"I had the best McFlurry I've ever had at Manchester's 'poshest' McDonalds"
12.03.2023 - 10:27
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
Here’s an odd question: Where’s the calmest place to eat ice cream? Some would say by the seaside, but you forget about the seagulls swooping down on you. Straight from an Ice Cream Van in a park is a good idea, but there’s every chance a stray football can snap your cone in half.
My answer now is one which might shock you: Eastlands McDonald’s. That’s because the fast food eatery, in the shadow of the Etihad, has recently started playing classical music in the afternoons.
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It’s a move that’s been seen in other McDonald’s outlets across the country, and one which now has reached the outskirts of Manchester city centre. In a brave journalistic expedition for the Manchester Evening News, I went to the restaurant to see how it compares eating with both pop and classical music playing.
First up, pop music for lunch. The Eastlands branch is not the largest in the world, and when I visit there are families everywhere.
I order my Big Mac on the screens, then wait at the counter for my number to be called. When I sit down, there are families on either side of me, with brilliantly behaved children.
Even then, it’s still noisy. Kids are screaming and laughing on the other side of the room, teenagers are grunting at one another, various alarms in the kitchen are beeping away, and generic guitars-and-lyrics are on the soundsystem.
It’s not an unpleasant experience, but it is one which could be refined. The atmosphere is not conducive to people staying a long time — but then again, that isn’t the point of fast food.
As soon as my burger is done, I’m off. I’m told the classical music begins at 3pm, so I have a few hours to