Construction is well underway on a new McDonald's at the former Pizza Hut site, 7 Shaw Ridge Leisure Park, where the steel frame of the building is now standing and visible to passing traffic. The restaurant is rumoured to open on Wednesday 11 November, though no formal date has been confirmed by McDonald's.
The site sits directly opposite the existing McDonald's at the West Swindon District Centre, meaning the area will soon have two branches facing one another across the road. Photographs of the build taken in recent days show steady progress, with the frame appearing to go up at a notably brisk pace for a retail unit that was, until recently, a Pizza Hut.
It is understood that the two restaurants will, once finished, be able to see each other's drive-thru queues directly, raising questions nobody had previously thought to ask about whether a McDonald's can feel self-conscious.
A council spokesperson confirmed the development was proceeding under existing planning permission and declined to speculate on whether the two branches would require a demilitarised strip of tarmac between them.
Early concerns have focused on what happens when both restaurants run the same promotion simultaneously, creating the possibility of two identical queues glaring at each other over a dual carriageway like rival chip shops that have somehow merged into the same company.
"I'm not one to gossip," said Brenda Pask, 72, of Old Town, who has lived there since before it was old, "but I hear you'll soon be able to stand in the middle of that road and get a McFlurry thrown at you from both directions. In my day there was one chip shop and a sense of loyalty to it. Ron wouldn't have gone to a second chip shop even if the first one had burned down in front of him. He'd have waited for them to rebuild it."
Gary Tench, Area Manager at Tench Paper Solutions in Westlea, said the arrangement had given him a new model for the office. "Two units, same brand, direct eyeline, that's basically healthy internal competition, it's a classic management technique," he said. "I've suggested Julie and I run our two printer stations the same way, facing each other, so we can both see whose toner runs out first. I've already written a song about it, it's called 'Opposite Numbers', very driving rhythm, bit like the queue at a drive-thru on a Friday."
Planning documents give no indication of any requirement for the two branches to acknowledge one another, though staff at both are expected to develop a complicated unspoken relationship involving flashing their golden arches at passing cars like competing lighthouses.
For now, the steel frame continues to rise on schedule, facing its older sibling across the road with what can only be described as quiet, structural confidence.