Should UK drive-thrus be banned?

Barely a week passes by without an announcement of a new town centre or retail park drive-thru somewhere in the UK. Recent examples include Canadian fast-casual eatery Tim Hortons, household bakery name Greggs, popular restaurant chain Leon as well as the major fast food players like Burger King and McDonalds. There are now well over 250 requirements for new drive thrus sites per year. 

There is no question that drive-thrus are exceptionally convenient, however, that convenience comes at an environmental and societal cost. Reluctantly, I can’t see that it is a price worth paying. Surely it is better make our town centres more accessible, where people can come together to eat, socialise and have fun?

Drive-thrus were rapidly gaining popularity in the UK pre-Covid, but since lockdown demand for them has surged. Pandemic-aside, operators are particularly fond of drive-thrus, because they not only generate high volumes of sales, but also require fewer staff than a sit-in property, so are consequently more profitable. Investors cottoned on to this some time ago and as result there can be a marked differential between rents for drive-thru units compared with a similar-sized dine-in property. (To be clear, throughout this blog we are referring only to drive-thrus in town/city centre and retail park locations, not those situated on motorway or other road services.)

So, if drive-thrus are popular with consumers, operators and investors, surely we should be seeing more of them. After all, what’s not to love? Well, at the risk of spoiling the drive-thru party, P-THREE feels obliged to point out that the downsides to drive-thrus are several and significant. Let’s start with alienation. By encouraging people to remain separated from each other in their vehicles, and to travel no further than the collection point and back home, drive-thrus are also the antithesis of the community spirit upon which the revival of many UK high streets depends. I know of drive-thru’s in what are described as community hubs - but how do they support community when they have a large land-take, most of which is dedicated to vehicles, and encourage people to stay in the personal bubble of their own cars?

Then we need to consider air pollution: a line of idling diesel- and petrol-engined vehicles generates a health-unfriendly amount of nitrogen oxides (NOx) and particulate matter. While it is true that there will be a shift to electric vehicles in the coming decade, combustion engines (and the exhaust they produce) will be with us for the foreseeable future. In town/city centres, where population densities are higher, this kind of air pollution is particularly acute.

But even if all vehicles were electric, drive-thrus have other undesirable effects, such as traffic congestion.

By concentrating traffic flows into a localised area, congestion as well as noise and safety issues, can be a real problem, which again can be magnified in an urban setting. In the same way that dark kitchens are unpopular with local residents, drive-thrus can have an impact on their local surroundings, including litter and antisocial behaviour. (Late night opening is an inherent part of the consumer appeal for drive-thrus.)

Drive-thrus aren’t having it all their own way though. In the US, the cradle of the concept, the downsides have resulted in legislative action to halt construction of new drive-thrus in urban areas across the country, including in California, Missouri, New Jersey and Minnesota. I’m not aware of similar action planned anywhere in Europe – but as the US is often a trendsetter in so many areas it could eventually happen here. In the meantime, I hope that local authorities, and planners in particular, are running a more careful rule over planning applications for drive-thru’s to assess the true impact on local communities and ensure that they aren’t contravening painstakingly thought-through policies on social cohesion.

There is no question that drive-thrus are exceptionally convenient, especially for young families, shift workers and those on long journeys. However, that convenience comes at an environmental and societal cost. Reluctantly, I can’t see that it is a price worth paying. Surely it is better make our town centres more accessible, to enable a new generation of community-driven spaces, like F-hubs, where people can come together to eat, socialise and have fun? This isn’t necessarily difficult: better pedestrian access, targeted investment in public transport and even more parking in the right locations; repurposing obsolescent retail space could provide the means to do this.

And, in case you were wondering, I’m not anti drive-thru; they have their place on major roads and that’s where I believe they should stay.

Article by Thomas Rose, Co-founder P-THREE

Photo credits: Unsplash