Residents Near Fulham McDonald's Celebrate Licensing Decision
Marathon meeting sees bid for extended hours fail
McDonald's on North End Road, Fulham already opens until midnight
June 2, 2025
A McDonald’s in Fulham has been denied permission to extend its opening hours to 3am on weekends over fears it would cause spikes in noise from late-night delivery drivers and crime.
More than 160 objections, plus three letters of support, were submitted against the North End Road restaurant’s proposal with thousands of pounds raised by a residents’ group for legal support.
McDonald’s had initially requested permission to vary the premises licence to open 24/7 though amended the application to close 1am Sunday to Thursday and 3am Friday and Saturday following discussions with the Met Police.
The premises, which are a ten-minute walk from Fulham Broadway station, has an existing licence permitting it to sell late night refreshment and remain open until midnight.
The American fast-food chain had claimed the additional hours would provide greater flexibility for its customers, though locals feared the potential consequences if the extension was granted by Hammersmith and Fulham Council.
At a marathon five-and-a-half hours Licensing Sub-Committee meeting last Wednesday night (28 May), a series of residents, ward councillors and a representative of the local MP, Ben Coleman, lined up to request the proposal be denied.
Jeremy Phillips KC, legal counsel for some of the objectors, said he cannot remember being involved in a licensing application with such opposition.
He told the Sub-Committee if approved the request would make the McDonald’s an outlier in the area in terms of opening hours, a particular concern given it is located in what is considered a crime hotspot.
He mentioned some specific concerns raised with him by residents, including one person who said the additional opening hours would make it “impossible to have a decent night’s sleep” with significant knock-on effects for her young daughter.
“It’s that kind of thing which is not an abstract or a theoretical fancy,” he said. “It’s a real fear that is very likely…to be borne out in practice.”
Worries about the impact on littering, antisocial behaviour and public nuisance if the application was to be approved were made repeatedly by residents and representatives.
One, Matt Lowen, claimed McDonald’s is a key contributor to worsening antisocial behaviour in the area.
“It’s my belief that by extending the operational hours of McDonald’s it’s only going to widen the window of ASB to occur, whether it be these groups of youths or whether it be those drinking in alcohol-led premises, resulting in increased call-outs to the already stretched police force,” he told the Sub-Committee.
Another, Sandra Zalagaityte, claimed she had faced issues including being shouted at by delivery drivers and followed to her front door by a drunk man, while Eleanor Fiennes said she no longer walks home on her own at night due to feeling unsafe.
“It’s all very well for them to say the Golden Arches, the nice bright light at the end of the street. I live at the opposite end of the street to McDonald’s. Are they going to walk me home at night when I’m coming back from work?”
Leo Charalambides, McDonald’s’ legal counsel, described the chain as a responsible operator and urged the Sub-Committee members to restrict their considerations to what was relevant to licensing.
He said it was a mystery to him why McDonald’s is “such a totemic target for local residents. It’s almost as if it’s an invitation to exercise general democratic rights to participate in local government and raise all sorts of concerns about whether the police are doing their job, whether the council is doing the job, concerns about the local area.”
Mr Charalambides said McDonald’s is committed to engagement and proactively finding solutions to problems, and spoke at length about the ways in which the restaurant is run and the seriousness with which it takes its obligations.
He added the late opening of McDonald’s provides a safe space and sense of security for people walking down the street, though this was contested by residents, and that the premises cannot be blamed for all of the problems alleged to be occurring locally.
In his summation, he also took aim at the Sub-Committee members after noting the onus is on them to provide scrutiny during meetings.
“So it’s quite surprising that one councillor has one question, only one councillor engages with I think a small handful of local residents, and I’m really left wondering what scrutiny have you and your colleagues engaged with the evidence, or have you fallen into the trap that Mr Phillips warns you against, which is not to rely on untested opinions?”
Members announced their decision to refuse the application after deliberation, at just over five-and-a-half hours into the meeting.
Following the meeting a spokesperson for FulhamTogether, a local informal action group, said a Big Mac “is a luxury, not a necessity”, and that the Licensing Act 2003 “is not there to focus only on the premises address and the area immediately around that address.
“The wider context in which the premises lies is crucial to decisions taken about licensable hours, operating hours, and general operations of a premises. For Fulham, residents must be the premier consideration for the Committee.”
A McDonald’s spokesperson said, “We respect the council’s decision regarding our request to extend the opening hours of our North End Road restaurant and remain committed to serving our community within our current operating hours.”
Ben Lynch - Local Democracy Reporter