The First Chick-Fil-A In England To Close

A few days ago, Chick-Fil-A opened its first restaurant in the United Kingdom. Unfortunately, the opening was not without some bad news coming along with it. Many protests and activists in the country have been very vocal about the chain and particularly, its opposition to same-sex marriage. Now, it looks like their voices were heard.

The Oracle, which is a shopping mall based in Reading, England, where Chick-Fil-A's UK restaurant is, told the BBC that it will not allow Chick-Fil-A to stay beyond the initial six-month period that it was given. The spokesperson for the mall believes that this is "the right thing to do" after the call to boycott the chain. Looks like voices do speak truth to power.

Reading Pride is a local lesbian, bisexual, gay and transgender advocacy group and they were responsible for these protests and speaking out about Chick-Fil-A's opposition to same-sex marriage. It wasn't like Chick-Fil-A was planning to stay, anyway. They had said earlier they had only planned to stay for a limited time.

Chick-Fil-A said in a news release, "We have been very pleased with the lines since opening Oct. 10 and are grateful for customer response to our food and our approach to customer service...We mutually agreed to a six-month lease with the Oracle Mall in Reading as part of a longer term strategy for us as we look to expand our international presence."

While the news release is nice and says all the right things, it may take a while before we see any international presence coming out of Chick-Fil-A. Now, having said that, a few months ago, I wrote to USA Today about Chick-Fil-A being pulled out of San Antonio and Buffalo for its views on same-sex marriage and I continue to stand by what I said then, which was I will still continue going to Chick-Fil-A, despite its views on same-sex marriage. I know it's there, I get it, but I don't see it at first glance, and not everybody in Chick-Fil-A shares the same views as its CEO.

Now, let me tell you the Reading Group's response to Chick-Fil-A and here it is: "We are staunchly opposed to Chick-Fil-A setting up shop in the UK and certainly in Reading...The chain's ethos and moral stance goes completely against our values, and that of the UK as we are a progressive country," meaning they legalized same-sex marriage and try to strive for equality.

Ok. Acceptable. I understand that. I applaud the Reading Group for having their voices heard. I mean, these groups do believe in something powerful and I do understand why The Oracle would want to make sure all their customers are happy and equal and care for each other. However, I do wish that Chick-Fil-A would not have succumbed to this pressure as quick. It's the same thing I said about Buffalo and San Antonio as well. One person's views, in this case the CEO, do not represent the views of the employees and the customers that dine there. It's all of different backgrounds and different views and I'm sure they bring this up constantly. So I'm hoping this closing is not a consequences of the protests, but of a trial run for what Chick-Fil-A could be if it expand, food wise anyway.

I will still continue going to Chick-Fil-A. I think it's a terrific venue with a lot of nice people and who have tremendous quality in their chicken. So, I was hoping Chick-Fil-A would've considered differently, but maybe there's something else in store for the future overseas. We'll see what happens going forward with the chain.

For more information and for my reference on this, click here for the Yahoo News article.