A fast food giant was forced to close one of its restaurants for nearly a day after a rat was spotted.

The McDonald’s at Medway City Estate in Strood was shut yesterday afternoon.

It was closed from 2.20pm until 8am this morning.

Following the rat-sighting, the eatery was deep cleaned and reopened.

A spokesman for McDonald’s said: “We took the decision to temporarily close our Medway City restaurant yesterday following a pest sighting.

“Hygiene and cleanliness are of the utmost importance to us and following the sighting, the restaurant performed a deep clean of the area and our external pest control experts were called out for an urgent precautionary inspection.

“Working closely with the restaurant, they will continue to provide regular routine checks of the restaurant and surrounding area which is standard practice.”

The branch has a five-star food hygiene rating.