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Slim Chickens sets 6 October for first UK drive-thru

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Slim Chickens will open its first drive-thru in Great Britain at Broughton Shopping Park in Flintshire, Wales, at 12pm on 6 October 2026. Boparan Restaurant Group, described as the brand’s UK master franchise partner, says the site will serve as a blueprint for further drive-thru restaurants, following Chick-fil-A and Pret A Manger into the format this year.


Boparan operates more than 80 Slim Chickens restaurants across the UK, and earlier in 2026 it worked with The Restaurant Group Concessions to open the brand’s first UK airport site. Boparan holds the UK franchise for the American brand and also owns Carluccio’s, Giraffe and Gourmet Burger Kitchen. Chick-fil-A and Pret A Manger each opened a first UK drive-thru earlier this year, which places Broughton in a format that two other brands have already tried, and that several quick service brands taking on UK operators are now building around.

The restaurant opens at 12pm on Tuesday 6 October 2026 in north-east Wales. It serves the brand’s full menu: hand-breaded buttermilk-marinated chicken tenders, wings, sandwiches, wraps and salads, with hand-spun shakes, Texas Toast and 15 house sauces. The company describes the launch as the brand’s move into the drive-thru format in Great Britain, and Boparan sees the site as a model for later drive-thru openings.

Opening day offers

Every guest arriving in a red car receives free chicken tenders and one house dip, and the first 50 customers on foot receive free tenders. The first 5,000 drive-thru customers are due to receive a limited-edition “Slims Driver’s Licence” carrying a code that unlocks a free item on their next visit.

Codes are redeemed through the Slim Chickens UK app, with rewards that include fresh tenders, classic sandwiches, hand-spun shakes and Texas Toast. One of the 5,000 licences carries a top prize of a free meal worth up to £14.95 every week for life, according to the company. Games, giveaways and interactive activities run throughout the opening day. The terms of the promotion are the company’s own, and the company has not said how the winning licence is distributed.

Boparan calls Broughton a blueprint for future sites and has ambitions to take the format across England. Rich Pigott, managing director of Boparan Restaurants, says: “This is only the beginning for Slim Chickens drive-thrus in the UK”. Tom Patrick, marketing director at Boparan Restaurants, calls the opening a significant moment for the brand and describes Broughton as an entirely new concept for the group. The company has not given a number of further drive-thru sites or a timetable for them, nor whether any would go to franchise partners rather than to Boparan itself, as several brands recruiting UK operators do.

The date to watch is 6 October, when the Broughton restaurant opens to the public. Boparan has not said where in England the next drive-thru sites will be, or how many it plans. The restaurant sits in Wales, and the company describes it as a first for Great Britain. With more than 80 restaurants already trading, the drive-thru adds a new format to an established network rather than opening a new market, on a scale that puts it among the larger restaurant networks in the UK.

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