Warwick McDonald's gets green light to continue 24-hour opening

The facility on the site of Tesco in Emscote Road was originally restricted to opening from 6am until 11pm after councillors on Warwick District Council’s planning committee heard concerns from nearby residents over noise and anti-social behaviour.

The operators came back in 2024 seeking 24-hour opening with elected officials still wary about the potential consequences, landing in the middle with a 12-month trial period that ran from March 2025 until March 2026.

That came with greater detail on how noise and anti-social behaviour would be managed and with no objections from Warwickshire County Council’s highways department, the district council’s environmental health and community safety teams or Warwickshire Police, as was the case in 2018, the trial was deemed a success.

This latest decision was met with continued resistance from seven nearby residents who cited increased noise from the restaurant and traffic, litter and odour as impacts on neighbouring amenity, also questioning whether there is demand for a 24-hour operation.

Planning officer Rebecca Compton, one of the employed professionals on the team that informs councillors ahead of taking such decisions, acknowledged that the police had fielded some issues over the past year but nothing that had raised a red flag.

“Environmental health has noted that there have been no noise complaints at all, the safer communities team raised no concerns and Warwickshire Police noted that while there have been some incidents raised, nothing significant,” she said.

“In their professional view this is not a site that they are concerned about in terms of crime or anti-social behaviour. They noted the restaurant had been really good in working proactively with police to get those sorted.”

Consideration of the matter was short and sweet with none of the objectors registering to speak at the meeting.

Councillor Peter Phillips (Con, Budbrooke) proposed saying yes, despite stating: “I can’t quite see (myself) wanting to go to McDonald’s at 3am, I am obviously not the target market, but I accept the report from officers.”

The approval sailed through with the unanimous support of the committee.

Dawood Ibtehsam, founder of People Arches Ltd – the company behind McDonald's in Emscote Road – was pleased with the result from the council’s planning committee.

He said: “Obviously we’re pleased with the decision regarding our planning application as it will not only help us ensure the sustainability of our business, but allow us to serve those members of the community who work anti-social hours.

“We have always put community at the heart of what we do, which is why we undertook this extension of business hours in a staged way in order to ensure we made a positive impact.

“This remains our priority and we will be doing everything we can to limit any potential issues relating to extended opening hours.”