A WOMAN who started as a cleaner on a restaurant's first day marked its 25th birthday by describing her rise from cleaner to manager.

When KFC in Haslingden Road, Blackburn, opened in 1981, Janice McNally was grateful to land the cleaning job she saw in the Evening Telegraph.

But the last 25 years have seen the determined 51-year-old mother-of-two swap the mop for the top and she is now in charge of 30 staff.

Janice, of Lower Darwen said: "I saw an advert in the Telegraph and was able to convince them to let me clean for a couple of hours. If you had told me then I would become manager I would not have believed it."

Within a matter of weeks, Janice was offered the chance to combine cleaning with other duties and became an assistant, serving customers and helping in the kitchens.

But she wasn't finished there. In 1983 bosses asked her to take on the senior assistant role, organising deliveries and helping with rotas and by 1988 she was running the place.

"I would put it down to commitment and the fact that I believe in the product," she said.

"I would like to think I'm a good role model and I really love the job. I love the responsibility and I love the staff."

As Janice's role has grown so has the restaurant, which has welcomed 5,000,000 customers since opening and started a drive thru service three years ago. But some things remain the same.

"Our most popular meal 25 years ago was the two piece chicken and fries meal and after all these years it is still people's favourite meal," said Janice.

Despite her move into management, Janice insists she is not privy to the company's most prized secret the recipe for its chicken dishes.

"Nobody except the Colonel (Colonel Harland Sanders who founded the company in 1952) knows that!"

l The store in Haslingden Road is one of two in Blackburn, with the other in King William Street. East Lancashire has around 10 outlets including Samles-bury, Nelson, Colne, Accrington, Burnley and Mellor Brook.

The UK now has 800 KFCs the first opened in Fishergate, Preston in 1965.