I tried new Popeye's and it was so busy I had to eat outside

THERE has been genuine interest in the latest fast food joint to land in the city.

- By DANNY THOMPSON

Popeye's, an American chain specialising in chicken, opened its first ever Coventry branch on Monday 8 December.

The response, for what is essentially slightly upmarket Kentucky Fried Chicken, was pretty mindboggling with eager diners queuing for hours before it opened.

So I went along to see if it's worth the hype and discovered people are still pretty intrigued by it.

For the uninitiated, and those born before 1995, Popeyes is nothing to do with a spinach-guzzling, pipe smoking sailor man with big forearms. Different Popeye. Not too surprising really, he hasn't been on TV for decades and a themed restaurant selling tins of his beloved green stuff sounds like the worse business idea ever.

I went on a Thursday lunchtime, about midday, four days after the site opened. I was expecting the initial hubbub from the opening day to've died down, hoping I'd waltz in and order unencumbered my crowds. I was wrong.