Brits soon flocked to taste The Colonel's chicken

Thanks to KFC’s success in Preston, expansion was rapid, with Ray Allen going on to open 250 outlets by 1975.

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Allen, it took the people of Preston a while to buy into KFC’s menu, and a common complaint was that chicken was for roast dinners not fast food.

Initially, they even had to give it away to encourage interest, but their approach soon paid off and the novelty of fried chicken caught on.

Allen recalled: “No one believed in takeaway foods - we were too early, well before our time. It was difficult even to get people to come through the door. “We would walk up and down the street offering pieces of chicken free, but people are terribly suspicious. We couldn't even give it away.”