McDonald’s branch to sell food 24/7 despite neighbours fearing prostitutes may come ‘touting for business’

The McDonald’s on Queens Road was successful in becoming a 24/7 restaurant following an application to Manchester Council.

The Cheetham Hill site currently opens at 6am and closes by 11pm – but the new licence allows them to serve food and drink at all times. The application attracted objections from locals over concerns it could cause an increase in antisocial behaviour, excess noise and litter. Local objectors pointed out there is a 24-hour McDonald’s about a mile up the road already in Harpurhey, not in a residential place, so deemed this application unnecessary.

Gerard Foley, a Signet Walk resident who lives one street over from the Manchester Fort site, explained that his street is subjected to copious amounts of litter and they can already hear noise from the restaurant until 11pm. He and fellow objectors fear this problem will only get worse later on into the night.

“I don’t want to go through challenging McDonald’s management and police at this time of my life,” Mr Foley told the licensing sub-committee. “I feel that night time customers act differently to day time customers.  We think this will increase anti-social behaviour and litter issues.”

Mr Foley added that drinking and drug taking already takes place in the area, and with the red light area not too far away, he feels that prostitutes may come ‘touting for business’ nearby. Another objector, Christine, told the hearing at Manchester Town Hall that a car meet happened at the venue not too long ago and where they were all “honking their horns” – causing a huge disturbance to neighbours.

Leo Charalambides, a barrister representing McDonald’s, explained that there are strict security measures in place which includes CCTV as well as a push button process for an off-site monitoring system. He also told the sub-committee that all staff are trained in conflict management. 

The representative went on to outline there is a robust litter picking regime in place to clear dropped wrappers from the surrounding area, and had a condition added to the licence that the entrance to Signet Walk is also picked. The town hall heard how McDonald’s already received planning permission to be open for 24 hours earlier this year, this application relates purely to the sale of hot food and drink. 

Despite the concern raised by residents at the meeting, the sub-committee approved the application with the additional conditions that litter picks should include the entrance to Signet Walk and that the same street should not be subject to McDonald’s staff smokers.