Update on plans to turn former KFC restaurant in Fleetwood into chicken museum

An animal rights charity says it would still be interested in transforming a former KFC branch on the Fylde coast into a museum dedicated to keeping chickens alive.

Back in the summer, animal rights charity PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) proposed that the food chain’s former branch in Fleetwood should be transformed into a Chicken Empathy Museum.

It would mean that visitors could learn about chickens’ intelligence, emotional lives, and social bonds, meet PETA’s famous chicken mascot and enjoy vegan food, the production of which the organisation says does not require any animals to suffer or be killed.

The branch, at 54 Lord Street, has been permanently closed since 2024 and remains closed, but PETA say that have had no luck in trying to track down the building’s current owners who acquired it in an auction.

Jennifer White, PETA UK’s Associate Director of Media and Communications confirmed this week: “We are still serious about this and would love to speak with the building’s owners.

“It would be a much better use than having the building still being empty after four years, but we’ve had no luck in confirming who the current owner. is.”

Earlier this year PETA Vice President of Vegan Projects Dawn Carr said in the letter: “Turning a former KFC into a Chicken Empathy Museum would give this site a new purpose, one that encourages visitors to see chickens as the clever, curious individuals they are.

“PETA would be delighted to help transform a place once linked to suffering into one that inspires compassion.”

PETA has joined other animal charities, including the RSPCA and World Animal Protection, in criticising the treatment of birds and animals in some sections of the meat industry. The charity says KFC chickens are crammed into crowded sheds and bred to grow so unnaturally large so quickly that their legs can become crippled under their own body weight.

While KFC outlines strict global chicken welfare standards and promises proper care, activists argue that its supply chain operations routinely fail to meet these ideals.

KFC were approached for a comment.