The much anticipated opening of the new McDonald’s restaurant in Wokingham is another step closer following yesterday’s event for staff, friends and neighbouring businesses.
The unit, at Bridge Retail Park, will be opening to the public at 10am next Wednesday, September 10, but invitees, including Wokingham Today, were given a preview of the new restaurant on Tuesday afternoon.
Wokingham Today exclusively revealed the news that the town would become home to the fast food giant in May 2024 following a series of planning applications for the former Carpetright store on Finchampstead Road.
For Newbury-based franchisee Richard Forte, Wokingham is his 32nd store, following on from his first in Calcot in 2016. He also owns all of the Reading restaurants.
The former chief operations officer for McDonald’s in the UK said the prospect of bringing the global brand to Wokingham became a real prospect last year.
Whilst declining to put a figure on the size of his investment in Wokingham, he told Wokingham Today: “It’s a significant amount of money.”
He also said that his business had more than 300 applications in the first day when recruitment opened.
“We had to close applications to enable us to deal with everyone,” but we are reopening recruitment as we will have openings as the business ramps up,” he added.
