People are only just realising why McDonald's plays classical music after 5pm

When you're too old to play in a park but too young to be served in a bar, you have to get creative with where you hang out. For this reason, some children end up gravitating to fast-food restaurants - such as McDonald's - as it provides cheap food, shelter for when the weather takes a turn, and a bathroom.

But while the vast majority of children behave themselves when in public, there are always a few out there to cause trouble, ruining it for all the others. That's exactly what McDonald's came to learn after noticing an increase in youngsters hanging around its restaurants on evenings after school.

To combat this, a branch in Wrexham, North Wales, started playing classical music after 5pm and turning off the WiFi, making it a less desirable place for teens to hang out. Since then, other McDonald's have followed suit - with some chains in America, Canada, and Australia also pulling the same trick to combat antisocial behaviour.

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It prompted one Reddit user to admit: "Today I learnt McDonald's is experimenting with playing classical music over the restaurant's loudspeakers at night in hopes of stopping fights from breaking out." Commenting on this post, one user said: "There is a Maccas in my city that plays classical music outside the front door all day, every day to keep delinquent kids away."

Another user added: "The McDonald's in downtown Ottawa did this for years - it stopped neither fights nor riffraff..." A third user said: "The one I used to work at played music from the 70's and 80's specifically to keep teenagers from staying long."

However, it seems McDonald's isn't the only business using this tactic, as another user said: "I used to work at a gas station in the ghetto and we played classical music really loudly outside to prevent people from loitering and scaring customers." One more user said: "I'm not sure if this is the reason, but I was in a Burger King a while back that was playing classical music."

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