Wild success of TikTok chicken shop sees locals plagued by seagulls and parking problems

A chicken shop with glowing reviews on TikTok has drawn customers from far and wide – but its success as come at a cost, say residents.

The once clean streets of Burnage, in Manchester, where you’ll find Miami Crispy, are now full of smelly rubbish that attracts ‘screeching’ seagulls as well as rats, they claim.

Locals also say there have been issues with customers taking up the area’s parking spaces.

Miami Crispy – which has a sign saying it does the best spicy chicken burger in the country – has apparently seen a rise in success over the past year or so following a series of top reviews on TikTok.

Speaking to the Manchester Evening News, Habib Ejaz, who lives in the area, described the situation as ‘horrendous’.

The postman claimed he’s woken up every morning by gulls and when he comes home from work he has nowhere to park.

‘The seagulls wake you up because they’re all fighting for the food,’ he said. ‘I’ve been here almost 30 years. It’s never been messy here.

‘Now it’s the smell. You’d think we’re living in a rubbish dump.’

Resident Tom Maher, meanwhile, said there’s rubbish ‘all over the place’ but added he doesn’t blame the business.

‘I think they’re trying their best. The customers are the problem,’ he explained.

Another householder, Cynthia McTaggert, said a sign at the entrance to a residents’ car park says ‘residents parking only’ but Miami Crispy’s customers often ignore it.

She said locals had to fight to get the car park built in the first place and now they often can’t get a space.

Housing association Southway, which owns the car park, said it is aware of the issues and plans to install bigger signs and work with the council to ensure parking rules are enforced.

The council’s neighbourhood manager for the area, Mandy Salmon, said the five litter bins were emptied every day but contractor Biffa was ‘struggling’ with the rise in demand.

She said the council’s litter enforcement teams would work overtime this month to deal with the problem, but added that this approach was ‘not sustainable’.

Miami Crispy told Manchester Evening News it always disposed its own rubbish properly and hygienically, but since hearing residents’ concerns about customers’ litter it had put ‘further measures in place’ to minimise the waste.

It did however say it was ‘surprised’ with the rise in litter, saying it didn’t correspond with a recent ‘increase in business’.

A Manchester City Council spokesperson said it had made ‘additional resources available for enforcement activity’ and was exploring potential long-term solutions to the problem.

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