McDonald’s outlet jeopardises Liberty Stadium expansion

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Swansea City saw its plans to expand the Liberty Stadium being threatened after the Swansea City Council voted in favour of a new McDonald’s fast food restaurant adjacent to the stadium.

The decision came as a shock to the club as it had heavily protested against the McDonald’s application. Chairman Huw Jenkins accused the council of short-sightedness in preferring a few short-term jobs over the long-term benefits of promotion for the city through Swansea City playing in the Premier League.

The Liberty Stadium is currently the second smallest of all Premier League stadiums, only beating QPR’s Loftus Road, and with a capacity of 20,520 seats more than 20% smaller than the third smallest stadium, the DW Stadium.

As the Swans have consistently sold out its home matches this season, they have recently been exploring the possibilities to increase the capacity of the stadium to 30,000 seats. The extra income this would generate, could in turn increase the club’s survival chances in the Premier League.

However, according to Jenkins, the McDonald’s restaurant may now jeopardise these plans. Strangely enough though, the expansion plans were not mentioned in the official objection by the Liberty Stadium Mangement Company, which instead cited traffic and pollution concerns, as well as that already enough food outlets were available at the stadium site.

 

Photos: © Lisa Higgins