A NEW Milton resident has slammed the quality of the town’s first ever KFC restaurant, labelling the new site a “damp squib”.

The angry diner says local businesses “shouldn’t be worried” about the franchise restaurant opening in the Hampshire town after his “very poor” experience.

KFC in Station Road opened on December 20 last year at the site of a former NatWest bank branch. A spokesperson said the restaurant had created 20 new jobs in the local community.

However, one customer was left “incensed” after his visit saw him served “appalling” chicken and a “handful” of chips despite ordering two portions.

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The man, who wished to remain anonymous, said: “I like KFC so rather than cook that night we thought we’d try it out. When I got there, the menu boards weren’t working and neither were the drinks machines.

“We were really disappointed, the food was substandard. When you’re a brand like KFC, you have to deliver from day one. The staff didn’t seem to know what they were doing and I wasn’t impressed at all.”

The customer said the chicken from his Mighty Bucket order “looked as though it was yesterday’s chicken reheated” and that despite ordering two portions of chips, received “around a handful”.

He said unless the fried chicken franchise improved, local businesses would not be too impacted.

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He added: “You could say these are teething problems but the standard was so low. New Milton is a close knit community and if you’re a small business you could find it difficult to compete.

“But if that’s the competition, they shouldn’t be very worried.

“I don’t want the KFC to close or anything, I just want them to improve. You’d think something like that would be a firework for the area, but it’s ended up a damp squib.”

A KFC spokesperson said: “It’s been a long time coming but we’re excited to finally be up and running in New Milton. The team have been busy at the fryers serving delicious fried chicken to our fans all week so we’re sorry that [the customers’] experience wasn’t up to the Colonel’s usual high standards – that’s the last thing we want.

“We’d love for him to get in touch so we can make things right.”

The customer, however, said he had complained on the KFC website soon afterwards but has yet to receive a response.