britishers -- tell me about WIMPY BARS and their shitty burgers

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http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/82/Wimpy_logo.jpg

i hope that these don't exist any more. some of the worst burgers that i've ever eaten in my life.

― Eisbaer, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 15:37 (eighteen years ago)

There was one at my local bowling alley as recentely as last year. I wonder if the one in Glasgow still exists?

I can't rememeber their food very well, last time I ate in one was about fifteen years ago, but I do rememeber that it is table service.

― *rumpie*, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 15:38 (eighteen years ago)

Ha ha, there is one on Streatham High Road! My mum went and ate in it. The manager actually came out and delivered her tray because they'd never seen anyone with a (vaguely) American accent before.

Man to surly Wimpy staff: Give me a hamburger and a kind word!
Surly Wimpy Staff: Don't eat the hamburger.

― Masonic Boom, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 15:39 (eighteen years ago)

I sort of like them, in a total filth kind of way.

― Matt DC, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 15:39 (eighteen years ago)

How can you tell you're in a MacDonalds?
You can't tell the burger from the bun.
How can you tell you're in a Wimpy?
You can't tell the burger from the paper wrapper.

― Masonic Boom, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 15:39 (eighteen years ago)

so this shit is the british equivalent of white castle, right?!?

http://www.winforkids.org/Events/White%20Castle%20logo.jpg

― Eisbaer, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 15:42 (eighteen years ago)

Wimpy burgers were fine, at least no worse than what you get at McD's, BK etc. - the Halfpounder was good.

My Dad used to take me and my brother to Wimpy sometimes. The strawberry sundae was 100% awesome.

― blueski, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 15:42 (eighteen years ago)

The one in Newcastle was borderline OK, a little better than McDonalds, which isn't saying much, I know. It closed down years ago.

― Pashmina, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 15:45 (eighteen years ago)

one in southgate, chase side i think

― Frogman Henry, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 15:47 (eighteen years ago)

When I was a young lad in 1980s Glasgow I remember there being a lot of Wimpys and McDonalds being something of a novelty. Then I remember a few years later there being loads of McDonalds and only a few Wimpys, and for some reason in Wimpy they served the burgers on plates(!) and gave you cutlery despite it being a fast food place and really a lot worse than even McDo's.

― jim, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 15:50 (eighteen years ago)

They used to do two things which were unique to Wimpys among burger chains:

- Lamb-burger
- "Cumberland ring" (I think this was its name)

Other great Wimpys fact: they launched a chicken chain to compete with KFC, called DOCTOR BEAK'S.

― Groke, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 15:52 (eighteen years ago)

Wimpy branches i've been too:

Ruislip
West Ealing
Eastcote
Chancery Lane
Holborn

don't think any of these exist anymore

― blueski, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 15:52 (eighteen years ago)

- "Cumberland ring" (I think this was its name)

BENDER IN A BUN

― blueski, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 15:52 (eighteen years ago)

I remember seeing a Doctor Beak's at some service station, and not knowing what on earth it was!

― Masonic Boom, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 15:53 (eighteen years ago)

Thankyou.

― Groke, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 15:53 (eighteen years ago)

I believe the official term for a "Cumberland ring" was actually the BIG BENDER. Oh how we laughed.

― Matt DC, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 15:53 (eighteen years ago)

argh xposts

― Matt DC, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 15:53 (eighteen years ago)

There's still one on Union St in Glasgow, there used to be loads of them but I think they mostly became Burger Kings. I really like their burger sauce but there's something just not right about the consistency of the meat. The standard of waitress service kind of kills any attempt at pretending to be fast food.

I once went to Wimpy with a stoned mate who was munchied enough to eat 2 half pounders with chips and still claimed to be hungry afterwards.

― onimo, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 15:53 (eighteen years ago)

There's still one on Union St in Glasgow
wtf? How have I not noticed this?

― jim, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 15:54 (eighteen years ago)

DOCTOR BEAK'S! BRILLIANT!

I went to Wimpy once and guess what? I had a BURGER!

― the next grozart, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 15:55 (eighteen years ago)

Anyway, for filth, I see your Wimpy and raise you one STARBURGER. Or worse, STAR EXPRESS BURGER.

― Matt DC, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 15:56 (eighteen years ago)

I seem to recall there was one opposite Broad St Mall in Reading, at least there was 6 years ago. It was always completely empty, I lived up Oxford Rd for a while and used to catch the bus from the stop opposite coming home from work.

