Back to Hull

For two days now, have spent more time than I care to remember in the McDs on the end of Cottingham Road. Tea is only 99p, but I have drunk a lot of it.

Sunny day in Lincolnshire

Currently sitting in Cleethorpes, having had a wonderful magical mystery tour across the Lincolnshire Wolds. Tea (99p) and air conditioning very welcome. I have an hour to spare - guess where I am going ?

Back to Bilbrough Top via Shiptonthorpe

Had a meeting near York, so the place off the A64 was appropriate, and the tea is 99p, sadly the coffee on the way up at Shiptonthorpe was 139p and despite the early hour took nearly 7 minutes in the Drive Thru..

Layover in Selby

Several hours to kill at the Three Lakes Outlet in Selby. Good wifi and an accessible socket adjacent to the door for the loo. Very friendly staff, could be one of my favourite McDs.
Been a bit amiss on recording stops over the last couple of days, but for the sake of completeness (and to illustrate how many hot drink loyalty cards I now have) in no particular order: St Andrews Quay, Hull (no sockets, good wifi), Shiptonthorpe (great wifi and sockets, but tea still too expensive @109p) and Bilbrough Top off the A64 coming into York (pictured) with an amazing queue out of the door on Saturday).

Ronald McDonald has arrived!

Still at Clifton Moor, with a white-faced man with red hair trying to engage with the kids - hard job when they have access to Samsung tablets. Funny he doesn't sound like the Ronald I met a few years back in the US, but the white make-up must be good, he hasn't aged a day!

Long lay-over at Clifton Moor

On a Saturday morning/lunchtime as well. Fortunately I have my earphones. Wifi still good, really appreciate the electrical sockets, time for another Tea I think..

Time with the 'yellowbellies'

Second day 'south of the river', not the Thames but the Humber, in North Lincs and North East Lincs (surely they could have come up with better names for the unitary authorities when Humberside split!).
So the on/off sunny delights of Cleethorpes.

The McDs at 159 Grimsby Road, has great wifi, really friendly staff, but sadly a lack of accessible electrical sockets. Tea is 99p as it is at the other restaurant (sic) at Meridian Point Retail Park, although the latter has the benefit of being closer to both the beach and the Cleethorpes Coast Light Railway, which was in steam today!

Back to Goole via Walkington - watch out #TdY riders tomorrow!

Currently sitting in Goole McDs hogging the only accessible socket.

Arrived via Walkington which is on the Tour de Yorkshire(#TdY) Day 2 route tomorrow.

 Unfortunately the available photos of the village do not show the large number of speed bumps currently installed on the road. There might be some very unhappy riders tomorrow afternoon. But good luck to all.

Back to Clifton Moor

Had a trip to Linton-on-Ouse decided to stop on way back.  Lucky I ordered before 12:00, queue was extending out of the door soon after. Great wifi as usual.

Costa and McDonalds at Pity Me

Working in Durham and Northumbria for a couple of days. Had 3 hours to kill between appointments, so had nice sandwich and coffee in Costa, and then a nice 99p tea from McDs. Wifi in both establishments spot on.

Thinking of reserving a seat

Shiptonthorpe, East Yorks is rapidly becoming my second home. Once on the wifi it is good and sadly I am starting to get to know the staff by name!

Poor service at York Designer Outlet, but good wifi on the A1079

Arrived at back of queue at 17:06, order taken at 17:15, delivered 17:18. Only two servers at tea time? Could do better.

Good news however, having visited Shiptonthorpe twice in the last 24 hours, I can say that the wifi is now excellent (tea is still 109p!)

Back to sunny Bridlington - and an 89p cup of tea

Having had a couple of days running across North Yorkshire and sampling the delights of an ice cream in Helmsley, a bit closer to home, but 2 hours downtime/admin in Bridlington -I do wish McDs could play a little classical music sometime (some hope!). (btw the picture is NOT Bridlington)

York Designer Outlet (off A19)

    McDs in upper level food hall. 

Limited but accessible electrical sockets, good wifi, tea 99p. 

Back on home turf

McDs Willerby, East Yorks, good wifi, plug sockets and tea 89p!! Good to be home.

Further afield

Had to take a trip 'down south' so experienced the delights of the M1, M42, M40, A34, M3 and M27..
Well first stop Tibshelf (South) on M1, McDonalds tea £1.09!

Many miles south, Cherwell Valley on the M40 great wifi from the operator MOTO, however could not stomach paying £2.45 for a cup of tea from Costa.

Sheffield Meadowhall and

The Meadowhall outlet is in the Oasis food court. There are no accessible sockets on the ground floor level but some at a desk space adjacent to the Free Charging points on the upper level.
O2 wifi was very slow, but it was a Saturday lunchtime. However BT Wifi worked well Tea = 99p

Sheffield Coleford Road, Nice staff, but wifi ‘Limited or no connectivity’, and tea = 109p!!

Why tea?

Good question. 
1) I like drinking tea,
2) in McDs you get those stickers on each cup which when you have collected six and stuck them to the card that you remove from the cup, you can claim a Free regular 7th cup.
However, I never claim those 7th cups. Rather I give three of the completed cards to people I see selling The Big Issue.
The value of the cards is more than the cost of an edition of the magazine, and means that the seller still has another copy to sell and earn income on. Also when they redeem the card, they have a justification to go into the warmth of a restaurant, and might just decide to add some food to their order.

Encounters to date

In the last two weeks I have landed in a number of McD outlets and here is my summary so far:
Bridlington, Bessingby Road - good wifi, very accessible electrical socket next to door for toilets, tea = 89p!!
Goole, Rawcliffe Road - good wifi, tea = 99p
Hull, St Andrews Quay - no accessible electrical sockets, was down on charge so didn't stay
Hull, Holderness Road - no accessible electrical sockets, tea = 99p
Hull, Ennerdale - stupidly went at lunchtime in Easter hols - left immediately
Shiptonthorpe - wifi drops in and out, tea = 109p!!!
York, Clifton Moor - two nice bars with electrical sockets, tea 99p - best experience to date
All can be found on the company's restaurant locator.

Hello and an explanation

Having recently started a role which requires me to traverse Yorkshire on a daily basis, I realised that I would require places to get refreshment, have internet access, and of course empty my bladder.
In my first couple of weeks that has predominantly been in a variety of McDonald's (TM) restaurants (sic).
However, I have noticed that being individual franchises, not only is there variability in price of a cup of tea, the quality of the overall offering is also not constant.
So principally as an aide memoir to myself, but hopefully an informative service to fellow travellers, I thought I would provide a repository of information and experiences in the establishments I have visited, including that most important element, the price of a cuppa.
I would welcome feedback, but must point out whilst I will be citing the trademark and marketing labels, and using the logo and images with full acknowledgement of copyright, I am not associated with the McDonalds company or any of its franchises, and all opinions expressed are my own.