Born in Blackpool in 1927, Ray Allen originally aspired to study medicine, as he enjoyed physics and chemistry at secondary school. However, he changed his mind after failing the compulsory language component of the university entrance exam. His future plans were further delayed when he was called up to serve in the Second World War, joining the Royal Navy at the age of 18. Owing to his scientific background, he was trained as a radar technician and stationed at the naval base at Lossiemouth in Scotland, rising to the rank of Petty Officer within a few months. After leaving the Navy, he returned to Blackpool and chose a career in hotel management, enrolling at the town’s newly established catering college, Courtfields. The original college buildings have since been replaced by apartments, with the catering college itself having moved across the street to the Gateway campus of Blackpool & The Fylde College.
The following account is drawn largely from an interview between Ray Allen and the Jersey Evening Post in 2015. Photographs have been supplied to Blackpool Timeline by the Allen family. Around the time of the interview, the BBC aired a documentary series titled The Billion Dollar Chicken Shop, which explored the UK operations of KFC. A Youtube video of the programme is available below. In the documentary, Martin Shuker, Managing Director of KFC UK and Ireland, stated there were 865 restaurants across the region, with new outlets opening at a rate of 35 per year.
Ray Allen met his wife Shirley at Courtfields College, and upon graduating, the couple opened their first restaurant together, named the Clifton Grill. They married in 1952 and went on to open several more restaurants in Bolton, Preston and Blackburn, including The Black Sheep and The Lune Grill in Lancaster. At their peak, they owned around 15 restaurants and worked six days a week—seven in the summer months. Following this early success, they joined the Wimpy burger franchise, opening the first branch in the county.
Col. Harland Sanders showing cook how to prepare chicken before cooking.
Mr Allen’s life took a new direction after he met American restaurateur Harland Sanders at an International Restaurant Association conference in Chicago during the 1960s. Mr Sanders had begun his KFC venture in 1930 at a service station in Corbin, Kentucky, preparing meals for hungry travellers using a secret recipe for his fried chicken coating. The dish gained such popularity that in 1935 the Governor of Kentucky honoured Mr Sanders with the title of Kentucky Colonel for promoting the state. When Mr Allen met him, the Colonel had just one franchisee—Pete Harman of Salt Lake City—who featured Kentucky Fried Chicken as a menu item. At the time, takeaway food had yet to become the mainstream consumer product it is today.
Inspired, Mr Allen secured the rights to expand the KFC franchise beyond the United States and returned home with ambitious plans. In 1965, he opened the UK’s first KFC branch in Friargate, Preston. At the time, chicken was considered a Sunday roast staple, and KFC was ahead of its time. “We had to give it away to passers-by initially,” Allen recalled. McDonald’s had just arrived in England, and the two companies raced to secure prime locations. For years, the KFC UK head office was located above a Pizza Express in Lytham. Ray Allen said, “We were opening one store a week out of our cash flow and in order to expand the franchise we went to London and walked the streets asking every bank for a loan, but we were turned down. They would not loan us any money because they didn’t believe in it. They said there was no future in the product, but we knew it would work.”
Eventually, Mr Allen’s company—KFC UK Ltd—obtained funding from Heublein Inc, an American firm that at the time owned Smirnoff Vodka. A deal was struck: Mr Allen would sell the company to Heublein upon opening his 100th restaurant in London. He agreed and began seeking ideal sites for new KFC locations throughout the UK. Within a decade, there were 400 outlets nationwide. Mr Allen also worked internationally on a contractual basis for Colonel Sanders, travelling to Australia, New Zealand and the Middle East to identify potential sites. In recognition of his business achievements, Mr Allen was made a Freeman of the City of London in 1979 and was commissioned a Kentucky Colonel in 1965. Upon opening the 100th restaurant in London, Mr Allen honoured the agreement and sold KFC UK Ltd to Heublein, which went on to further expand the brand.
After selling the business in 1973, Mr Allen and his wife relocated to Jersey, where they continued to travel and enjoy retirement. He said that he and Shirley had made many close friends on the island, where they felt at home, and that their children had all received their education there. Commenting on criticisms KFC has faced over alleged low staff wages and poor animal welfare standards, Mr Allen remarked that the company had changed significantly since its early days. He believed there should be no division between staff and management, explaining that during his time, everyone was treated as a partner in the business. “You have to be fair to everybody and appreciate that they work hard for you, and that if you’ve done the jobs yourself you’d understand them better.”
Ray Allen, then aged 87 and living in Jersey since 1973, had never previously spoken to the island’s media about his instrumental role in building the KFC chain. He became a close personal friend of Colonel Sanders after meeting him at the International Restaurant Association conference in Chicago during the 1950s. Allen said: “The Colonel was a very kind man, who was very forthright. But at the time we met he was a small-time Southern State restaurant owner, and I knew a lot about patents or registered trade marks. From then on we became good friends and he even came to visit me and my family here in Jersey.” He added that he owns a personal hand-written copy of KFC’s secret recipe, widely believed to consist of 11 herbs and spices, and said it is “kept safe in a bank”. While he admitted he did not know its monetary worth, he emphasised he would never sell it, as it had been a gift from a friend.
Ray Allen with Col. Harland Sanders
Allen’s Fried Chicken: Life After KFC
Following the sale of the UK KFC franchise back to the American parent company, Ray Allen retained ownership of several outlets in the North West of England. These remaining locations were later rebranded in 1993 as Allen’s Fried Chicken. Building on the legacy of KFC’s growth in the UK, Allen launched his own fried chicken brand, initially operating multiple outlets in Blackpool before expanding to towns such as Bolton and across Greater Manchester. Locations have included Sale, Denton, Fallowfield, and Farnworth, with ambitions for further expansion. Despite Blackpool being the birthplace of both Ray Allen and the UK’s first KFC venture, there is currently no Allen’s Fried Chicken branch in the town. Present-day locations confirmed in public directories include Sale, Denton, and Fallowfield.
Ray Allen with his wife Shirley at their home in Jersey in 2015.
One of the first Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants in the UK, now Called KFC.
Text source: Taken from the Jersey Evening Post'swebsite
Images by © The Allen Family
