Taco Bell has opened its first restaurant in Ashford, Kent, at the new Waterbrook Park development in Sevington. Doors opened at 11am on Tuesday 29 September 2026, with queues outside, 25 staff and 50 covers.
The new unit sits next to a KFC that opened on the same park a month earlier, two of the fast food franchises recruiting in the UK now building side by side on retail parks.
Work on the Taco Bell unit began in March 2026. The brand first aimed to open in early summer, but supplier delays pushed the launch back to the autumn. In late August, the date of 29 September was first published as subject to final approvals.
The brand confirmed it on 26 September, three days before opening. Ashford is now the sixth Kent town with a Taco Bell, after Broadstairs, Canterbury, Chatham, Dover and Maidstone.
Queues and giveaways on opening day
Customers were already queuing before the 11am opening. The first 100 customers each received a Taco Bell T-shirt, and one guest won free food for a year. The restaurant has 50 covers for eat-in and 25 staff. The brand has not published the unit’s floor area or named the operating company.
A KFC next door, opened a month earlier
Waterbrook Park sits off the Waterbrook Avenue roundabout in Sevington, opposite an Aldi store. KFC opened there on 26 August 2026, in a 75-cover restaurant with a drive-thru and 40 jobs. It is the town’s third KFC.
Both units went up at the same time and share a car park with more than 25 spaces. Luke Mullaney, development director at the developer GSE, called both brands “exceptional partners throughout the entire process”.
How Taco Bell is growing its UK estate
According to Kent Online, Taco Bell now has more than 150 sites in England. Much of that growth runs through franchise operators. One of them, Campana, part of SYMBRO Group, ran 23 Taco Bell restaurants in March 2026.
With HSBC UK funding, it plans to reach more than 50 by 2029, the multi-site route most brands in the UK franchise directory are built around. In September 2026, the brand also opened a unit at Welcome Break’s Cromwell Services on the A1, which it described as a franchise site.
Good to know
Neither Taco Bell nor the developer has said which company runs the Ashford restaurant. Taco Bell’s UK growth runs largely through multi-site franchise operators such as Campana, so a new restaurant does not necessarily mean a new franchisee has joined the network.
A David Lloyd club is next on the park
Waterbrook Park is not finished yet. A David Lloyd health club is planned on the site, with four pools and three tennis courts, and is now due in autumn 2027, a format that sits alongside the smaller-site gym and fitness franchises recruiting in the UK.
It is expected to create 80 to 100 jobs. The club will be Kent’s fourth David Lloyd. The park also has the Ashford International Truckstop.
