The nearest McDonald's restaurant to Darlington town centre

After the fast food giant closed its Northgate branch in Darlington town centre in 2016, people had to travel to the outskirts for their burger and fries fix. 

While this isn't the most pressing issue around today, we're sure some people will be curious to know their nearest McDonald's, so we have mapped the nearest branch to the closed-down Northgate restaurant. 

The nearest McDonald's restaurant to Darlington town centre:

• North Road, Darlington - one mile from Northgate: five minutes.
• Morton Park, Darlington - 3.7 miles from Northgate: 11 minutes. 
• Newton Park, Darlington - 4.5 miles from Northgate: 14 minutes.

It might seem strange that McDonald's was situated on the high street, especially for younger people, who are used to going to Morton Park, North Road or Coatham Mundeville, but people have now remembered it.

What do people remember of the old Northgate McDonald's branch? 

One person, who recalls the high street branch, said: "I miss it not being in town, and having to travel to the outskirts. It was always good service there," while another person added: "This place was amazing - I loved it here, and don't like travelling out of Darlington for McDonald's now."

As part of this, we have uncovered old photos of McDonald's, which closed in 2016.

It was announced in February 2016 that the Northgate venue would stop trading within four months of that point. 

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Before its closure, it had been in the Northgate base for nearly three decades.

What did McDonald's say at the time of the Northgate closure? 

At the time, Paul Buckingham, then McDonald’s franchisee for the Northgate restaurant, said: “I can confirm that in conjunction with McDonald’s, I have taken the difficult decision to close my restaurant on Northgate in Darlington.

“This decision was not taken lightly, especially having traded in the town centre for over 29 years.

“However, we continually review the position of our restaurants and unfortunately Northgate is no longer a viable location for us.”