All major fast food restaurants in the UK will have closed their doors by tomorrow amid the coronavirus crisis.
There were huge queues for McDonald’s across the country last night with customers desperate for one last Big Mac before all restaurants shut up shop at 7pm.
Despite vowing to keep kitchens open for Drive-Thrus and Deliveroo, Burger King today announced it is closing too.
KFC has begun shutting restaurants around the UK and said all of them will have closed by tomorrow.
Dominos will continue to deliver but will no longer allow customers to pick up their pizza’s in store.
It comes after Prime Minister Boris Johnson ordered all non-essential shops and food outlets to close as part of a nationwide lockdown yesterday.
Britons are now only allowed out of their homes to buy food, collect medical supplies and exercise once a day after 422 people died and 8,077 people were confirmed to have contracted the virus.
Despite vowing to keep kitchens open for Drive-Thrus and Deliveroo, Burger King today announced it is closing amid the coronavirus ourtbreak
KFC has begun shutting restaurants around the UK and said all of them will have closed by tomorrow
Dominos will continue to deliver but will no longer allow customer’s to pick up their pizza’s in store
On Saturday, Burger King tweeted to remind customers it was ‘still open at many drive-thru and delivery locations’.
But today a social media spokesman for the burger chain said: ‘To all WHOPPER fans.
‘In what we can only call unprecedented times, it is with a heavy heart that we have decided to temporarily close all BURGER KING UK restaurants.
‘It’s not something we want to do, but it is the right thing to do right now.
‘We are following all advice by the Government and Public Health England as the situation develops and want to play our part at this time.’
The chain thanked all staff for their hard work in ‘recent challenging weeks’ and vowed to be back as soon as possible.
Despite the draconian measures, UK restaurants are allowed to stay open for takeaway only.
But for many popular High Street chains, the numbers queuing soon became too large to remain safely in keeping with Government guidelines.
Following Mr Johnson’s lockdown announcement last night, KFC said it was closing most restaurants immediately.
A statement read: ‘We’ve decided, together with our franchise partners, to begin closing our restaurants to help protect the wellbeing and safety of our teams and of our guests.
‘We’re committed to doing this in the right way and are focused on closing responsibly – to prepare our restaurant teams, help our suppliers and minimise food waste.
‘Restaurants will begin closing from now. They will all close by Wednesday 25th March until further notice.
‘It’s not a decision we’ve taken lightly, but it’s in the best interests of both our incredible teams and all the fans that love our chicken.’
Domino’s Pizza will no longer allow customers to pick up their food from today.
A spokesman said in a statement: ‘Our top priority is the safety of our colleagues and our customers, so we have made the decision to stop in-store collections and move to delivery only starting on Tuesday, 24 March, to reduce the number of people visiting our stores.
‘We will continue contact free delivery and take payments online and over the phone only in order to limit physical contact with our drivers and riders.’
Other fast food favourites, including Nandos, Greggs and Pizza Hut immediately closed their doors after the PM ordered the closure of pubs, cafes and restaurants on Friday.
A drive-thru Burger King and KFC are pictured together before store closures today
Just one more Big Mac! Fast-food fans queue at McDonald’s drive-thrus for a final meal before burger giant closes all UK branches amid coronavirus shutdown
By Terri-Ann Williams for MailOnline
Fast-food fans lined up for their final fix yesterday evening before McDonald’s closed its doors amid the coronavirus shutdown.
The chain, famous for the Big Mac, shut its branches up and down the UK at 7pm last night.
Enormous queues snaked around the block in the UK yesterday afternoon as hungry drive-through customers made one final pilgrimage to the Golden Arches for the foreseeable future.
McDonald’s announced on Sunday that it had made the ‘difficult decision’ to temporarily shut down their restaurants from Monday, March 23 as Covid-19 fears escalate.
Fast food chains Greggs, KFC and Nando’s have followed suit and also announced the closures of their restaurants.
Desperate customers wait for their last McDonald’s meal for the foreseeable future at Castleford, West Yorkshire, yesterday
Customers on Tyneside made one final pilgrimage to the golden arches before the fast food firm becomes the latest coronavirus casualty yesterday
Massive queues form at the McDonald’s restaurant in Byker, Newcastle. The chain closed nationwide at 7pm yesterday
Pictured: Customers queue outside Stockton’s McDonald’s as the restaurant prepared to close yesterday
McHurry! Cars queue to get into the McDonald’s in Swaythling, Southampton, following the news that the fast food chain closed stores at 7pm on Monday
Drivers form a long queue to use a McDonald’s drive-thru near Dover in Kent yesterday afternoon
