'Drive-in means your car gets waitress service', he wrote. McDonald's has had plenty of facelifts over the years - but the core experience is the same as ever It's safe to say he was a little underwhelmed by the experience. Telegraph writer David Beevers was one of the first to sample this revolutionary new way of dining out. The popularity of these restaurants has gone up and down through the years, but people make hundreds of millions of visits per year to them these days. Up until then, the most that regular folks had seen of a drive-through is when Fred Flintstone's stone-age car gets tipped over by an enormous dino-rib during the closing credits. SEE MORE: Ten McDonald's menu favourites that might never be seen again For the vast majority of Britons, Maccies is where they had their first drive-through experience. Back when it opened in December 1986, there were still only around 200 restaurants serving up Big Macs and scorching hot apple pies.Ī chip shop in Bolton laid claim to the first drive-through in England in 1980, but the idea had been around since the 1920s in the US. Our drive-through was just off Hinckley Road in Walsgrave, where the Golden Arches still trades today. But when Coventry received one of the first four McDonald's drive-throughs in 1986, they were a novelty. There are thousands of drive-through restaurants in the UK today, serving up all kinds of fast food to weary travellers.

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