Krispy Kreme closing overnight 'Drive-Thru' after residents share extraordinary footage of 'honking cars'

Residents in the area spoke to Independent.ie yesterday about the late-night noise pollution and shared extraordinary footage of dozens of cars beeping their horns in the shopping centre carpark in the middle of the night.

"We’ve listened to our neighbours and we’re making changes," Krispy Kreme CEO Richard Cheshire said in a statement issued today.

They said they will be closing the late-night 'Drive Thru' facility from tonight and are now involved in discussions with the council for a long-term solution to the issue. The store will remain open and the in-store queue time has been estimated at 10-12 minutes.

"We anticipated a warm welcome for Krispy Kreme in Ireland and have long wanted to open a store here, but the response has been way ahead of our most optimistic expectations.

"For the customers coming into our store in Blanchardstown, the smiles and joy have been great to see. For the most part too, our drive thru has been a success.

"But we know that the late-night noise has been an upset for our neighbours," they continued.

"Some customers have been beeping their horns and disturbing families in nearby apartment complexes.

"Most importantly, we are saying to our neighbours, we’ve listened and we’re making changes immediately."

The 'Drive Thru' will now be open between the hours of 6am and 11.30pm.

The doughnut crew also said they are involved in ongoing discussions with Fingal County Council, Blanchardstown Centre Management, local Garda Traffic Corp and Community Liaison with regard to the late-night facility.

They said they are committed to finding a long-term solution that works for everyone.

Footage shared with Independent.ie showed cars beeping their horns as they joined the line for doughnuts after 11pm, with residents claiming it was keeping them up throughout the night.

“Since the grand opening we haven’t had proper sleep at night. We have jobs, kids, schools, and so many elderly people living here as well,” one Grove Park resident told Independent.ie.

“Every night the queue for doughnuts is unbelievable - lights, noises, pollution and horns. All streets blocked and all cars honking at once. All night, every night.”

Another resident, Salim Sanehi added: “The noise has been happening every single night since the grand opening. 

“My apartment has another balcony that faces the entire car park, so our entire apartment gets hit with the noise.”

Some locals joined together to create a Facebook group called to tackle the noise and called for the opening hours to be changed.

"I’ve nothing against the company but it shouldn’t be open 24/7 if they can’t manage the traffic and noise," group member Ben Raymond from Blanchardstown told Independent.ie.

"They should take the 24 hours away and put a traffic management system in place. I live down the road and it’s been waking children up in the area."

Local councillor Ted Leddy said he was aware of complaints from residents, and said he wasn’t expecting the doughnut “phenomenon" to take over Blanchardstown.

"I have heard reports, I was at the opening and I have to say I wasn’t prepared for the phenomenon it is," Mr Leddy told Independent.ie yesterday.

"I don’t think the management in charge of traffic control were prepared either."