Trivia: Largest town/city without a McDonalds

[Busaholic]

Truro is not only a city and the administrative centre of Cornwall but has never had a McDonalds. There is one a few miles out, beyond Treliske Hospital, which is mainly drive-through, but that is it,

 

[MidnightFlyer]

No idea if it still is, but Rutland was the only county in England not to have one.

 

[Cowley]

Tiverton was without a Macdonalds for a period in the late 90s after they sacked the entire staff due to people spitting and flicking bogies into the food.

It did reopen in due course but the burgers weighed less .

 

[DarloRich]

who cares? McDonalds mings wherever it is situated

 

[Darandio]

who cares? McDonalds mings wherever it is situated

So it was your campaign that got the one in Darlington closed?

 

[yorksrob]

Wakefield's town centre one closed a short while ago, leaving only the drive through on the outskirts. Similar has just happened with Burger King.

 

[Merseysider]

I'm rather grateful that (local seaside town) West Kirby doesn't have a McDonalds.

The one near my house in Birkenhead seems to attract some rather unsavoury folk

 

[DarloRich]

So it was your campaign that got the one in Darlington closed?

did it shut? there are loads of drive throughs now anyway. I doubt the town centre ones are that popular

 

[Whistler40145]

Windermere, Ambleside & Keswick haven't ever had a McDonalds.

 

[507 001]

Oban doesn't have one, and I doubt it ever will!

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Wakefield's town centre one closed a short while ago, leaving only the drive through on the outskirts. Similar has just happened with Burger King.

The BK in the new Trinity Walk arcade gone? Slightly disappointed if so, as it's handy for a bite while changing from the 435 to the 212...

Dewsbury hasn't had a McDonald's other than the drive-through for a good few years after the franchise holder went bust. The same franchisee also used to run Huddersfield Burger King which was locally notorious for having very poor customer service and closed several years ago. Hudds regained a Burger King recently when the Packhorse Centre was refurbished and had a food-court added.

 

[yorksrob]

The BK in the new Trinity Walk arcade gone? Slightly disappointed if so, as it's handy for a bite while changing from the 435 to the 212...

Dewsbury hasn't had a McDonald's other than the drive-through for a good few years after the franchise holder went bust. The same franchisee also used to run Huddersfield Burger King which was locally notorious for having very poor customer service and closed several years ago. Hudds regained a Burger King recently when the Packhorse Centre was refurbished and had a food-court added.

It's the one in the bottom of the big shopping centre (with Morrison's) that's gone. I wasn't aware of any others.

 

[backontrack]

Wakefield's town centre one closed a short while ago, leaving only the drive through on the outskirts. Similar has just happened with Burger King.

Surprising.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

It's the one in the bottom of the big shopping centre (with Morrison's) that's gone. I wasn't aware of any others.

McD's or BK? It's a long time since I've been to that end of the city centre but I don't remember there being a Burger King down that way- there was McD's below the Ridings Centre and may have been one in the Ridings food court, I can't quite remember. The BK I was talking about is right at the top end of the new shopping arcade, just over the road from the bus station and new market place...

 

[Darandio]

did it shut? there are loads of drive throughs now anyway. I doubt the town centre ones are that popular

Yeah, it finally went, it was always rammed whenever I was there.

 

[richw]

Truro does have one! McDonald's opt for out of town stores in many places. On that reckoning of the OP, Penzance, Falmouth, Camborne all don't have one neither!

 

[Butts]

St Andrews has not got a McDonalds or Wetherspoons or Poundland type establishment come to think of it.

The best McDonalds are at Motorway Services where they offer a competitively priced brew compared to the other outlets.

Wetherspoons are handy for a cheap brew as well when "tripping"

Poundland useful for toileteries if you have forgotten them.

 

[tranzitjim]

What style of McDonalds do people have there in the UK.

Here in Australia, my local area of Melbourne, we have two in a short distance from each other. One is inside a foodcourt of a large shopping center, the other is a stand alone unit of which has drive through and dine in restaurant too.

I understand in some places such as in France, local planning regulations prevent McDonalds from having their stand alone US style outlets. Here McDonalds must operate from a main street shopfront?

 

[Darandio]

I understand in some places such as in France, local planning regulations prevent McDonalds from having their stand alone US style outlets. Here McDonalds must operate from a main street shopfront?

A lot of the main street ones are closing, the vast majority are now standalone outlets with 'drive thru'.

 

[yorksrob]

McDonalds seems to have taken a lot of questionable management decisions recently, including the ridiculous queueing system and the fact that potato wedges haven't been seen for a year and a half.

Coupled with their retreat from the high street, BK has firmly become my preference out of the two.

 

[jon0844]

Queuing system? I just order at the entrance and wait for the food to be brought to me...!

