THE North-East has been 'snubbed' by McDonald's in a surprise announcement which saw a further 33 stores in the UK reopen today.

The fast food retailer reopened its first 15 stores in the South-East and London, following seven weeks of closure, earlier this month.

But today, McDonald's fans across the country were sent into a frenzy as the fast food chain reopened dozens more sites from 11am this morning.

However, the North-East and North Yorkshire appears to have been snubbed by the fast food chain again as more stores open in the South.

A spokesperson for McDonald's in the UK said the further reopenings were part of continued tests for the rest of the country.

They said: "Our teams are still adjusting to the new procedures we've introduced to enable safe working and social distancing, so things might take a little longer.

"We expect a high demand across all locations.

"We are working closely with local authorities and we may determine that it is necessary to close our Drive-Thru lanes if queues cause disruption or put our employees or customers at risk."

When will McDonald's come to the region?

Although no stores in our region have been listed, McDonald's earlier this month said all Drive-Thru lanes would be reopen in the next three weeks.

Paul Pomroy, Chief Executive Officer of McDonald's UK said that following the staggered reopening of stores, all drive-thrus would reopen by early June.

He said: "There has been an incredible response to news of our reopening and we know many of you are eager for us to extend our reopening plans at a faster pace.

"The wellbeing of our employees, suppliers and delivery partners’ couriers is my top priority and we will only extend our plans at a pace that enables us to create a safe working environment for our teams.

"Moving in step with government guidelines, we plan to reopen all our Drive-Thrus by early June."

The full list of stores that have reopened their Drive-Thrus and/or for McDelivery is as follows:

Drive-Thru Only:

Ipswich - Ranelagh Road

Ipswich - Ravenswood

Ipswich - Whitehouse

Chelmsford - Regiment Business Park

Hounslow - Traveller's Friend 

Sutton - Oldfield's Row

North Cheam - Worcester Park

Strood - Commercial Road

Rochester - Medway Valley Leisure Park

Herfordshire - Bushey

Staines - Two Rivers Retail Park

Staines - London Road

Peterborough - Bourges Boulevard

Peterborough - Boongate

Peterborough - Hampton

Peterborough - Morrisons, Lincoln Road

Peterborough - Eye Green

Peterborough - Glinton

Rochester - Medway City Estate

Bobbing - Sheppey Way

Dunstable - Luton Road

Luton Retail Park - Gipsy Lane

Watford - Garston

McDelivery And Drive-Thru:

Chelmsford Riverside

Chelmsford Westway

Ipswich - Cardinal Park

Boreham Interchange

Luton - Leagrave

Luton - Chaul End Lane

Watford - Hertfordshire Arms

Beechings Way

Sittingbourne

Gillingham - Bowaters

McDelivery Only:

Tooting

Dalston

Welling

Harrow

Luton - George Street