A GLASGOW McDonald's restaurant has started playing classical music in a bid to calm unruly crowds of customers.

 

The fast food outlet in Argyle Street, which is the busiest in Scotland, has been plagued by problems and was once the subject of 200 police reports in 14 months.

And concerns by council bosses over the level of disorder led to it being staffed by security guards.

It is now hoped that the soothing music, which ranges from full orchestral pieces to solo piano compositions, will keep trouble at a minimum.

The McDonald's, which sits on one of the city's busiest junctions, stays open until the early morning at weekends.

Among the incidents reported were youths drinking, staff being verbally abused and customers refusing to leave.

On one occasion a man had died from a drugs overdose was only found five hours after he entered a toilet cubicle.

Police regularly patrol the area, at a city centre junction known as the "four corners". Two officers on horseback were spotted outside the restaurant on Wednesday.

Classical music will be played inside the restaurant from the early evenings onwards, and all day on the weekends, with Bach, Beethoven and Mozart said to be on the playlist.

The new listening material is already proving a hit with some customers.

One said customer said: "I've been a regular at this McDonald's for years and it has always been quite lively.

"In the past few years, things seemed to have just got out of hand a little. It's often more about the large numbers of people hanging about outside rather than those inside.

"But you see some sights there - and late at night it goes to another level. We heard classical music being played the other night and it was actually quite pleasant.

"It's better than the kind of rave music we've heard before so I think they may be on to something."

McDonald's has previously used classical music at other restaurants deemed to be trouble spots, with a branch in Stockport, Greater Manchester, deploying the tactic two years ago following a spate of antisocial behaviour.

Previous efforts to combat unruly crowds at the Glasgow McDonalds were said to be working, with Police Scotland saying incidents of violence and disorder w had dropped to 55 from 166 between March 2014 and February this year, while on the the streets outside they had decreased from 54 to 24.

Chief Inspector Mark Sutherland, Police Scotland's Glasgow city centre commander, said: "The areas of Jamaica Street, Argyle Street and Union Street are extremely busy.

"Officers will continue to provide a high-visibility police presence in the area in order to reduce crime, disorder and anti-social behaviour."

A McDonald's spokesperson: "Based on the advice by our security team, classical music is used by some of our restaurants as it encourages good behaviour.

"Typically classical music is used from early evening onwards, and in some cases, on certain nights. The music played in our restaurants is a mixture of composers and covers pieces from full orchestra to solo piano pieces."