― Colonel Poo, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 15:56 (eighteen years ago)

There's still a Wimpey in Lewisham High Street and I think another one in Greenwich. SE London be flying the Wimpy flag high.

― Matt DC, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 15:56 (eighteen years ago)

I miss their Spicy Beanburger.

Wimpy was alright, really. They used to have concessions that were basically like Hot Dog stands, we used to get post pub sustenance from one in Stafford on Saturday nights, it wuz great.

― Noodle Vague, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 15:57 (eighteen years ago)

'Brown Derby' was another dessert type. A doughnut with whipped ice cream on top, chopped nuts and chocolate sauce.

In addition to Wimpy's diner model there was also Wendy's and Starburger in the UK tho I never went in either of those as they just seemed worse somehow.

― blueski, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 15:57 (eighteen years ago)

"Doctor Beak's", good grief.

"Spicy Beanburger" wasn't too bad IIRC.

― Pashmina, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 15:58 (eighteen years ago)

There was one at my local bowling alley as recentely as last year.

I had a burger there last year as one of their "eat food and go bowling and drink beer for not much money" promotions. It was OK. I'm kind of saddened to see it go (the bowling alley, not the Wimpy).

Their website's a bit out of date, so I'm not sure if any of the restaurants mentioned on it still exist (it still claims to have one in Paisley, which it definitely doesn't - see above - so who knows. Or cares, probably xpost, oh, Onimo does, obviously). I used to like the one in Inverness, my aunt used to take me there after school sometimes if my mum was working, and it was better than McDonalds or Burger King.

― ailsa, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 15:58 (eighteen years ago)

there are a few in Ireland

― Ronan, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 15:58 (eighteen years ago)

Wimpy milkshakes are extremely good!

Wimpy Milkshake however are another kettle of "cumberland rings". (Am I making them up??? OH SO INDIE ARGH)

Matt OTM re STARBURGER HORROR. Has anyone else been to the "W Bar" in Harringerry?

xpost a plenty - this thread has clearly hit 1x nerve!

― Sarah, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 15:59 (eighteen years ago)

In addition to Wimpy's diner model there was also Wendy's and Starburger in the UK tho I never went in either of those as they just seemed worse somehow.

I've tried both*. Your assumptions were correct.

*both in SE London, funnily enough - the place is a hot bed of shite burger bars

― onimo, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 15:59 (eighteen years ago)

There was a random plan for a Wimpy FAP once.

― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 16:00 (eighteen years ago)

Wendy's was terrific :(

― Groke, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 16:00 (eighteen years ago)

There was a random plan for a Wimpy FAP once.

Mandee was fascinated by them iirc.

― blueski, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 16:01 (eighteen years ago)

they do egg and chips with a cup of tea, makes me feel strangely patriotic.

what about the happy eater and little chef are they the same thing?

― acrobat, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 16:01 (eighteen years ago)

Wimpy also has lots of 60s nostalgia vibes, they should definitely re-launch as retro dining excitement - cf Eleanor Bron in Bedazzled.

Fuck a fast food hater, basically.

― Noodle Vague, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 16:01 (eighteen years ago)

this wendy's?

http://imagescs.careersite.com/imageservlet/getimage?docId=9E215-EC2A&fileName=wendyscolor.jpg

I'm not a huge fan of their burger's but their other stuff's good.

I like the name of Wimpy's.

― Ms Misery, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 16:03 (eighteen years ago)

can't think of the one on union st. the last one I can think of was on...ingram st? just down from the gallery of modern art. between an o'brien's and a cruise

wimpy is a good name doctor beak's which I've never heard of before is an even better name

the served-on-a-plate thing, yeah. don't ever remember ever eating in a wimpy's though

― RJG, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 16:03 (eighteen years ago)

I am going to have to walk up Union Street tonight to make sure it's still there.

― onimo, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 16:04 (eighteen years ago)

xxpost

wow, that post is apostrophe crazy. I hate people who use apostrophes incorrectly.

― Ms Misery, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 16:04 (eighteen years ago)

Little Thief are the exception to my fast food fandom. Evil beyond belief.

