Chick-fil-A eyes UK return three years after exit

Chick-fil-A is looking to make its return to the UK, just three years after the chain’s controversial early exit.

The American fried chicken restaurant chain is understood to have retained Newmark to aid its expansion in the UK, a market which Chick-fil-A has labelled a “strategic priority”.

A requirement brochure said the chain is seeking high street properties ranging between 2,000 and 5,000 sq ft in size, and shopping centre or food court units with a minimum size of 1,000 sq ft.

The chain is also eyeing drive-through sites between 3,000 and 5,000 sq ft in size.

Chick-fil-A, which operates over 2,800 restaurants in North America, is planning to invest $1bn (£785m) into opening European and Asian restaurants, with the target of operating in five international markets by 2030.

The restaurant chain’s last venture into the UK was met with protests over its past donations to anti-LGBTQ political groups, leading to the closure of its two sites in Reading and the Macdonald Aviemore resort in the Scottish Highlands just six months after opening. Chick-fil-A has since said it no longer donates to political causes.