The Peter Tatchell Foundation says its campaigners targeted Chick-fil-A’s Holborn offices yesterday (3 September) to deliver a letter to Joanna Symonds, head of operations for the UK.
The letter calls on Chick-fil-A to answer questions relating to its funding of US-based organisations that allegedly lobby against LGBT+ equality.
According to the Peter Tatchell Foundation, Chick-fil-A has so far refused to confirm that it and its owners will not donate in future to anti-LGBT+ campaigns, organisations or individuals.
“Chick-fil-A knows its brand is toxic in the UK, so it’s trying to sneak in through the back door. It has no sign on its London office and nothing online to say where it is located. But we found them. It even blocks its US website from being viewed in Britain,” said the foundation’s director, Peter Tatchell.
“Why the secrecy? Probably because it doesn’t want British consumers to know about its long history of bankrolling anti-LGBT+ hate groups. We say: Chick-fil-A is not welcome here.”
While Chick-fil-A’s US website is not accessible in the UK, it is not uncommon for the websites to block visitors from the EU, often because of GDPR compliance.
The foundation claims that Chick-fil-A’s US charitable arm has donated millions to organisations that oppose same-sex marriage, promote conversion therapy, and campaign against laws designed to protect LGBT+ people from discrimination.
This is not the first time the US chain has faced criticism in the UK for its stance. Similar protests occurred when the group opened its first UK location, in Reading, in 2019. The restaurant later closed after just six months of trading.
The same year it launched a restaurant at the Macdonald Aviemore Hotel in the Scottish Highlands, but that site also closed within a few months.
Following the reaction in Reading, Chick-fil-A overhauled its philanthropic policy.
It announced that it had stopped funding anti-LGBTQ organisations in the US and would instead refocus it charity efforts towards education, homelessness and hunger.
Symonds has previously said the group will adopt a similar benevolence in the UK and has pledged to donate £25,000 to one local not-for-profit per new restaurant.
“From our earliest days, we’ve worked to positively influence the places we call home and this will be the same for our stores in the UK,” she remarked in 2023.
The brand is now making another play for the UK market with plans to launch five restaurants by the end of 2026.
Earlier this year, Chick-fil-A opened two sites in Northern Ireland and, later this year, the group plans to open a restaurant in Leeds.
Chick-fil-A’s representative has been contacted for comment.