PORTISHEAD’S McDonald’s restaurant is encouraging its customers and nearby residents to help keep the town clean.

Despite monthly clean-ups by voluntary groups like Pride in Portishead (PIP) and Friends of Portishead in Bloom, residents in the town fear they are losing the battle to keep the growing town clean and tidy.

McDonald’s franchisee Tim Lamb and his team from the Wyndham Way outlet have been tackling litter which has been blighting the Harbour Road area and nearby open spaces.

The clean-up operation is part of the Keep Britain Tidy’s Love Where You Live campaign, aimed at encouraging communities to take responsibility for keeping neighbourhoods litter-free and to take pride in their local environment.

Youngsters from Portishead Juniors FC joined the McDonald’s team to clear the area, which is notorious for litter.

Mr Lamb said: “Love Where You Live is an effective way of making a positive difference to local areas. Unfortunately there is still a significant proportion of people who think it’s acceptable to drop litter, but it’s everyone’s responsibility and through events like this we want to generate awareness of the issue, educate those people on how to dispose of rubbish properly and encourage them to be more responsible.”

The event was one of more than 400 large-scale McDonald’s clean-up events taking place to support the Keep Britain Tidy campaign.

McDonald’s carries out daily litter patrols with staff assigned to the streets to pick up rubbish at least three times a day and the company says it uses minimal packaging for its food and drinks.