The owner of a Warwick McDonald's has defended his decision to apply to stay open 24/7, following a flurry of objections from locals.

Neighbours have said the Emscote Road fast food outlet's application would "make the area more unsafe".

When planning permission was granted for the eatery at Tesco, opening times of 6am to 11pm were approved.

But now the business wants to keep the store open 24 hours per day, seven days a week.

But Dawood Ibtehsam, founder of locally-established business People Arches Ltd, which trades as Emscote Road McDonald’s, said there is a clear demand for the store to stay open throughout the night.

"We understand why there are concerns at our application to amend our opening hours," he said in a statement to Nub News.

"But while we are applying for a 24-hour license, we are doing so to meet what we have identified as a demand not just from people wanting to grab something to eat late at night, but for the many people who work antisocial hours and rely on us for something to eat at the end of a gruelling shift, or some fuel before they start a busy day early in the morning.

"We regularly have emergency services workers, care workers, and shift workers waiting for us to open our doors at 6am so they can have a cup of coffee or some food - a change to our license would mean that we could open our doors at 5am, and also that we can provide delivery and drive-thru services throughout the night."

Mr Ibtehsam said the fast food outlet would only be available for drive-thru and delivery from midnight to 5am.

No dining in would be allowed.

"But by extending our opening hours we can cater to the people who have shown they would like to be able to order from us at times when nowhere else is open," he added.

"We have made no secret of the fact that we very much want to be a part of the community around us, and Warwick as a whole, hence our activities such as regular litter picks, events at our branch, and much more in the pipeline.

"The last thing we want to do is undo any of that by alienating our neighbours, but we do believe that we can action amended opening times in the right way to ensure we do not cause any problems to the local community, but serve many of them who we count among our valuable customers."

See the full application here.