Orff you go and don’t come Bach, youths told

A MCDONALD’s outlet in Australia has begun playing classical music and opera late at night to deter young people from loitering around the restaurant.

Fed up with the outlet’s nocturnal transformation into an unofficial youth club, the store adopted the tactic a few weeks ago and said it had significantly reduced the number of loiterers, particularly around the car park.

The strategy has reportedly been tried before by a local council at a car park in Australia, although previous efforts involved blaring songs by Barry Manilow.

Matthew Watson, operations manager at the Mt Annan McDonald’s on the outskirts of Sydney, said the music had been a successful deterrent.

“We’ve noticed a reduction in the number of young people hanging around, but we’ll have to reassess it properly in a couple of weeks,” he told the Macarthur Chronicle newspaper.

“We play a range of classical and opera music, and so far it seems to be working.”

The tactic drew a mixed response on social media. Some locals said the music was played too loud and others said “it might bring a bit of class to the area”.

“They turn it up really loud when youths are hanging around the car park,” wrote Janeen Brady on the local newspaper’s Facebook page. “It woke me up at 1am Tuesday night and it’s only going to get worse as Xmas approaches.”

A comment by Erin Cox said: “I may just stay longer. I have no issue with classical music, it’s quite nice.”

Another comment, from Stef Awns, noted: “It’s a shame that classical music supposedly has this impact on people.”— © The Daily Telegraph, London