McDonald’s to take back Square Mile site after two decades

McDonald’s is set to reoccupy one of the first sites it had in the UK, taking back a vacant site in the City of London. The fast-food chain has lodged a planning application with the City of London Corporation to turn the vacant ground floor of Svenska House at 54 King William Street, EC4, into a restaurant. The 5,380 sq ft unit was previously used as retail space and was most recently occupied by Boots.  A planning statement from consultancy Lichfields notes that McDonald’s occupied the site before Boots, some 20 years ago, and that the restaurant was the seventh that the company opened in the UK. The US company entered the UK in 1974 with a restaurant in Woolwich, south-east London. A decade later it opened its 100th restaurant, in Manchester. The company now has more than 1,450 group-owned and franchised outlets.