McDonald’s tables plans for Rochdale return

Fourteen years after shutting its town centre restaurant, the fast-food chain has submitted an application to build a new one on Molesworth Street.

McDonald’s’ formal request for planning permission for a 5,000 sq ft restaurant comes after the company consulted on its plans to return to Rochdale town centre last year.

McDonald’s decision to shut its Yorkshire Street site in 2011 was held up as a sign of the high street’s failure. Thirteen years on, the restaurant is coming back to the town centre.

A Guardian article titled I’m leaving it: McDonald’s quits Rochdale’s ailing town centre, used the closure of McDonald’s central Rochdale outlet to paint a picture of a wider malaise.

McDonald’s closure, the article said, was “another nail in the coffin for [Rochdale’s] struggling high street”.

Now, the fast-food giant is returning to the town centre. The planned drive-thru restaurant on the corner of Molesworth Street and Water Street would be located less than half a mile from the old restaurant.

Lichfields is advising McDonald’s on the application.

To learn more search for reference number 25/00312/FUL on Rochdale Council’s planning portal.