PLANS for a new drive-thru restaurant could see an American fast food giant make a long-awaited return to Burnley.

Proposals have been lodged with the borough council for an extension to the Reel Cinema complex at Hollywood Park on behalf of Burger King.

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Several competitors including McDonalds and Kentucky Fried Chicken already have several outlets in the Burnley and Pendle areas.

Even Colne-based Banny's branched out with its own drive-thru fish and chip restaurant off Trafalgar Street as part of the On The Banks regeneration scheme.

But Burger King has not traded in Burnley town centre since its last shop, in St James Street, was taken over by the Skipton Building Society in the 1990s.

County councillor and borough councillor Jeff Sumner, in whose ward and division the application has been made, welcomed the plans.

"This should be a very welcome addition to the cinema site and prove popular with a wide variety of film fans," he said.

"The old shop used to be on St James Street and it's difficult to say why they moved out as it was some time ago. Hopefully this will make the cinema and the surrounding area even more attractive and bring a number of new jobs to this particular area."

Planning agent Adrian McCay said: "The proposal is to demolish the existing circular foyer and add a new foyer and a separate retail unit in the space created.

"The retail unit will be occupied by Burger King. The existing car park will lose 15 spaces to make way for the Burger King drive-thru."

Extra landscaping has been proposed as part of the overall development, which would be visible from the main Manchester Road, and the site managers intend to reorganise parking spots so that more disabled spaces will be closer to the cinema's entrance.