The opening of the new Starbucks store in the Willow Brook shopping centre in Bradley Stoke has been delayed by two months. The coffee shop, which was initially due to open alongside a new McDonald's restaurant in August, will now not open its doors until October.
Construction began on the two units in February and was expected to last six months. But Willow Brook has confirmed that the McDonald's will now open in early September, and Starbucks will not open until a month after that.
Starbucks did not give a reason for the delay when approached for comment by Bristol Live. As of today (July 20), they are not advertising for staff at the Bradley Stoke shop on their website.
Read more: Bradley Stoke reacts as McDonald's and Starbucks to open drive-thrus at Willow Brook
A spokesperson for the company said: "We look forward to bringing the Starbucks experience to customers in Bradley Stoke in the near future and will be in touch once we have more specific plans to share."
Plans for the two drive-through stores were originally rejected by South Gloucestershire Council in March 2019 on the grounds that they would cause increased noise, congestion and litter problems. But they were eventually granted planning permission on appeal, after an inspector found there was no good reason to refuse the application.
They acknowledged residents’ concerns but concluded that the two new fast food outlets, which will lie close to a number of residential streets and schools, would not create “unacceptable living conditions” in terms of noise, disturbance, odours or fumes.
The Starbucks unit is expected to employ the equivalent of 20 full-time staff, while the McDonalds restaurant is expected to employ more than 65 full and part-time staff. The two new outlets will result in a net loss of around 80 car parking spaces at the shopping centre.
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