- The branch in Newhaven, East Sussex was closed for several hours on Friday
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A McDonald’s was forced to close after a customer brought in live insects to feed a pet snake.
The branch in The Drove Retail Park, Newhaven, East Sussex, was closed for several hours on Friday as pest control experts were called.
It is currently unclear whether the pet snake was also brought to the branch in the resort.
Users commented on the events on social media, saying: ‘It’s the worst McDonald’s we’ve ever been to before the bug incident, we used it a few times before taking the ferry.’
Another added: ‘Who decides, “I’m going to take my snake to a restaurant and feed it its own food.” But hey, it’s Newhaven.’
A McDonald’s was forced to close after a customer brought in live insects to feed a pet snake
People were also confused about whether snakes should eat insects at all.
One person commented, “Are you pretty sure snakes don’t eat bugs?”
Another added: ‘Snakes don’t eat insects so the person took the snake in maccies? Whatever went into it is not hygienic.”
A McDonald’s spokesperson said: ‘On Friday evening we were made aware that a customer had entered our restaurant in Newhaven with live insects to feed a pet snake.
‘As soon as we became aware of this, we closed the restaurant and asked the customer to leave.
‘We reopened later in the evening after thoroughly cleaning the restaurant.
“Pest control experts were called to the restaurant today to carry out preventative checks.”
MailOnline has contacted McDonald’s for further comment.
It is not the first time that a McDonald’s branch has been confronted with a snake.
The five-foot-long boa constrictor was found outside a McDonald’s drive-thru in Bognor Regis, West Sussex. Pictured: RSPCA Inspector Hannah Nixon holding the hose
McDonald’s workers at the Bognor Regis drive-thru (pictured) boxed up the injured snake, which was collected by the RSPCA and taken to an animal center in Hampshire.
In August 2022, a five-foot-long boa constrictor was found wandering around a restaurant in Bognor Regis, West Sussex, just an hour’s drive from Newhaven.
Restaurant workers put the snake in boxes and called the RSPCA.
They thought the snake was a native British viper that had been injured in a road accident, but it turned out to be a boa constrictor, a large, non-venomous snake found in tropical South America and some islands in the Caribbean.
RSPCA Inspector Hannah Nixon said at the time: ‘Based on the telephone report I was expecting a viper, a fairly common native British snake.
‘But when I peeked into the box I was confronted with a boa constrictor over five feet long – a full-bodied, non-native snake and not at all what I expected.
‘The poor animal looked like he had been through a bit of war, with a few scratches and cuts, so I took him to our Stubbington Ark animal center in Fareham, Hampshire to have him examined.’
