A popular American fast food chain is to open four restaurants across London in the coming months.

Taco Bell, one of the most famous Mexican-inspired restaurants in the US, is to open stores in Hammersmith, Holburn, Fulham and Croydon.

The chain, which serves a variety of tex-mex foods like tacos, burritos and nachos, will create around 170 jobs as a result of the openings.

The branch in Hammersmith, which will create 45 jobs, is located on King Street and will be opening this Friday (November 23) at 10.30am.

Taco Bell will then open its next store on Southampton Row, Holburn on Friday, November 30, creating 33 jobs. The store in Fulham, creating 35 jobs, will be opening on Fulham Broadway in early 2019. The Croydon store, which will see 55 jobs created, will open at around the same time.

This is big news for food lovers in London, especially considering the fact that there are currently no Taco Bell restaurants in the capital.

"We’ve had our sights set on London for quite some time, and as we continue growing internationally, we’re excited to bring Taco Bell to one of the world’s largest cities – and one of our most-requested markets,” said Liz Williams, president at Taco Bell International.

Taco Bell has more than 7,000 stores worldwide

“We’ve seen an overwhelmingly positive response to our UK restaurants, and have ambitious plans for growth in London and the broader UK, targeting more than 30 UK restaurants by the end of the year.”

Menus at the new stores will include Taco Bell’s craveable selection of Mexican-inspired food, including the Crunchwrap Supreme, Grilled Stuft Burrito, trademark Crunchy Taco, Big Bell Box, Twisted Freezes and beer.

Specials will include Happy Hour and Taco Tuesday, which features a taco and a beer for just £2. There will also be a ‘Cravers’ value menu, which offers smaller options at lower prices.

The inside of another Taco Bell restaurant

Additionally, the Hammersmith restaurant will feature the same beer innovation as seen in Taco Bell’s Las Vegas flagship restaurant, where beer fills the cup from the bottom before being sealed with a magnet.

At each of the store openings, the first 100 people inside the store will receive a bespoke Taco Bell t-shirt featuring their queue number.

Return of Big Ben

Ahead of the Hammersmith store opening, Taco Bell have this week returned Big Ben’s world-famous chimes to the streets of the capital.

A Taco Bell signature dish - a crunchy taco

The chain, with the help of a specialist audio engineer, re-engineered the sound of Big Ben, which is temporarily silenced for repairs, using the Taco Bell chime. Multiple sets of custom made speakers have been installed around the capital, and these broadcast the sound of the bell every hour, bringing one of the city’s most iconic landmarks back to life.

“Knowing Big Ben was out of action for repairs, we felt Taco Bell was in a unique position to reunite London with the famous chimes,” said Jorge Torres, general manager at Taco Bell Europe.

“So, we used our bell to help out your big bell – and to do our bit for that special US/UK relationship at the same time. Londoners have been asking for Taco Bell to come to the capital city for a long while now, and hopefully the opening of our new restaurants across the city will also be music to their ears!”

Any food lovers wanting to get their Taco Bell fix sooner rather than later are invited to the grand opening of the Hammersmith restaurant on Friday at 10.30am.

For more information and the latest details of all four store openings across London visit www.tacobelluk.co.uk. Alternatively, follow @TacoBellUK on social media.

A Taco Bell seven-layer burrito

Did you know?

Glen Bell, creator of Taco Bell, first named the business Bell's Drive-In and Taco Tia in 1954.

In 1962, Glen Bell opened his first Taco Bell restaurant in Downey, California.

Taco Bell serves more than 2 billion customers each year at 7,000 restaurant worldwide

In 1986, a Taco Bell was opened in London on Coventry Street, followed by a second restaurant in Earls Court near the Earl's Court Tube station. One other store opened in Uxbridge but all closed in the mid-1990s.

In 2001, Taco Bell promised a free taco to everyone in the United States if the the falling space station MIR hit a floating 40 by 40-foot Taco Bell target. This never happened.

In 2012, the company airlifted 10,000 Doritos Locos Tacos to the remote town of Bethel, Alaska after someone posted fake fliers around town announcing that a Taco Bell would be opening.