Britons Mob KFC

     In America, flocks of teenage girls mobbed a group of bowl-cut sporting musicians who called themselves “The Beatles” during the British Invasion of the 1960s, when British pop culture took America by storm. There’s something of a reversal of that pattern happening in Great Britain this week, but it’s American culinary culture that’s taken a small British town by storm, and this time the fans aren’t screaming girls but KFC coupon-weilding diners.

The Town of Chesterfield

      A new KFC restaurant has opened up in Chesterfield, and it’s the first KFC restaurant ever to open in that town. Excited fans have flocked to the restaurant in droves, and the roads around the small restaurant have been clogged with KFC-bound traffic for the better part of a week since the restaurant opened its doors. The drive-through queue winds around the block, which means that those hoping to pick up a bucket of Original recipe chicken face wait times of more than an hour.

         But those who hope for a bite of finger-lickin good chicken aren’t the only ones who have to be patient – dozens of shoppers were stranded in the parking lot of grocery chain Sainsbury’s this weekend when dinner-rush traffic from the KFC clogged the roundabout in front of the Sainsbury’s exit.

       The KFC confusion was the topic of a town hall meeting earlier this week, but it seems that the town officials are hoping the problem will eventually take care of itself.

       "The parish council is aware of traffic problems occurring currently in the vicinity of the new KFC restaurant and drive-through,” said Chairman Chancellor Bob Brown."It is early days, people are obviously keen to visit this new food outlet and the novelty value is likely to diminish over time, but we are monitoring the situation."

         KFC was contacted by the Whitstable Times to comment on Chesterfield’s chicken mania, but has not responded to press inquiries as of yet. I imagine they’re thrilled to be so popular. I’m certainly glad I don’t have to wait on line for hours to use my KFC coupons when I pick up dinner on the way home from work –I like KFC, but evidently not as much as the residents of Chesterfield!