McDonald's Uses Classical Music To Break Up Drunken Fights

McDonald's branches in a U.K. town are banking on Bach and Brahms to break up late-night drunken brawls, according to a company spokesperson.

The McDonald's, located in Stockport, England, "had issues with anti-social behaviour," the spokesperson told The Huffington Post in an email. So the chain turned on some soothing melodies in an attempt to pacify belligerent customers.

"It varies from night to night, but it's been much better overall," Imran Kahn, a shift manager at the location told The Huffington Post. "It makes them all much calmer."

The spokesperson said all U.K. McDonald's can play in-store music if they desire, and that beginning in the evening, the Stockport locations play "a mixture of composers that includes everything from full orchestra to solo piano pieces."

The Stockport council has used classical music for similar ends in the past. Two years ago the town council piped in classical music at a notorious local alleyway to disperse trouble-making youth, according to the The Daily Mail.

The Brits aren't alone in their use of symphonic scare tactics. In the outskirts of Sydney, Australia, a McDonald's has been using classical music during recent weeks to clear its parking lot of loiterers. "So far it seems to be working," the McDonald's Macarthur operations manager told the Macarthur Chronicle.

Macaurther Square, a nearby retail hub, blasted Barry Manilow tracks during late night shopping in 2009 to keep teens away, according to the Macarthur Chronicle.