McDonald’s has issued a response following a post in the Harrow Online Facebook Group from an anonymous individual who claims they were the victim of a homophobic verbal attack at the Stanmore branch.
The incident reportedly happened on 17 April 2025 at around 1pm inside the restaurant. The individual said they were “verbally assaulted by a group of 17-18 year-old college students” who were “seated on the table next to me without ordering any food and vaping e-cigarettes.”
In the post, the person described feeling unsafe, saying, “I was minding my own business and having my lunch… that quickly escalated into them being homophobic and trying to insult me.”
The incident was said to be reported to staff at the store and the management “lacked empathy” after the alleged victim was left feeling “shaken up”.
In response, a McDonald’s spokesperson said: “We are concerned to hear about the incident at our Stanmore branch and would like to extend our sincerest apologies to the individual affected. At McDonald’s we are committed to making our restaurants welcoming and safe spaces for everyone and we regret that on this occasion, the response from our restaurant team fell short of the high standards we expect.
“Our people are trained to handle customer concerns with empathy and urgency, and everyone has been reminded of our procedures to help prevent similar situations in the future. We would encourage this individual to get in touch with our Customer Services team who can offer further support.”
Chris Mitchell is the founder and editor of Harrow Online, Harrow’s leading local news platform.
He launched Harrow Online in 2010 as a Facebook page sharing local news and information. Since then, it has grown into a trusted source for breaking news, crime, council decisions, planning, transport, business and community stories across the borough.
Harrow Online reaches hundreds of thousands of readers each month and has a social media audience of more than 200,000 followers.
For news tips, press releases or enquiries, contact Chris at info@harrowonline.org.
