A planning application has been submitted for a Burger King drive-through restaurant to be built on a vacant site off Great Portwood Street in Stockport town centre.
The application makes Burger King the latest major brand to share intentions to return to the town centre after the closure of the branch on Vernon Street in June 2011. The fast food chain follows in the footsteps of Marks & Spencer, which opened a new store at Stockport Retail Park in 2023 after a six year absence from the town centre.
Developers, Morbaine Ltd, are proposing the redevelopment of the site, bounded by Great Portwood Street, Brewery Street and Avenue Street, opposite Stockport Retail Park. The store would occupy a 232 sq m unit, with 24 parking spaces (including two EV charging bays) and a drive-through window.
The former Carpet Right store that previously occupied the site has already been demolished, and Morbaine were previously granted planning permission in 2022 to redevelop the site as a retail unit. The new application would seek to change the use of the site for use as a restaurant, with developers arguing the arrival of Burger King would further add to consumer choice in this area of Stockport with other fast food chains operating around Great Portwood Street include KFC, German Doner Kebab, Nandos and Tim Hortons.
Developers, Morbaine, are specialists in developing sites for larger retail uses, having worked on realising stores for major supermarket chains. Morbaine had previously been granted permission for a 10,000 sq ft unit on the site in 2005. Sainsbury’s had also proposed a 70,000 sq ft store on the site in 2011 before withdrawing plans. Morbaine were advised by Nexus Planning in their latest submission for the site; The Harris Partnership are architects on the scheme.
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