Guildford residents are bracing to take the fight up to McDonald's after the fast-food giant released plans to build a restaurant behind the historic Guildford Hotel, where high-rise apartments were once mooted.
Residents fought property developer Luke Martino - who has leased the pub to the Publican Group – for years over his plans to build seven-storey units behind the circa 1886 boozer, claiming the apartments would be out-of-character in the heritage precinct.
Residents lost the battle after the-then Planning Minister John Day in late 2015, overruled the City of Swan's recommendation to put a two-storey cap on units, allowing up to five-storey apartments to be built.
Mr Martino told WAtoday the apartments were no longer viable in the current market and he was pursuing all "economic options" including assisting McDonald's with its development application to the City of Swan for the restaurant behind the pub.
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Guildford Association spokesperson Andrew Kiely said residents were going to "fight" to stop the McDonald's restaurant from opening behind the popular watering hole, which reopened in May last year after it was gutted by fire in 2008.
"There is a lot of anger in the community about this," he told WAtoday.
"This is going to be the first test for the new Labor government and the new planning minister (Rita Saffioti) to step in and stop this."
Mr Kiely said tourists came to Guildford for the historic architecture.
"Guilford is all about tourism, not a McDonald's," he said.
"Tourists come to Guildford to look at the Australiana not a Macca's tucked in behind the Guildford Hotel."
He said ironically the site of the McDonald's was 100 metres from Guildford Primary which was voted Australia's "fittest school".
"My two kids will be walking past there on the way to school," he said.
"I don't want it there."
Mr Martino said he walked away from building units behind the pub because it would only work if he could get his original plans of seven-storeys.
"We are assisting McDonald's with their development application because the apartments which we had been planning for five years are just not viable," he said.
Mr Martino vigorously fought the City of Swan for years to allow units to be built behind the pub, at one point saying he would walk away from restoring the pub and let it rot after the council knocked back his plans to build high-rise apartments behind it.
As far back as 2013, he denied rumours the-then crumbling building could house a McDonald's.
He said while there had been a lot of interest in the building, he was not aware of any interest by the fast food company to operate from the hotel.
The Heritage Council of WA has given the new McDonald's a tick of approval in their report to the City of Swan even claiming the proposal "complements the heritage context of Guildford".
"The materials and colours of the proposal are in keeping to those that have been historically prevalent in Guildford," the report said.
"These being red brickwork, smooth render, metal awnings, and more recently CFC cladding which is used in the adjacent new extension to the Guildford Hotel."
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