By Julian Whittle

Published at 11:29, Wednesday, 27 February 2013

Fast food chain McDonald’s is planning a revamp of its drive-thru restaurant at Kingstown, Carlisle.

The plans involve extensions to the front rear, and side of the building, and alterations to the roof and elevations including the relocation of booth windows.

Changes to the drive-thru lane will mean staff no longer have to stand outside taking orders.

At present, up two employees with hand-held computers collect orders as vehicles queue in line.

The new system will create two side-by-side order points with canopies, where customers can place their order before driving to a collection window.

The new system should reduce congestion at peak times.

McDonald’s planning application says: “This application includes a reconfiguration of the drive-thru lane to introduce side-by-side ordering at the rear of the restaurant and a new roof design with three extensions.

“The extensions enable the operation of the store to be completely reviewed to incorporate improved storage to reduce the amount of deliveries, improved customer toilets and to extend the front of house to allow for a new fire-escape door and improved circulation through the customer area.

“The new concept attempts to re-invent the older look of this McDonald’s and bring it up to date with this new ‘folded roof’ concept and improve the overall operation of the drive-thru lane.”

The changes will not affect the number of staff employed – there are 30 full-time and 30 part-time employees – while the number of parking spaces is unchanged at 42.

The restaurant in Grearshill Road opened in 1997 and has extended its opening hours on several occasions since.

Last June city councillors agreed that the site could operate for up to 20 hours a day – 5am to 1am – for a 12-month trial period, despite objections from two nearby residents.

Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk