‘Cars have more rights than people’: Glasgow residents rail against rise of drive-through restaurants

A planned drive-through Starbucks in the Gorbals area is at centre of a storm over the proliferation of outlets encouraging car use

Among the data available on the city of Glasgow is one particularly incongruous pair of findings: it has some of the lowest levels of car ownership in the UK, but the greatest number of drive-through restaurants – almost 50 at the last count.

The latter has caused increasing frustration for residents, with at least 10 new applications lodged since 2019 and the vast majority granted. Campaigners have emphasised the apparent contradiction with Scotland’s view of itself as an ambitious climate leader, particularly following its hosting of Cop26 in 2021.