Rutlands fight to remain McDonald's free..

[Globalti]

As it goes it looks like the back handers paid off then

I was chatting with a cycling buddy who is a local builder. I asked him if brown envelopes are still common at local councils. He replied that it's all down to financial muscle: the big builders can afford the best lawyers so they just submit appeals repeatedly and wear down the planning departments. They will apply for 200 houses on a field knowing they're going to get knocked back and then settle for 100 as a compromise. I'm sure they have plenty of other tactics - promising to refurbish a local playground or pay for the new road junction, for example.

 

[Beebo]

Indeed, not today but if/as demand grows the stores will invest and adapt accordingly. If it pays they’ll do it....

And also the flexitarian and vegan curious market is much bigger than the strict vegan market, so the fact it’s cooked on the same grill doesnt bother 90% of their potential customers.
It’s a numbers game at the moment for these big chains.

 

[Drago]

I understand that possibly the one good thing about McDonalds is if you come across one on a country where food poisoning is problematic, the McDonalds is about the one place where you can safely get something vaguely edible.

Your local mcDonalds must have a different menu to the rest of the world if it's considered edible.

 

[Fab Foodie]

And also the flexitarian and vegan curious market is much bigger than the strict vegan market, so the fact it’s cooked on the same grill does bother 90% of their potential customers.
It’s a numbers game at the moment for these big chains.

Totally.

 

[Globalti]

Didn't some epicurean Frenchmen blow one up a few years ago?

French shopkeepers burned down a couple of the original Leclerc supermarkets back in the early fifties. Can't we set up a Brigade Francaise to burn down shops and restaurants we don't like? There are half a million French in London and plenty more who retired far too early and will have time on their hands.

 

[Kempstonian]

Yuka Kinoshita likes McDonalds... a bit

(Bonus cat footage at the end)

 

[BoldonLad]

French shopkeepers burned down a couple of the original Leclerc supermarkets back in the early fifties. Can't we set up a Brigade Francaise to burn down shops and restaurants we don't like? There are half a million French in London and plenty more who retired far too early and will have time on their hands.

Although I don't generally use McDonalds, personally, I notice, on my regular trips to France, they appear very popular there.

 

[Salar]

Boom, Like That by Mark Knopfler is worth a listen for the Kroc story.

https://direstraitsblog.com/blog/mark-knopfler-inspired-michael-keatons-mcdonalds-movie/

 

[perplexed]

Does anyone know if a McDonalds that has failed and closed down due to lack of customers?
They all seem very popular to me.

There was a large-ish one on the corner of The Moor/Furnival Gate in Sheffield. From memory, I think this was the first one I'd ever seen. Anyway, it closed down a few years ago and the space it occupied remained empty for quite a while. The site has now been redeveloped and a large H&M store stands there now.

I don't know if it closed due to making a loss, or whether it closed due to pending re-development of the site, but the slightly odd thing is this - there is a McDonalds in Sheffield city centre, on the High Street, but for a city of Sheffield's size, the High Street branch is the only one I can think of which is in the city centre proper.

There is one at the bottom of Granville Road which is in an 'odd' place, but I suspect it is there and surviving as I think it derives a huge turnover from the sheer number of students from the large nearby college who go there.

There are of course numerous other McDonalds around Sheffield, but these are on the retail parks, leisure parks etc.

 

[Levo-Lon]

I was chatting with a cycling buddy who is a local builder. I asked him if brown envelopes are still common at local councils. He replied that it's all down to financial muscle: the big builders can afford the best lawyers so they just submit applications repeatedly and wear down the planning departments. They will apply for 200 houses on a field knowing they're going to get knocked back and then settle for 100 as a compromise. I'm sure they have plenty of other tactics - promising to refurbish a local playground or pay for the new road junction, for example.

Yes that's quite normal.

The other more common one is a favour..in kind.

A painting contractor I played golf with every week had a nice line in contract winning..
He would pay me to install a nice driveway for them..I did several.
So a few grand that can't be traced from a bank account.
He got favorable odds

I don't really trust many officials in suits..

 

[vickster]

Yes that's quite normal.

The other more common one is a favour..in kind.

A painting contractor I played golf with every week had a nice line in contract winning..
He would pay me to install a nice driveway for them..I did several.
So a few grand that can't be traced from a bank account.
He got favorable odds

I don't really trust many officials in suits..

Trust you declared your earnings to HMRC

 

[Globalti]

Although I don't generally use McDonalds, personally, I notice, on my regular trips to France, they appear very popular there.

It was the French who coined the word "McJob" to describe any rubbish job like, er, flipping burgers or delivering pizzas.

 

[AndyRM]

It was the French who coined the word "McJob" to describe any rubbish job like, er, flipping burgers or delivering pizzas.

Not that it matters especially, but it wasn't 'the French' who came up with McJob, it was Amatai Etzioni.

 

[Levo-Lon]

Trust you declared your earnings to HMRC

Why wouldn't I, it was a legitimate job for a tax payer

 

[Pale Rider]

Refurbing a local playground or road junction - planning gain - is contained in the application as a condition.

While it's tempting and easy to allege corruption, the process is reasonably open.

Councillors are limited by what they can regard as a 'planning consideration'.

The fact that a few posters on a cycling forum like to slag off the food to be provided will not be such a consideration.

Nor will competition in the market place be a reason to refuse an application.

After all, that's all the local traders are concerned about.

They dress it up with environmental cobblers about using artisanal coffee beans, but all they are really worried about is they will no longer be able to charge three quid for a drink that costs 20p.

I'm aware Rutland is a small place, but the number of public responses, for and against, is relatively low.

We had a bail hostel up here that got hundreds.

The low number suggests the application is not quite so controversial among the population as the protestors would like you to think it is.