(but our recently revamped one has insufficient staff, so it can take ages for them to bring it - and they also fail to keep salads and other items available, so if you did want to try being healthy, you're stuffed).

 

[richw]

McDonalds seems to have taken a lot of questionable management decisions recently, including the ridiculous queueing system and the fact that potato wedges haven't been seen for a year and a half.

Coupled with their retreat from the high street, BK has firmly become my preference out of the two.

Queuing system? I just order at the entrance and wait for the food to be brought to me...!

(but our recently revamped one has insufficient staff, so it can take ages for them to bring it - and they also fail to keep salads and other items available, so if you did want to try being healthy, you're stuffed).

My local McDs, order at the screen by the door, tell it where your sitting and then table service!

 

[yorksrob]

Personally I just want to turn up and have more than one person at the tills taking orders so that I'm served quickly. If I want table service I'll go to a Wimpy bar.

 

[Be3G]

(but our recently revamped one has insufficient staff, so it can take ages for them to bring it - and they also fail to keep salads and other items available, so if you did want to try being healthy, you're stuffed).

I really like McDonalds salads as a healthy* and reasonably priced lunch whilst I'm out but have found the same as you that the availability of them is massively variable. My variety of experiences has included:

• No-one, not even the manager-type-person in a white shirt, knowing what they were (they kept thinking I wanted a wrap);
• Staff ringing it through incorectly so I get overcharged and then have it served on a cardboard tray rather than a plastic bowl;
• Many cases of being told they simply don't have any.

On the flip side, I was amazed to find at their Greenwich branch a few years ago that they had their salads prominently advertised on the big poster-display-things above the checkouts. Only place/time I've ever seen that.

* There's been some bad press saying that their salads are actually very unhealthy. Truth is, it's entirely down to which options you choose – dressings, meat content, etc.

 

[richw]

I really like McDonalds salads as a healthy* and reasonably priced lunch whilst I'm out but have found the same as you that the availability of them is massively variable. My variety of experiences has included:

• No-one, not even the manager-type-person in a white shirt, knowing what they were (they kept thinking I wanted a wrap);
• Staff ringing it through incorectly so I get overcharged and then have it served on a cardboard tray rather than a plastic bowl;
• Many cases of being told they simply don't have any.

On the flip side, I was amazed to find at their Greenwich branch a few years ago that they had their salads prominently advertised on the big poster-display-things above the checkouts. Only place/time I've ever seen that.

* There's been some bad press saying that their salads are actually very unhealthy. Truth is, it's entirely down to which options you choose – dressings, meat content, etc.

I worked for McDs 7-8 years ago, so things may have changed, but the problem with salads when I worked there was waste, especially in winter. Stores were given waste targets (less than 1% of sales). My store would maybe sell 1 salad a day in winter, yet deliveries of salads came in 12 packs - pre packed in a bag which needs putting in a bowl. They typically had 2-3 days use by date, and we had a delivery twice a week. 9 packs of salad being wasted simply wasn't doable so they didn't get ordered in winter, and even in summer when they sold if we say deliveries were day 1 and 4, if they arrived with 2 days use by date, they were unavailable on day 3, and day 4/7 until the delivery had arrived and been unloaded. Day 4 they wouldn't have been available even with 3 days date until the delivery was unloaded.
I worked in a quiet store in a rural area. I imagine city stores had more deliveries than we did, so that excuse doesn't work for them.

 

[Groningen]

Someone else had a topic about what to do in the (depressing) town of Grimsby. Well; it has 4 Mc Donalds.

 

[Be3G]

That's some interesting insight richw, thanks.

 

[Busaholic]

Truro does have one! McDonald's opt for out of town stores in many places. On that reckoning of the OP, Penzance, Falmouth, Camborne all don't have one neither!

Truro only have one if you go on the Ryanair principle - several miles outside town. The other places you mention all have them in reasonable walking distance of their towns. It's rather like saying the Shaftesbury Avenue branch is located at Liverpool Street!

 

[jon0844]

It's rather like saying the Shaftesbury Avenue branch is located at Liverpool Street!

I think you'll find that it's actually known as the Shaftesbury Avenue East branch.

 

[richw]

Truro only have one if you go on the Ryanair principle - several miles outside town. The other places you mention all have them in reasonable walking distance of their towns. It's rather like saying the Shaftesbury Avenue branch is located at Liverpool Street!

I think you're miscalculating how close Truro McDs is to the city centre, probably because of how slow the traffic is, it can feel quite a long distance to get out there.
I've used google and city centre "rival" establishments to get the distances!
Truro Burger King to Truro McDonalds comes up as 2.3 miles, compared to Penzance Wetherspoons to Penzance McDonalds as 2.0 miles, Both I put as walking distance so may use non road routes. For me 0.3 miles is a minimal difference and certainly within walking distance. It looks to route down the back of Malabar/Truro Golf course.