― Noodle Vague, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 16:05 (eighteen years ago)

Fuck a fast food hater, basically.

oh, i don't hate fast food. i just didn't like wimpy's burgers when i ate one ages ago. didn't quite get why they were necessary w/ mcdonalds and burger kings being franchised all over the place in the U.K., anyway.

― Eisbaer, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 16:06 (eighteen years ago)

Sorry dude, that wasn't aimed at you.

― Noodle Vague, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 16:07 (eighteen years ago)

I think Wimpy was around in the UK well before MacDo and BK, is why they were necessary.

― Noodle Vague, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 16:09 (eighteen years ago)

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a6/HappyEater.jpg

― admrl, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 16:09 (eighteen years ago)

Wimpy isn't really a fast food place as such any more. It's waitress/waiter service and cook on demand.

― onimo, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 16:09 (eighteen years ago)

Wimpys predate their expansion Eisbaer, so it's been a decline ever since. When I was growing up in the 70s Wimpys were probably the #1 brand, McDonalds the glamorous challenger. BK not even on my radar until a while later.

Doctor Beak's had a very limited run.

― Groke, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 16:10 (eighteen years ago)

RJG, it was up near where Underworld is. I'm almost convinced it is now Subway, but I await Onimo's reporting back with bated breath.

― ailsa, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 16:10 (eighteen years ago)

Yeah Eisbaer, you should be supporting your homegrown businesses and shit!

― Ms Misery, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 16:11 (eighteen years ago)

There's a Subway around there and I can't picture in my head whether they're the same place or not. I think Wimpy is next door to Jessops, maybe.

― onimo, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 16:11 (eighteen years ago)

Wendys was great. There's a wimpy on the high st at West Norwood. Haven't been in one for years though.

― Vicky, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 16:12 (eighteen years ago)

When I was a child, going to Wimpys was a cultural novelty, it was the first fast food place I'd ever been to. It really stuck in ~~the craw~~ the mind.

I can remember the first time I ever went to MacDonalds - this was on the first visit to the States. When was the first MacDonalds opened in the UK? Because I can remember it being a big deal. But I'm not sure if it was the First One, or just the first one in our area.

― Masonic Boom, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 16:12 (eighteen years ago)

Doctor Beak's had a very limited run.

a TV ad campaign featuring the Miami Sound Machine would've helped.

― blueski, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 16:12 (eighteen years ago)

1973 - McDonald's Golden Arches Restaurants Limited founded in UK as a joint venture partnership between the McDonald's Corporation and two businessmen; one British, one American.

I *do* remember it, then!

― Masonic Boom, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 16:14 (eighteen years ago)

When was the first MacDonalds opened in the UK?

It was in Woolwich (SE London again!) in 1973 or thereabouts iirc. There's a plaque on the wall outside it as I think it was also the 1000th or 10000th McD's in the world or something.

― onimo, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 16:14 (eighteen years ago)

xpost

― onimo, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 16:14 (eighteen years ago)

Oh wait, the shop wasn't opened until 1974, though. Woolwich, apparently. 3000th.

― Masonic Boom, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 16:15 (eighteen years ago)

1974!! (First McDs in Britain)

It's weird when you realise that these absolutely monolithic inescapable brands arrived in your lifetime.

― Groke, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 16:15 (eighteen years ago)

there was a lovely romantic and charming article in a late 90's SELECT mag by steve lowe all about WIMPY bars. i must dig that out. i couldn't believe it when he wrote those 'isn't everything shit...' books. they were the total opposite of this particular piece.

― pisces, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 16:16 (eighteen years ago)

We had a Wimpy's in Edgware. I think it was replaced by a KFC. And the supermarket was replaced by a Blockbuster's. And the Loppylug's video outlet was replaced by a Haagen Dazs concern. And the betting shop closed down. Thus even Edgware is not immune to creeping globalisation. Even Poundstretcher is gone.

=''(

― admrl, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 16:16 (eighteen years ago)

...which is strange because I can remember going into the centre of town (London) to go to McDonalds, and it was strange and exciting. By that point, Wimpys must have been a bit old hat.

Now I remember - first trip to the US (1977) was when McD's breakfast was launched. It was truly revolting.

― Masonic Boom, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 16:16 (eighteen years ago)

Oh where was I? I had one...

Oh yeah, Teddington.

