
“If we use it, we will keep it, and it will grow – but it has to be used.”
Council leader Cllr Hans Mundry says he thinks ‘we have got a very vibrant town centre’ and that the council is ‘open’ to ideas.
Furthermore, he highlighted that there are also ‘healthy eating options’ and ‘not just burgers’.
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