The Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) restaurant on Mile Cross Lane has been given a food hygiene rating of one out of five following an inspection sparked by a complaint from a customer.

Eastern Daily Press: Curtis has been ill since the start of this month. His dad claimed his son became ill after a visit to KFC, but KFC denies the illness was caused by their food.Curtis has been ill since the start of this month. His dad claimed his son became ill after a visit to KFC, but KFC denies the illness was caused by their food. (Image: Archant)

The inspection by Broadland District Council on May 31 found dirt on floors, overflowing bins and a need for staff to be retrained in cleaning procedures.

As reported, the KFC outlet closed on Wednesday June 1 amid food hygiene concerns, but reopened two days later on the Friday and has been open since. We can now reveal that the store closed because of a complaint made to Broadland District Council and the findings of the subsequent food hygiene inspection.

Inspectors gave KFC the second lowest food hygiene rating because of dirty floors and a lack of staff training.

KFC said it closed the store to carry out 'deep cleaning' of the premises and to 'retrain all team members'.

On Thursday, it was given a new food hygiene rating by the council of one, meaning 'major improvement' is necessary.

A KFC spokesperson said the drive-thru restaurant was temporarily closed 'as it didn't meet the high quality standards we demand at KFC'.

A council spokesperson said: 'We had been working with KFC since last year to improve a hygiene rating of 2 – 'in need of improvement' which they had done by October, achieving a 3, rising to a 4 in May this year when they requested a visit.

'However, we had a complaint and visited again at the end of the month, at which point a re-grading was made and KFC decided to close the branch for a few days for cleaning and staff training.'

The store can now not be re-inspected for three months and the council added that they are working with the restaurant to help them achieve a higher rating.

But since reopening, one customer has complained to KFC that his child developed food poisoning after visiting the restaurant. KFC denies that the food poisoning was the fault of their outlet.

The restaurant re-opened on Friday June 3 and was visited by Neil Austin and his 11-year-old son Curtis the following day.

The pair enjoyed a chicken burger and a boneless banquet meal. The family claims that a day later Curtis started developing symptoms of food poisoning and has not returned to school since the visit due to illness.

Mr Austin has complained to KFC and test results are currently pending to try to identify the cause of Curtis' illness.

'I didn't know that the Mile Cross Lane branch had been shut down for a period of time and if I had known we wouldn't have gone there,' said Mr Austin.

A KFC spokesperson said: 'We're sorry to hear Mr Austin's son has been unwell, however, there have been no other complaints of this kind at the restaurant and records from our kitchen show that the chicken bought by the customer was fully cooked.'

The Prince of Wales Road KFC in Norwich shut in April, with the initial reason given as 'essential maintenance work'.

KFC then confirmed in May that the outlet had closed permanently because of business reasons. The Dereham Road store closed at the end of last year.

Last month a spokesperson for KFC said that a new KFC restaurant would be coming to Norwich, although did not give a location.

'It's very early days at the moment, but we are excited to be working on plans to open a new restaurant in Norwich,' he said at the time. 'We're currently looking for the right location and hope to share some good news in the future.'

There are two other KFC restaurants in Norwich at Chapelfield and at Longwater.