I queued overnight for first Popeyes drive-thru in Manchester because the food is something special

People queued overnight ahead of the opening of the first Popeyes drive-thru in Greater Manchester. 

On Bury New Road, Salford, the latest branch of the New Orleans chicken restaurant follows its arrival in the city in Piccadilly Gardens back in October. 

Mancs queued for more than 16 hours for that opening six months ago. However, the record was broken here when one queue-dweller arrived at 9am the day before opening to camp out in his car. 

The first three people in the queue, both on-foot and in cars, won free chicken sandwiches for a whole year; additionally, the first 25 customers in both queues were rewarded with a free chicken Sandwich and exclusive merchandise. 

“I’ll be giving a lot of this to homeless people, that's the aim,” said the man who had queued for 25 hours, wishing to remain anonymous. “Apart from me getting free food, I can give free food to the homeless – why not? We get food all the time, it's free food I can give out so it's a good deal at the end of the day.”  

Bashar Alturk, 21, was second in the drive-thru queue. He said: “I’ve been waiting since about 7pm last night. I really like the food – it's something different from the other fast food chains so it's something special. I think the drive-thru part of it is great, it's much easier than going to the one in the city centre.” 

Evan Laurance, who moved to the UK from Chicago in her native USA 20 years ago, said: “I didn’t even know they were opening today. I’ve had (Popeyes) at home and it's nice, it's my choice of chicken place in the States if I go home. I’d like to see more in Manchester, because we’re starting to get a lot of international brands, so it makes me happy being American to be able to get the stuff I normally have.”  

The opening of the new Manchester restaurant marks the brand’s 11th opening in 2024 and 47th since landing in the UK in November 2021. 

CEO of Popeyes UK, Tom Crowley, said: “We’ve been trying to build this (drive-thru) for a very long time. We’re here, it's super busy, and the sun is out so we’re very, very happy. 

“Everywhere we’ve opened so far has had good queues. Manchester Piccadilly has been brilliant with the turn out there and it's continuing to fly. It's one of our best stores now so we like Manchester. You’re super proud when people want to queue for your product, it's a special thing. Thank you Manchester.”

Founded in New Orleans in 1972, Popeyes has been appreciated by chicken-lovers for more than 50 years. This year it plans to double the size of its current estate, including more than 30 new UK restaurants, drive-thrus and delivery kitchens. 

“We’ve got more (stores) to come, more in Manchester – we’re looking at the south of the city,” Added Tom. “I think there's an opportunity there. We’ll go where we think the demand is for us. It's about finding the right opportunities at the right times, but also not forgetting the stores we’ve just opened.”