The only English county without a McDonald’s finally gets a restaurant

The opening of a McDonald's restaurant in Rutland might not seem like big news

But the county, in the East Midlands, was previously the only one in England not to have a McDonald's branch. However, plans to open the restaurant and drive-thru on the outskirts of Oakham were approved by Rutland County Council in January. The decision did face some criticism, with fears that it could take business away from local and independent eateries. 55 objections were made to the local authority, with one reading "I'm proud Rutland is the only county not to have a McDonald's". McDonald's say that the branch will bring 65 jobs to the local area. The restaurant will switch to offering just a drive-thru and service on Thursday, as the whole of England enters new lockdown restrictions.

Rutland is England's smallest historic county. Lying between Leicestershire and Lincolnshire, it has a population of just 39,500, and Oakham Castle in the county is the oldest English court building that has stayed in continuous use.

The first McDonald's branch in the UK opened in Woolwich, south east London in October 1974, with the chain having a hundred UK locations by 1984. The chain currently has over 1,270 restaurants in the UK and employs more than 120,000 people. Earlier this week, the Burger King UK Twitter account actually encouraged people to go to McDonald's, in order to support the restaurant industry during the second lockdown. https://twitter.com/BurgerKingUK/status/1323246831686606851 "We never thought we'd be asking you to [order from McDonalds's]," tweeted Burger King. "Just like we never thought we'd be encouraging you to order from KFC, Subway, Domino's Pizza, Pizza Hut, Five Guys, Greggs, Taco Bell, Papa John's, Leon... or any other independent food outlets, too numerous to mention here. In short, from any of our sister food chains (fast or not so fast)." "We never thought we'd be asking you to do this, but restaurants employing thousands of staff really need your support at the moment."