Gloucestershire coffee lovers can get finally their French vanilla fix – with a maple doughnut side – with plans to transform Gloucester’s former Pizza Hut restaurant into the UK’s latest Tim Hortons site.
The Canadian fast-food chain has submitted a planning proposal to Gloucester City Council for a large unit on Eastern Avenue retail park in Gloucester, which was previously occupied by Pizza Hut until December 2020.
It will become Gloucestershire’s first Tim Hortons as part of the brand’s expansion into the UK, with the closest restaurants currently in Birmingham and Cardiff.
The new Gloucester Tim Hortons is expected to offer dine-in restaurant facilities as well as a takeaway service, with plans revealing the installation of a new drive-thru lane, among improvements to the building and new signage.
As well as its famous fresh coffee and delicious doughnuts, the new Tim Hortons is expected to serve baked goods, breakfast items and fast-food goodies, including toasted bagels and wraps.
The business revealed in October 2020 a plan to expand across UK and Ireland it said would create 2,000 jobs.
According to the brand, started in Canada in 1964 by its namesake and a man described as ‘a Canadian National Hockey League legend’, it aims to have an outlet in ‘every major city and town’ in the UK and Ireland within two years.
Owned by Restaurant Brands International (RBI), which also owns Burger King and Popeye’s Chicken, it opened its first UK Tim Hortons in 2017 and already has 23 in total. Expansion plans follow a 37 per cent year-on-year increase in sales in its UK and Ireland franchises.
