Cornmarket Burger King permanently closed

The Burger King on Cornmarket Street has permanently closed, shortly after being awarded a one-star food hygiene rating.

Fittings have been removed from the restaurant, and a contractor told the Oxford Mail that it would not reopen.

In an assessment by the Food Standards Agency in December, the Burger King branch was awarded a one out of five food hygiene rating. 

In comparison, Cornmarket’s McDonalds received a rating of five stars when it was inspected in March 2018. 

According to the Food Standards Agency’s website, a one-star rating means that “major improvement is necessary”.

The agency inspects how hygienically the food is handled, the physical condition of the business, and how the business manages ways of keeping food safe. 

On Tripadvisor, the restaurant has an average of one star, with customers commenting that the burger emporium had “the rudest staff ever” and that “bins were full, the tables and floors dirty and the toilets appalling.”

Burger King has faced stiff competition from nearby fast food restaurants like McDonalds, Wendy’s, KFC, and Five Guys.

It had previously closed in August 2020, when it said it could no longer afford the rent on the property, before reopening again in October 2021. 

At the time, a spokesman for Burger King’s commercial property agent said that the chain was focusing on out of town restaurants. 

In April last year they announced plans to open 200 more restaurants in the UK by 2026.

Jesus College is thought to be Burger King’s landlord, with the closure of the branch meaning it has another retail lot to fill, alongside the new property opportunities in the ground floor of their Cheng Yu Tung building on Cornmarket Street.

Image description: empty Burger King retail lot

Image credit: Gabrielle Thompson for OxStu