Senistively inserted McDonalds

[Rory W]

Talking of O'Connell St Shopfronts, in Salzburg McDonalds in the older section of the town is a wooden shopfront with a wrought iron M, and you can hardly see in the window. I am not saying that we should go that far for O'Connell St, but it should be easy to get the fast food places to become a lot more stylish and anonymous; nice even.

[lostcarpark]

There are lots of fast food restaurants in "protected areas". McDonalds in Stratford on Avon also has a wodden front. I've seen several in London that are reasonably fitting with the historic buildings in the area (but most do have the big plastic yellow M). But in Dublin they've been allowed to do what they want.

I'm sure that if the council went to the various shops and restaurants with a plan for improving the street they could enlist a lot of voluntary cooperations.

As for polishing... hang a guy from the end of the big crane with a tin of Brasso. :-)

James

[CiaranO]

not entirely true, here is a link to McDonald's in Bray (ok not dublin but useful for this argument!)

http://www.mcdonalds.com/countries/ireland/img/bray.jpg

C.

[lostcarpark]

I'm sure this should be a seperate thread, but that does look rather excellent. Glad to see it happen. Different council, of course.

I'm sure the Dublin Council must have it in mind to persuade retailers to sharpen their image as part of HARP and all that. Generally there should be a willingness to comply, since fitting the image of the area is generally good for business.

James

[flysrmd11]

Not at all a fan of Mc Donald’s (in fact I hate the place) though there is a beautiful one along the lakeshore in Lugano (Switzerland). A beautiful classic look both inside and outside. You would almost think you are in a normal expensive restaurant.

Regretfully, I don’t have any pictures.

Jeremiah

[Hugh]

Has this short thread really had over 12,000 views? Who's looking?

[AndrewP]

I think Ronald's minions are keeping a close eye on what people are saying about the golden arches on the Internet. Perhaps watching out for hamburglar web espionage...

[Rita Ochoa]

I'm one of the "voyeurs" and I look nicer then Ronald (everyone does!)
I don't visit these restaurants much but there's nothing like McDonald's, ei. going to a McDonald's in a foreign country - even though those around you may be speaking in a foreign language, there is something distinctive about McDonalds' architecture, Ronald McDonald is ever-present, and you can always get a Big Mac...
McDonald's Architecture (mostly "interior architecture") is unique, and everytime more "high-tech" using metal, glass and flexible light elements but always with very direct and silly adaptations to the sites. I have a friend who design's McDonald's restaurants in Portugal and, belive me, there's no much space for the architect's imagination...standarization and the company's brand are always first! he gave me this link where you can see an amazing egyptian restaurant: http://www.bsu.edu/World2000/research/owens/bp3.html

go here to visit some of the fantastic original red and white tiled restaurants buildings:
http://www.media.mcdonalds.com/secured/multi/storephotos/vintagestore/index.html

by the way, in Portugal free-smoke Mcdonald's didn't work... Did the same happend there?

[AndrewP]

McDonalds is smoke-free in Ireland, Burger King is not!