STAFF from McDonald’s across Hampshire have helped spruce up a community garden.

Workers at Fareham and Gosport restaurants volunteered to clean up the space, called Highbury Community Centre, in Cosham, which is open to members of the wider community.

The McDonald’s volunteers have also started a weekly gardening club for residents in the space, where people can come and learn new skills including pumpkin carving.

Franchisee Grant Copper, who owns and operates the McDonald’s restaurants involved in the summer clean-up, said: “It’s a key priority of ours to ensure that the spaces around our restaurants remain an enjoyable place to live, work and visit.

“As a business, we understand the important role that we play in making the area a better place.”

As well as getting involved in community projects such as these, McDonald’s restaurants patrol the vicinity of their restaurants at least three times a day to collect all litter that has been discarded, regardless of its origin.

Crew members across the UK cover a total of 3,000 miles each week on litter patrols, which equates to 150,000 miles a year and the distance of five marathons annually per store.

Keep Britain Tidy chief executive Allison Ogden-Newton added: “To win the war on litter everyone needs to work together, with businesses having an exciting part to play.

“McDonald’s Love Where You Live initiative, together with their day-to-day commitment to tackling the problem through their litter patrols and their ongoing support Keep Britain Tidy, is an example of how a business can make a real difference.”