Staff and customers at a Chinese restaurant in Blackburn were treated to an exciting visit by the world’s fastest man.
Usain Bolt, eight-time Olympic champion, was in East Lancashire this week and after dropping into watch the Blackburn Rovers under-15s team in their game against Burnley, popped into Yu.
The Cantonese restaurant in Longsight Road, Copster Green, is a favourite among one of Bolt’s friends so the group dined there for the evening.
Former Bolton Wanderers winger Ricardo Gardner, who is a friend of Bolt’s, was also at the restaurant and posed for a picture with Chef Victor Yu.
Chef Yu captioned the photo: “So great seeing the lads in tonight Yu Copster Green Usain Bolt Ricardo Gardner. Legends at Yu x”
The restaurant’s food and beverage worker, Nicholas Whalley, met Bolt and shared that he was very nice and pleasant.
He said: “One of his friends comes in here quite a bit. I did get to meet him and he was really friendly. “
Responding to whether people in the restaurant were starstruck, Nicholas said: “It was weirdly quiet that evening so surprisingly no one noticed him.
“Having someone that famous come into the restaurant though says a lot about our food so it’s great.”
Yu in Copster Green opened in 2004 and later received the “Best Chinese Restaurant” in the country award, judged by celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay.
During his visit to Lancashire, Usain stayed at The Avenue Hotel in Brockhall Village and enjoyed a couple of games of darts with the others.
The hotel manager, David Cook said: “He was a nice guy, so normal and down to earth - he wasn’t too bad at darts either!
"He spoke to everyone and was happy to pose for photos with everyone."
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