Golden arches provide an unofficial homeless shelter

It’s 2am, and I find myself waiting in line for my usual Big Mac meal after a night out.

This McDonald’s had an outdated glow, no self-service machines, no fancy pendant lightings that the more recently upgraded branches boast. I’m slightly intoxicated in this very moment, but as I am waiting to be served, I look around, and something quite profound catches my eye. 

Dotted around the seating area of McDonald’s on the Walworth Road are what, to any Londoner’s knowing gaze, are homeless people, asleep and without any food or drink in front of them.  They are all men, somewhat middle-aged, and each one is a person of colour.

My order is taking some time, but I don’t really mind as I take in what is happening around me.

This McDonald’s is a five-minute walk away from my place, and I usually find myself there when I am either drunk, or when a college deadline is imminent and cooking seems like a huge chore. I ask myself an abundance of questions: why have I never noticed this before, or is it a recent development? Why are they sat here, and is the restaurant okay with this?

I look around to see if any of the staff members seem fazed by it, but they are carrying on as normal. The array of beeping noises that characterise every McDonalds mingles with their low-key conversations. Even the security guard stood by the entrance appears not to notice.

‘Who know when the inevitable may happen, and these homeless people taking shelter at my local McDonald’s are asked to move on? Until it does, its Golden Arches will provide a glimmer of hope and unspoken empathy to those in dire need’

It’s almost hard to comprehend, but this South London outpost of a multi-billion-dollar corporation which epitomises capitalism is seemingly providing an unofficial homeless shelter. It is as if there was some unspoken empathy communicated among the staff that was allowing this to happen.

According to streetsoflondon.org.uk, nearly 9,000 people sleep roughly on the streets of London each year, with 88% of these men. At particular risk are those from ethnic minorities, with black Londoners five times more likely to be homeless than white ones. 

Despite being one of the world’s major urban centres, London is still not a 24-hour city, which perhaps explains why homeless people would turn, in the depths of winter, to an always-open McDonald’s. In other 24-hour branches I have visited, security staff seemed quick to prevent anyone attempting to sleep there overnight. 

After living in Elephant and Castle for almost two years, I have grasped the deprivation and poverty that exists within this part of London, even as it becomes increasingly – and controversially – more gentrified.  

The character of the area is changing fast as high-rise apartment blocks spring up, and multi-million pound investment pours into this once fairly neglected part of the capital.

However, in the Walworth Road neighbourhood, there remains a strong-knit community, quietly helping one another and staying optimistic in times of towering changes and uncertainty. 

Who know when the inevitable may happen, and these homeless people taking shelter at my local McDonald’s are asked to move on? Until it does, its Golden Arches will provide a glimmer of hope and unspoken empathy to those in dire need. 

McDonald’s photo by Ian Kershaw via Flickr Creative Commons licence CC BY-NC-SA 2.0