Popeyes Rotherham: US fried chicken fast-food chain coming to South Yorkshire by end of 2023

The ‘Louisiana style’ restaurant opened its first wing on British shores when it arrived in Stratford, London, in 2021. Now, it is understood Rotherham in South Yorkshire will be the next county to try its famous chicken sandwich as it plans to expand with 20 more sites in UK.

In fact, according to the company’s CEO, Rotherham is likely to be the first of the new franchises to open, with a drive-thru opening at Parkgate Shopping Park.

Tom Crowley, CEO at Popeyes UK, said: “There is a pattern emerging now at all our openings with people queuing through the night to be the first in line on opening day. Consumer demand has been high for a drive-thru ever since we landed in the UK, so it feels like a real milestone for us.

“We’ve carefully planned our site acquisition strategy in line with where we’re seeing most demand from our customers, and it’s great to see it coming to life. We’re working at pace currently on opening our Liverpool, Brighton and Leicester branches before the end of the year – but we always have one eye on the future and are looking forward to continuing sharing our expansion plans.”

Popeyes is not the only US chain breaking ground in the UK. After several years seeing Dunkin’ Donuts, Taco Bell and Tim Hortons locations opening nationwide, this week Wendy’s, Wingstop and Carl’s Jnr have all confirmed their plans to open hundreds of new restaurants for UK customers.