UK's first KFC marks 60th birthday celebrations

The famous fried chicken chain marked its diamond anniversary in the UK

Celebrations have taken place to mark 60 years since the first KFC fast food restaurant opened in a UK high street.

The famous fried chicken chain marked its diamond anniversary with a pop-up event in Preston's Flag Market featuring memorabilia, a history film and a range of local food producers.

Roz Eccles, current assistant manager of the restaurant in the city's Fishergate, said: "It was opened in 1965 by Colonel Sanders himself. It's amazing to know it started here in Preston when you've got all those other big cities out there."

She added: "It has come through a lot of changes over the years the way KFC has expanded."

Local people visited the pop-up event at Preston's Flag Market

Rob Swain, general manager for KFC UK & Ireland, said: "Preston is where British fried chicken history began."

The chain now wanted to thank the people of Preston for "playing such an important role in our growth story this side of the pond", he said.

Roz Eccles (left) said the chain's founder Colonel Sanders came to open the Preston restaurant in person

The celebrations also featured an immersive exhibition and pop-up cinema where six decades of the brand's history were remembered.

It showed original KFC menus and uniforms, a range of the chain's nostalgic advertising campaigns and other memorabilia tracing the restaurant's journey from its roots in Kentucky to its first restaurant in Preston.

The chain's celebration also featured a history lesson in all things KFC

Colonel Harland Sanders was an entrepreneur who began selling fried chicken from his roadside restaurant in Corbin, Kentucky, during the Great Depression.

UK businessmen Harry Latham and Raymond Allen then worked under the supervision of their friend the colonel to bring the franchise to the UK.

Allen was said to have possessed a handwritten copy of the restaurant's secret recipe of 11 herbs and spices, which it has declined to make public to this day.