Yahoo News McDonald's to open until 2am for first time tonight as franchisee promises to be good neighbour
A McDonald's will feed hungry customers until 2am tonight for the first time after controversially being granted permission to extend its opening hours. The Sandyford branch of the fast food restaurant will be serving up Big Macs and fries to drive-thru diners only into the early hours of tomorrow (April 9).
It comes after McDonald's successfully won a planning appeal despite residents' concerns over noise and anti-social behaviour. Previously, the restaurant closed at 11pm. The opening time remains at 7am.
Franchisee owner Eddie Leligdowicz told StokeonTrentLive: "We are very pleased to be able to extend our opening hours and offer this greater level of convenience to this customers who need it.
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"For quite sometime now, customers have been telling us that we should extend our opening times to offer greater flexibility to suit today’s social or work arrangements.
"By offering extended hours, we are catering for those customers or are or who might need to visit us outside of what were our normal opening hours. The extended hours only apply to our drive thru service platform. Additionally, by extending our opening hours we have been able to create six new employment opportunities which is excellent news."
Stoke-on-Trent City Council had previously blocked an application to extend the opening time in order to protect residents' 'amenity'. But following an appeal, a planning inspector overturned the council's decision. The longer hours will be in place for an initial 12-month trial period to allow the impact of the later hours to be assessed.
A total of 17 people had objected to the original application, raising concerns over increased noise, traffic, litter and anti-social behaviour. A further 14 objections, including from local councillor Chandra Kanneganti and Sandyford and Goldenhill Residents' Association, were received in relation to the appeal.
Now Mr Leligdowicz has moved to reassure people living nearby. He said: "It was understandable that certain factions would be concerned about us extending our opening times. It’s importance for us to understand these concerns so that we can take the necessary steps to address them.
"By taking the initial application to appeal, we were able to address the concerns raised demonstrating our commitment to serving our community.
"For the greater part of Stoke-on-Trent, most McDonald’s restaurants operate to a full 24-hour licence and abide by specific terms and conditions set by the authority to safeguard the communities they operate in. Sandyford McDonald’s will be no different.
"We want nothing more than to be a great neighbour within our community and do all it takes to control any potential issues such as litter, traffic or noise."
The planning inspector noted in their report that the McDonald's was primarily located in a residential areas, with people living in High Street, Wignall Road and Shelford Road experiencing the most noise and disturbance. But the report added: "Even taking account of these weaknesses, it seems unlikely, based on the evidence, that the proposal would lead to significant disturbance for neighbouring residents. The appellant sets out pro-active measures within a Premises Noise Management Plan (PNMP) including the use of CCTV and conflict avoidance training for managers. This would minimise the potential for anti-social behaviour.
"A 12-month trial would therefore be appropriate to enable the impacts, and the effectiveness of the PNMP, to be assessed."
