McDonald's to trial reopening in-store takeaway

McDonald's UK and Ireland is to trial reopening restaurants for walk-in takeaway with additional safety measures this month.

The fast food chain stopped allowing customers into its stores in January after the national lockdown began in England. The company continued offering drive-through and delivery from its 1,300 UK restaurants.

It will trial reintroducing in-store takeaway across a small number of restaurants this week with the aim of reopening the majority of its restaurants in England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Ireland from 22 February.

New safety measures include visors as well as face coverings for customer-facing staff.

The chain said it was also introducing "enhanced processes" for managing the flow of delivery couriers and customers in its restaurants.

Paul Pomroy, McDonald's chief executive UK and Ireland, said: "A month ago we made the voluntary decision to temporarily close walk-in takeaway while we reviewed our safety measures to ensure they reflect the evolving nature of the Covid-19 pandemic.

"Working closely with third party safety expert NSF International, we identified a small number of changes to further enhance our procedures, and we are currently in the process of rolling these out to restaurants."

McDonald's stores in Scotland are unable to reopen for walk-in takeaway due to government restrictions.

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