Officers from Wokingham Borough council have approved plans for a drive-thru alongside an already agreed restaurant in Winnersh.
American fast food chain Five Guys has been given permission for the site at the corner of the Showcase cinema on Reading Road.
Notes accompanying the application said the site consists of 0.10 hectares of land located to the southern end of the Winnersh Cinema car park.
The area is predominantly flat and comprises of a mix of hardstanding (car parking spaces) and areas of low-height planting adjacent to Reading Road.
This site already has approval for the erection of a restaurant building with external seating area, associated hard and soft landscaping and car parking spaces.
The latest approved application will provide drive thru facilities and vehicle canopies for the already approved restaurant.
Due to the site’s close proximity to the River Loddon, the site is located within Flood Zones 2, 3a and 3b.
The development will consist of two drive thru lanes that will taper around the main restaurant’s southern elevation, with the egress exiting to the north-west.
The access to the drive thru is adjacent to the site’s eastern border and would connect a new pedestrian footway to the existing pedestrian access adjacent to the traffic lights.
Each lane will include an electronic menu board, and will include height restrictions for vehicles.
Whilst Reading Road is a designated Green Route, the prevailing character of the area, particularly owing to the adjacent roundabout that serves as a primary artery for road vehicles when accessing various parishes within the Borough, is predominantly urban.
Surrounding buildings, in particular the adjacent Showcase cinema and Premier Inn, are large commercial buildings with large expanses of car parks.
The drive thru access roads will be visually enclosed by landscaping on its southern, western and eastern borders, which would represent a net gain in landscaping on the existing site’s context, and would form a proportionate and coherent spatial layout with the restaurant building.
Ultimately, any views of the drive thru lanes from the public realm would assimilate into the already urban backdrop of the cinema, and would not appear alien within the street scene
There were three letters of support during the consultation period, which included: “Good to see more fast food places this side of Reading”, and “Good addition to the local area and good for the local economy.”
Two objections noted a potential impact on already bad flooding in the cinema car park, additional traffic congestion and the impact on obesity – which was noted as not being a material planning consideration.
The Five Guys chain was established in Arlington, Virginia, 1986.
Jerry and Janie Murrell gave their five sons a choice, ‘Start a business or go to college?”
The business route won and the family opened the first Five Guys – named after the five brothers.
Officers made the decision to approve the drive-thru on October 29
