THE McDonald’s fast food empire looks to expand even further across Basildon after plans for an EIGHTH restaurant were submitted.
The chain has already submitted plans for two new Basildon McDonald’s in recent months, and now proposals have been revealed for it to take over a former High Street Prezzo.
If the plans for the former Italian restaurant in Wickford High Street go through alongside the plans for new sets of Golden Arches in London Road, Basildon, and Northlands Pavement, Pitsea, it will be a staggering eighth McDonald’s in the borough.
The Northlands Pavement site is just a four-minute walk from another Pitsea McDonald’s at the Pitsea Retail Park, and the emergence of even more fast food sparked concerns over the impact on residents’ health.
Despite the concerns about an over-abundance of McDonald’s in the borough, Wickford Independents leader David Harrison believes it will be a positive and backed the plans to fill another empty High Street unit.
He said: “To be honest, some will hate it but to fill up an empty space, especially the large space left by Prezzo is a bonus, to bring another national name into the town.
“As long as they keep it tidy and we don’t get a lot of rubbish thrown around I do think people will really love it.”
Although there are multiple other McDonald’s in the Basildon borough, the new fast-food restaurant - if approved by Basildon Council - would be the first in Wickford.
The new High Street restaurant would be three miles from the next closest, in the Mayflower Retail Park off the A127, and Mr Harrison backed the chain to succeed in Wickford.
He said: “They will be successful. It depends on if they can sell themselves the correct way, obviously it didn’t work for Prezzo and they were there for a very long time.
“Next to Prezzo is Tony’s, another Italian, who have been doing very well so it depends a lot on the competition. There have been some wins and some losses.”
Prezzo shut in 2023 in Wickford High Street, when the Italian chain announced it would close 46 restaurants across the country, and has remained empty ever since.
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