McDonald's And Nando's Are Closing Due To Coronavirus

McDonald's and Nando's are set to close all of their UK restaurants in a bid to halt the growing coronavirus outbreak.

Both chains have made the decision in a bid to protect staff and customers after prime minister Boris Johnson announced on Friday that restaurants and cafes must shut their doors.

While Nando's has already shut down its 400 branches, all 1,270 McDonald's restaurants across the UK will be closed by 7pm today, Monday 23rd March. This will include takeout and drive-thru.

McDonald's had previously made the decision to close the seating areas of its restaurants (opening only for drive thru and takeaway) but following the latest government advice, has decided to close completely this evening.

Before they close, the chain is offering free food and drink to all NHS and emergency workers today, on sight of an ID card.

McDonald's has explained staff employed directly will receive full pay until 5th April, after which it expects the government's new financial measures, in which staff can be paid 80 per cent of their wages, will be up and running.

Paul Pomroy, chief executive officer at McDonald's UK and Ireland said: "Over the last 24 hours, it has become clear that maintaining safe social distancing whilst operating busy takeaway and Drive Thru restaurants is increasingly difficult and therefore we have taken the decision to close every restaurant in the UK and Ireland by 7pm on Monday 23rd March.

"We have not taken this decision lightly and know that our restaurants have been playing an important role in the community providing hundreds of thousands of free drinks to frontline health and social workers and emergency services personnel."

Meanwhile, Nando's has also closed its 400 branches across the UK - including takeout and delivery - until further notice.

"The health and safety of our customers and teams is our highest priority," they said.

"We have decided that the best course of action right now is to temporarily close our restaurants until further notice.

"We will keep you updated on our channels. We'll see you soon!"

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The two chains are joined by coffee branch Starbucks, which has has also closed all of its stores (apart from its drive-through branches which will be open for takeaway).

Rival Costa also announced that it would be shutting branches from this evening. However, it explained: "We will do our best to keep Costa stores open in hospitals where we will continue to provide free takeaway coffee for the next two weeks to the NHS workers who are at the forefront of this crisis.

"Wherever possible, we will also keep our Costa Express machines available to serve you a great cup of coffee."

Costa has also pledged to deliver "one million cans of coffee to other key workers across the country".

The closures come after Boris Johnson urged people across the country to stay at home last week, stating in no uncertain terms that to do so would save lives.

Topics: News, McDonald’s, Coronavirus, Nando's

Lucy Devine

Lucy is a journalist working for Tyla. After graduating with a master's degree in journalism, she has worked in both print and online and is particularly interested in fashion, food, health and women's issues. Northerner, coffee addict, says hun a lot. Get in touch at [email protected].

@lucedevine