Trivia: Largest town/city without a McDonalds

[Phil.]

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,

And long may it stay so.

 

[WelshBluebird]

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

It really depends where you are. Certainly city centre ones will pretty much always be the main street ones as there isn't the room for a standalone outlet. And while some certainly aren't closing, at least the ones I have seen close are in smaller towns. Certainly the city centre ones in say Cardiff aren't going to close as they'll be making way too much money!

 

[crispy1978]

Does Bodmin have one? Sure I read that last week!

I know, interestingly, Scarborough doesn't have a Burger King!

 

[richw]

Does Bodmin have one? Sure I read that last week!

I know, interestingly, Scarborough doesn't have a Burger King!

Nearest one to Bodmin is at Cornwall Services at Roche/Victoria on the A30. Which Megabus calls Bodmin/St Austell on its calling points! About 8.4 miles away!

 

[DeeGee]

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

I beg to differ. There are five McDonalds restaurants in North East Lincolnshire.

Grimsby has but two, a McDonalds in the town centre, and one on Birchin Way.

The other McDonalds are Grimsby Road, Cleethorpes (by the football ground), Meridian Park, Cleethorpes, and Laceby (which is administratively Cleethorpes, despite being nearer Grimsby)

Cleethorpes now also has one of the few Taco Bells in the UK.

 

[ChiefPlanner]

Hampstead had one (though the locals and luvvies fought hard , very hard against it) - it was "toned down" ....

Closed eventually due to lack of trade....

 

[Grimsby town]

Louth, population of about 17,000, doesn't have a Mcdonalds. In fact the nearest Mcdonalds must be around 18 miles away by car. The only fast food establishment located there is subway I believe. All due to the council and residents being very anti large business and pro independent business. I suppose there are pros and cons to it. It has helped preserved the town centre but it has also meant that investment in the town has been fairly limited. However it does have a Wetherspoons!

 

[GrimsbyPacer]

Scunthorpe lost it's McDonalds, you'd have to go to Crosby, Ashby and other places now.

 

[Busaholic]

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.

You must be an estate agent! Only a member of that discredited profession could possibly say McDonalds opposite Truro College is part of the Truro restaurant/shopping scene. After all, First have to provide an awful lot of buses to serve Truro College precisely because no student ever walks to/from Truro from there. I wouldn't think twice about walking from my house situated about 200 yards from Wetherspoons to Pz Morrisons ( the McDonalds is next to their filling station). I wouldn't contemplate walking from Victoria Square to the nearest McDonalds, either along the main road or through a golf course (sounds like the Google equivalent of the sat nav sending lorry drivers down country lanes) which, in practice, is a much greater distance.
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And long may it stay so.

I'm not disagreeing, but they are better than Burger King, who seem to manage to keep their depressing Truro branch going.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

I know, interestingly, Scarborough doesn't have a Burger King!

Unfortunately neither does Epsom.

 

[swt class 450]

Dorking and Lewes are both quite large but neither of them have a Mcdonalds.

 

[Puffing Devil]

Wilmslow is sadly bereft of a Golden Arches outlet following the lease expiry of its old branch some 5 years ago.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

My adopted home-town of Batley doesn't have a Maccy D's, the nearest being the drive-throughs at Dewsbury and at Birstall retail park (near Leeds Ikea). We do however have the rather brilliant Chickano's (also found in Dewsbury and Huddersfield) which I would firmly recommend ahead of anything that involves Colonel Sanders.

 

[Smelly_Diesel]

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

I lived In Birkenvegas for 10 years and 11 years ago I left and I believe it has some rather unsavoury types now!!!

 

[satisnek]

There hasn't been a McDonalds in Stourbridge town centre for some years now. Don't know if there's an out-of-town drive-thru.

 

[godfreycomplex]

In my neck of the woods the only McDonalds is the scroat mecca that is the drive-through at Petersfield. Haslemere; Godalming; Bordon (all sizeable settlements; Godalming has about 21,000 residents and Haslemere about 17,000. Bordon/Whitehill about 13,000) all have to make do without. Not all folk round here have the means to get their servant to go and pick it up in the Range Rover either, contrary to popular belief.
Waterlooville (population 65,000 or so) did use to have one but it's now shut. The nearest is in Bedhampton.

 

[GrimsbyPacer]

I didn't see a McDonalds in Newark. And the Wimpy shut down there now, that was the closest local branch to Grimsby

 

[radamfi]

I didn't see a McDonalds in Newark.

There is one at the edge of town, near the A1/A46 junction.

 

[keithboddey]

Ludlow is a good 20 miles from McDonalds or KFC:cry:

 

[Crossover]

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.

There was something altogether dodgy about the closure of the Dewsbury branch of McDonalds - I did visit on the last day before it closed to get a milkshake (one of the only things I generally buy from McD's these days)

My adopted home-town of Batley doesn't have a Maccy D's, the nearest being the drive-throughs at Dewsbury and at Birstall retail park (near Leeds Ikea). We do however have the rather brilliant Chickano's (also found in Dewsbury and Huddersfield) which I would firmly recommend ahead of anything that involves Colonel Sanders.

Which drive-through do you class at Dewsbury? Never come across Chickano's in Dewsbury either!

EDIT: Ah - it's in Savile Town - that's why!

 

[backontrack]

What about Wimpy outlets? You can find them at Dingwall, Peacehaven, Fraserburgh, Morden, Brean, Strood, Porthcawl, Sudbury, Swanage, Bicester, Amersham, and the Staffordshire village of Milton.

 

[Butts]

What about Wimpy outlets? You can find them at Dingwall, Peacehaven, Fraserburgh, Morden, Brean, Strood, Porthcawl, Sudbury, Swanage, Bicester, Amersham, and the Staffordshire village of Milton.

They certainly seem to exist only in "backwaters" these days. What a motley collection of venues you list. The branches in Dingwall and Fraserburgh are full of "Mc Hillbillies" when cousins marry et al....

 

[MidnightFlyer]

I was in the Swanage one about a month ago! I seem to remember way back when there was one in Penzance and also another somewhere on the Isle of Wight: obviously neither of those survive these days.

 

[radamfi]

What about Wimpy outlets? You can find them at Dingwall, Peacehaven, Fraserburgh, Morden, Brean, Strood, Porthcawl, Sudbury, Swanage, Bicester, Amersham, and the Staffordshire village of Milton.

There are total of 80 branches according to their restaurant locator.

 

[Busaholic]

I was in the Swanage one about a month ago! I seem to remember way back when there was one in Penzance and also another somewhere on the Isle of Wight: obviously neither of those survive these days.

The Penzance one is now a branch of Domino's. I used to go in it occasionally when I wanted to remind myself of the 1960s!

The last branch I visited was in George Street, Croydon (almost opposite the tram stop) about five years ago. It was still there a couple of years ago when I last went past.

 

[najaB]

Brentwood's closed recently - 49k population.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

There was something altogether dodgy about the closure of the Dewsbury branch of McDonalds - I did visit on the last day before it closed to get a milkshake (one of the only things I generally buy from McD's these days)



Which drive-through do you class at Dewsbury? Never come across Chickano's in Dewsbury either!

EDIT: Ah - it's in Savile Town - that's why!

The Dewsbury Drive-through is round the back of the Sports Centre, on the retail park and not far from the KFC drive-through. The Town Centre one I think part of the reason it closed (besides the franchisee's financial difficulties) was the discovery of several Cannabis plants along with heat lamps and hydroponic equipment, on a floor above the highest level used by customers!

 

[Crossover]

The Dewsbury Drive-through is round the back of the Sports Centre, on the retail park and not far from the KFC drive-through. The Town Centre one I think part of the reason it closed (besides the franchisee's financial difficulties) was the discovery of several Cannabis plants along with heat lamps and hydroponic equipment, on a floor above the highest level used by customers!

Are you sure that's a McDonalds drive-through in Dewsbury? I'm round there on a near weekly basis and can't recall seeing anything McDonalds related!

The cannbis factory was discovered long after McDonalds closed and its subsequent conversion to a "clearance" type shop

 

[61653 HTAFC]

I was in fact mistaken! Could've sworn there was one there, but there's just the KFC...
There's one in Heckmondwike, mind.

 

[EM2]

They certainly seem to exist only in "backwaters" these days. What a motley collection of venues you list. The branches in Dingwall and Fraserburgh are full of "Mc Hillbillies" when cousins marry et al....

There is a Wimpy in the Lakeside shopping centre in Essex.