― Mark G, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 16:17 (eighteen years ago)

think the subway on union st (there is one on almost every other st, these days) is next to the jessops and has been for a while. I do remember a wimpy on union st, though... but think there was a burger king, too, because I remember there was one inside central station and one outside and the prices were different. maybe the wimpy turned into a burger king and closed down. when the burger king on sauchiehall st (near the CCA and eh ABC ish) closed down and they took the signs down there was a kind of scorched impression of an earlier wimpy sign!

― RJG, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 16:17 (eighteen years ago)

In 1989, the Burger King brand acquired many locations of its major UK rival Wimpy when its parent company bought the brand from its previous owner United Biscuits and re-branded them as "Burger King", giving it an even greater presence in that country. While other "Wimpy" locations are still trading today (now independent from BK) they no longer have the presence they once did (the market is now dominated by Burger King and the larger McDonald's).

― Groke, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 16:18 (eighteen years ago)

Burker King on Union St is opposite the station. The Wimpy that I'm almost sure is still there is on the same side as Subway/Jessops and possibly in the same place as the former.

― onimo, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 16:20 (eighteen years ago)

No mention of Mr Wimpy yet? Surely the creepiest creation ever to turn up at a children's party?

― Matt DC, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 16:23 (eighteen years ago)

I can't remember if there was actually a Wimpys in Cheshunt or if we had to go down to Waltham Cross for it. Though for REALLY exciting shopping expeditions, we went to the one in Wood Green.

― Masonic Boom, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 16:24 (eighteen years ago)

I am off to find a Wimpy Bar!

― onimo, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 16:24 (eighteen years ago)

Didn't they rebrand a few years ago? Please, let's keep our native culture alive.

― admrl, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 16:25 (eighteen years ago)

yeah, mr. wimpy was a bit crap. unlike j. wellington wimpy (I looked it up)

― RJG, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 16:25 (eighteen years ago)

The last time I had a Wimpy was in Brighton, I think, the day of the S1n1st3r picnic when I bad-manneredly gatecrashed bedspace at Archel's and Ben bought a hat (for the possibly 3 ilxors who'll know what I'm talking about). I had a bender and it came on a china plate, anyway.

― Madchen, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 16:25 (eighteen years ago)

from j. wellington wimpy's wikipedia page:

The Serbian name for this character is Pera Ždera. There are quite a few grill meat restaurants named after him there.

― RJG, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 16:26 (eighteen years ago)

http://www.wimpyburgers.co.uk/holding.jpg

― admrl, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 16:26 (eighteen years ago)

I was just trying to look at that website. But...

[url][Removed Illegal Link]

apparently the Seth Efrikans are coming!

― Masonic Boom, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 16:27 (eighteen years ago)

bah

http://news.independent.co.uk/business/news/article2311387.ece

― Masonic Boom, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 16:27 (eighteen years ago)

No mention of Mr Wimpy yet? Surely the creepiest creation ever to turn up at a children's party?

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/40122000/jpg/_40122284_blair_nursery203.jpg

http://www.nff.org.uk/chancellor/chancellor_nff6.jpg

― Tom D., Tuesday, 1 May 2007 16:28 (eighteen years ago)

no way is Mr Wimpy creepier than Ronald Macdonald.

― blueski, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 16:30 (eighteen years ago)

is this mr. wimpy?

http://www.mobygames.com/images/covers/large/1113917736-00.jpg

― Eisbaer, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 16:32 (eighteen years ago)

clowns or clown-like people at children's partys...no problem

cartoon beefeaters...um

― RJG, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 16:33 (eighteen years ago)

http://www.describe-online.com/glasgow/unionstreet.htm

According to this, Wimpy is there, next door to Subway. I hope Gerry enjoys his walk. Though they also seem to think that Fopp is called "Gary Jules", so I'm not sure they are to be trusted.

― ailsa, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 16:33 (eighteen years ago)

"doorway not known" sounds mysterious.

― Masonic Boom, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 16:34 (eighteen years ago)

http://www.ben-eden.com/images/wimpy_game.jpg

― Eisbaer, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 16:34 (eighteen years ago)

if that IS mr. wimpy, he looks pretty cool -- more like a sports team mascot than a burger joint mascot.

― Eisbaer, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 16:35 (eighteen years ago)

clowns or clown-like people at children's partys...no problem

oh really

― blueski, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 16:35 (eighteen years ago)

not that you'd have either of them turn up to a children's party not taking place within the restuarant anyway surely?

