Manchester city centre vibrant foodie scene is jam packed with Instagrammable cafes, Michelin-mentioned restaurants and cool concept diners. But sometimes, all you really want is quick, cheap, convenient and familiar food.
McDonald’s ticks all those boxes.
Within the Mancunian Way, there are four McDonald’s branches. Despite being one of the most recognisable global fast food chains, would you believe that these four venues - all bearing the same golden arches within a one kilometre radius - feel completely different?
This week, reporter Bethan Shufflebotham visited the Piccadilly Gardens, Arndale , St Ann’s Square and Oxford Street eateries - placing the same order at each.
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She picked up a chicken nugget happy meal with a strawberry milkshake and a Big Mac burger to compare each city centre venue on their setting, speed, prices, availability of products, and the food overall - and found there to be some surprising differences.
From price differences and a gorgeous ceiling to ‘sorry, no milkshakes’ - here’s what happened when Bethan made a trip to every Maccies in the city centre.
Stop one - Piccadilly Gardens
Stepping off Piccadilly Gardens into McDonald’s shortly after 11am there’s an air of chaos. The chatter inside matches the hustle and bustle of the busy street outside and there’s already a lot of people waiting for orders at the till, while others place them at the touch screens.
I punched in my order - I’ve not ordered a happy meal in about 15 years, and as such, I was quite overwhelmed at the amount of questions the screen asks before you can order. Small fries or fruit bag? Book or toy? What sauce? What drink?
I was able to make my way through the questionnaire to then order a Big Mac on its own, before paying the total of £7.38 and heading down to the collection point with my receipt.
I was stunned that it had taken only four minutes for my order to be called out - the fastest of any of the branches visited that day. I collected my tray and looked for a vacant seat, but couldn’t find one on the busy ground floor, so I headed downstairs in search of an empty table.
Luckily, downstairs was much quieter. In fact, for a moment, you forget you're in the city centre at all, with its low leather sofas and relaxed atmosphere. Below the street level, it feels quite the escape from busy Manchester life.
Unboxing my order, my Big Mac was a little lettuce-heavy but otherwise still the iconic burger the brand is best known for, while my happy meal was fully complete with small fries - still warm - four chicken nuggets, a well-filled strawberry milkshake and a Princess Peach Super Mario toy - a success!
Stop two - Arndale Centre
Piccadilly Gardens had set the bar, and so, I headed into the Arndale Centre Food Court to see how their McDonald’s differed. The first thing I noticed was that it was extremely busy in the court, but the queue for McDonald’s wasn’t too bad. This particular branch doesn’t have touch screen ordering stations, so I entered the queue that snaked through some red barriers to maintain a sense of order.
I placed the exact same order at the till, however, I was informed by a member of staff that they didn’t have milkshakes on at the moment. I opted for a small coke instead.
My order came to £7.36, which was 2p cheaper than my first stop, less than a five minute walk up the road.
That said, I did have to wait longer for my order to be ready - 7 minutes in total, which wasn’t too bad, in the grand scheme of things.
This time around my Big Mac was a little dry and I felt like the fries were scrimped on a bit, and there was the obvious disappointment about the lack of a milkshake, however, I did get a Mario toy in this one, so perhaps I’d end the day with a full collection? Who knows…
Stop three - St Ann’s Square
Onwards to St Ann’s Square, I feel this is a little hidden gem of a McDonald’s. Look above the sign, and you’ll see this restaurant is situated in a four-storey Grade II listed townhouse, and the inside has some gorgeous features, from authentic wood panelled walls to a beautiful stained glass ceiling.
I placed my now-usual order at the touchscreen, once again answering 20 questions about a happy meal, before tapping my card to the total of £7.28 - a whopping 10p cheaper than at Piccadilly Gardens, despite an identical order.
Thrilled by the fact milkshakes were available and my order was the cheapest of the day, a slight dampener was put on the trip by a 13 minute food wait - but was it all worth it?
At St Ann’s, there was no denying the Big Mac was the best. They didn’t overdo it on the lettuce, and it stood tall and proud in its box, making it more appealing.
When it came to the happy meal, there were more fries than at the food court, which was a bonus, and the milkshake was - as ever - a treat. But the nuggets were slightly overdone and a bit dry. Complete with another Mario toy, I discovered I wouldn’t leave Manchester with the whole Super Mario crew, but I quickly made my peace with that.
Stop four - Oxford Street
Last but not least, there was Oxford Street. The final stop of the day. This is probably one of the bigger McDonald’s, feeling really open and modern with vibrant wall decor.
I’d got my ordering technique on the screens down to a fine art by this point, speeding through the options and retrieving my receipt before taking it down to the checkout where others waited for their food.
“Order number 32” - that’s me. A six minute wait felt reasonable, and the price was exactly the same as at Piccadilly Gardens, coming in at £7.38.
Here, I’d say my strawberry milkshake was the fullest of the three I’d received that day, while my fries were well salted and my chicken nuggets hot. The Big Mac was a bit thrown together, but this in no way affected the flavour, or my McDonald’s experience.
The seating arrangements here felt a bit chaotic, but there were plenty of options and they’d clearly done it to maximise the space, which makes sense, but it wasn’t the most relaxing of spots for lunch, I found.
Overall?
In summary, Piccadilly Gardens’ downstairs seating area was a pleasant surprise and the perfect place to escape the hubbub of the city. Meanwhile, I was disappointed in the Food Court for their lack of milkshakes and their limited portion size on the fries.
Oxford Street was speedy, but coming at the same price as Piccadilly Gardens, I probably wouldn’t go out of my way to make the trip over there, however, and despite the longer wait time, I would absolutely walk over to St Ann’s Square for my McDonald’s lunch.
I loved the building and its historic features, and it had everything I wanted to order, while also being cheaper than other branches in the city.
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