Change to project to bring new Five Guys to Reading

Plans have been in the pipeline for burger chain Five Guys to open a second restaurant in the Reading area for some time since it opened at The Oracle a decade ago.

The new Five Guys will be located at the car park of the Showcase Cinema in Winnersh, with a project to open a burger joint there stretching back to 2020.

Now the chain wants to make the restaurant a drive-thru.

The company has applied to create two drive-thru lanes, with the lane closer to the restaurant building being used for customers who need to pay and collect their orders.

Meanwhile, the outermost lane will be for customers collecting their food only.

A new traffic layout and site plan for a project to build a Five Guys Drive Thru at the Showcase Cinema car park in Winnersh. Credit: Hurstwood Design Group

Plans approved in 2022 do not include a drive-thru element.

Justifying the drive-thru, a planning agent from TTP Consulting said: “The development proposals will enable customers wishing to collect food for consumption off site to do so without needing to park and enter the restaurant.

“Many customers using the proposed drive-thru lane would be existing customers that would use this facility rather than park and enter the restaurant to purchase food.

“The road network in the vicinity of the site provides access to the Winnersh Triangle Business Park and the Winnersh Triangle Park and Ride site and the drive-thru is also anticipated to draw trade for vehicles passing the site.

“As such, it is not anticipated that the provision of drive-thru lanes at the restaurant will result in many new trips to the area or effect the operation of the local road network.”

If approved, the restaurant will be the second Five Guys drive-thru in the UK.

The first location was opened at the Teesside Retail Park between Stockton-on-Tees and Middlesborough, which was acknowledged by the planning agent.

READ MORE: Five Guys at The Oracle reviewed: is it a match for McDonald's? 

The Five Guys at Winnersh would be built on the car park, resulting in the loss of approximately 56 parking spaces, with 579 parking spaces on the site being retained.

You can view the application by typing reference 240795 into Wokingham Borough Council’s planning portal.

A project to bring Five Guys to the Showcase site was initially approved in December 2020.

However, the burger chain submitted a follow-up application in 2022.

Explaining the need for a planning agent from Firstplan stated: “The only change to the application proposals is the slight shift in location, set further into the site, and the number of parking spaces which will be lost as a result of the proposals.”

The revised location for the restaurant was approved in May of that year.

The Five Guys at The Oracle was the chain’s second burger joint to open in the UK.