― blueski, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 16:36 (eighteen years ago)

WAIT...there was a Wimpy game?

― admrl, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 16:37 (eighteen years ago)

Onimo has just texted me to tell me that the Wimpy in Union Street in Glasgow is no more :-/

― ailsa, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 16:41 (eighteen years ago)

Wimpy Milkshake however are another kettle of "cumberland rings". (Am I making them up??? OH SO INDIE ARGH)

Milky Wimpshake! My indiest pals liked 'em so I pretended to too but I had never heard a note of theirs until I decided to steal some from the internet, at which point I said "eh" and forgot about them again.

I really liked Swindon Wimpy as a nipper. That is the kind of classy individual you are dealing with here. Anyway, I liked the food better than McDonald's and the Burger King it turned into, and you didn't feel so pressurised to rush and leave, maybe because it wasn't usually as busy.

― a passing spacecadet, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 16:42 (eighteen years ago)

ALAS

― RJG, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 16:49 (eighteen years ago)

There was one in Glasgow that made really, really great burgers. It's an O'Brien's now.

― stet, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 16:51 (eighteen years ago)

The West Ealing Wimpy is still open for business!!!

― jel --, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 17:08 (eighteen years ago)

finally some good news!

i doubt i'll ever go back tho :/

― blueski, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 17:09 (eighteen years ago)

http://scoop.diamondgalleries.com/news_images/1603_4136_2.jpg

― Tracer Hand, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 17:12 (eighteen years ago)

I wish life was like that cartoon

― admrl, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 17:13 (eighteen years ago)

good morning adam!

― blueski, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 17:14 (eighteen years ago)

I think someone had taken the Y of the Wimpy swingy thing that they have out on the street last time I went past.

Southern Fried Chicken always seems more popular.

― jel --, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 17:14 (eighteen years ago)

good morning you fine little fellow

xp

― admrl, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 17:15 (eighteen years ago)

you fine little fellow

crossposts

― RJG, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 17:15 (eighteen years ago)

WIMPY FAP, WIMPY FAP, WIMPY FAP!!
we never had it. :(

― homosexual II, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 18:09 (eighteen years ago)

But you can't buy pints in Wimpys anyway.

― braveclub, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 18:11 (eighteen years ago)

but... burgers!

― homosexual II, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 18:16 (eighteen years ago)

There's one in Nottingham still. In the Broadmarsh shopping centre.

Milky Wimpshake! etc
I'll thank thee to not diss my ex-boyfriend's band on a thread about exquisite burgers. Mm.

― emil.y, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 18:20 (eighteen years ago)

we have these guys in ontario:
http://www.mywimpysdiner.com/banerfoter/headerleft.jpg

when all you had, burger-wise, to choose from in your crappy town was McDicks, Burger King and Harveys... Wimpy's - not so bad!

― The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 18:51 (eighteen years ago)

WIMPY FAB

― braveclub, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 19:04 (eighteen years ago)

best burger in London, where's it at?

― blueski, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 19:17 (eighteen years ago)

there's a wimpy at Norton Caines services on the M6 toll road

(hello football displacement activities)

― Porkpie, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 19:39 (eighteen years ago)

The bun was fucking BROWN BREAD last time I had a wimpy (possiblt the same time Madchen had her Bender), wtf. Way to spoil a burger, Wimpy.

― Mark C, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 20:23 (eighteen years ago)

best burger in London, where's it at?

Ed's Diner, duh.

― Dom Passantino, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 20:25 (eighteen years ago)

not had one there. would go with Bodeans provisionally but maybe they're not really thick enough.

― blueski, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 20:39 (eighteen years ago)

hi does anyone else want to diss wendy's? because if so i will slap you in the face

― deeznuts, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 20:40 (eighteen years ago)

I don't think brown bread spoils a burger at all. For some reason it makes wholegrain mustard more acceptable in a burger also.

― blueski, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 20:40 (eighteen years ago)

I went to a Wimpy's in the UK! I wish I could remember where. In either Birmingham or Stafford, I am thinking. I dont recall it being all that, I just wanted to go cause I loved the name :D

― Trayce, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 04:13 (eighteen years ago)

What in the world is "Doctor Beak"?

― Oilyrags, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 04:23 (eighteen years ago)

All a google search yields is some 17th C. engraving, and that CAN'T be right.

