THERE is a mixed reaction from readers over a new fried chicken restaurant which has opened in the city.

Yard Fried Chicken, which was opened by Sam Smith, owner of Wayland’s Yard Coffee Shop in Foregate Street, in collaboration with Mat Pugh, from The Hand in Glove, has sparked attention.

Some readers have praised the idea. Whilst others has criticised the restaurant as promoting obesity.

Rachel Southwick said: “We ate here last week. The beer and food were tremendous! Good luck with the new venture.”

Steve Cummings said: “The Glove just got even better.”

CE NU 182 said: “I'd rather see local business owners thrive than another mass chain open up who try to evade most of their UK taxes and produce tonnes of waste. At least with Yard fried chicken it’s locally sourced produce, sustainable materials used, most visitors I've witnessed to Wayland's 'treat' themselves to a visit rather than sit gorging daily on eggy crumpets. Quite the opposite to those that queued post lockdown to get their drive thru McDonald's fix.”

But is that right said: “The coffee shop is a well-run place. But this monstrosity is another place to fatten ourselves and gorge upon mass produced chicken. Increasing the taxation on such foods can be part of the strategy to reduce obesity. Too many gut buckets, wobble bottoms and heart attack in waiting in the faithful city.”

Saucerer said: “These businesses are not forcing people to pay whatever prices they might charge for food and drink or consume the food on offer. I'd like to think people are intelligent enough to make an informed choice on where they want to eat, what type of food they want to eat and how much they want to pay. Yes, health and obesity is an issue but should such businesses be penalised for providing food which people actually want to consume or should choice for the consumer be restricted or withdrawn? I suspect if this was a vegetarian salad bar that was opening custom wouldn't be massive, simply because most people would prefer to eat something else and this is probably why businesses are tapping in, to meet market demands.”

thesquirrel1 said: “I like the Hand in Glove. Frankly, I don't want to go where the normos go and I'm happy to pay extra for it.”