― Oilyrags, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 04:24 (eighteen years ago)

There is a Wimpy in Kirkcaldy. We went there a couple of months ago to try it out and it was probably the most disgusting eating experience I have ever had. Not even close to the standard of McD or BK.

It's a shame as I seem to remember it being okay back in the 70's/80's before McD's became ubiquitous.

― cheasyweasel, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 08:35 (eighteen years ago)

YES a burger thread! YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Sadly the Wimpy in my town has closed and been replaced by an Indian restaurant. But the good news is they kept the shape of the old sign and put their sign on it! Result.

― klankton, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 08:48 (eighteen years ago)

why aren't curried burgers more prevalent?

― blueski, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 09:48 (eighteen years ago)

Because they are not very nice?

― braveclub, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 09:53 (eighteen years ago)

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a6/HappyEater.jpg

What is he doing to himself?

― the next grozart, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 09:57 (eighteen years ago)

There is a Wimpy in West Beirut! At least there was in 2002.

― rener, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 10:17 (eighteen years ago)

Because they are not very nice?

why wouldn't it be nice?

― blueski, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 10:26 (eighteen years ago)

I'm sure I've had a 'curry burger' somewhere and I remember thinking 'uggh' as I was eating it. Perhaps it was just a bad version of something that could be awesome though.

― braveclub, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 10:28 (eighteen years ago)

yeah there are many many bad versions of awesome foods.

― blueski, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 10:30 (eighteen years ago)

See also: 'currywurst'

― braveclub, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 10:31 (eighteen years ago)

Best burger in London - Gourmet Burger King

― Marcello Carlin, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 10:40 (eighteen years ago)

Correction - Gourmet Burger KITCHEN (I've only ever been to a Burger King once - the one which replaced Wimpy at Piccadilly Circus - and it made me sick).

― Marcello Carlin, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 10:42 (eighteen years ago)

I really enjoyed a burger I had at Hamburger Union, right until the moment I got home and was COPIOUSLY SICK. (I think the sickness might have been worth it though!)

Biggest liars ever = "Ultimate Burger".

― Sarah, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 10:45 (eighteen years ago)

Ultimate Burger Co. should be Ultimate Milkshake Co.

― blueski, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 10:45 (eighteen years ago)

I haven't been tempted into either of those multi-branch establishments.

Still, you have to admit that in South London terms Wimpy's could never hope to compete with the unstoppable juggernaut that is Morley's.

― Marcello Carlin, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 10:46 (eighteen years ago)

Best milkshakes = that American Eagle Diner or whatever it's called in Fitzrovia.

― Masonic Boom, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 10:46 (eighteen years ago)

best burger i've had in recent times - the one i ate last week at home using Waitrose Aberdeen Angus quarter pounder, some manchego-esque paprika-ey cheese, red onion and tomato ketchup. things have gone uphill ever since (because downhill is good really, think about it).

― blueski, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 10:49 (eighteen years ago)

M&S did a do-your-own-burger thing last year (Gastrogrill!) which I liked a lot and naturally they immediately stopped making it.

― Marcello Carlin, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 10:50 (eighteen years ago)

The prefix 'gastro-' always makes me think of flu and stomach bugs.

― braveclub, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 11:02 (eighteen years ago)

I had the best ever burger from the Anchor and Hope gastro pub in Southwark. It came with a chunk of bone which one could scrape the marrow out of to spread on toast.

― ledge, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 11:04 (eighteen years ago)

you had toast with your burger?

― blueski, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 11:04 (eighteen years ago)

Yeah. And a grilled potato cake thing. And no bun. Ok it wasn't exactly a conventional burger.

― ledge, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 11:06 (eighteen years ago)

i used to eat lunch regularly in the starburger near battersea park when i worked at westminster college. they are really just greasy spoon cafes with corporate menus, and not bad if you have a guilty love of kebab shop burgers and chips, which i did at the time. very greasy though (perhaps i needn't have ordered the bacon cheese burger...)

there was a wimpy in morden for ages, tho i hear its not there anymore. wimpy burgers really tasted like boiled beef, iirc, and weren't their buns brown? i remember eating motorway service station wimpy returning from a festival a couple of years back, and it was dreck.

i like those hamburger unions/kitchens... they are springing up *everywhere, and they're replaced the pizza hut off leicester square, for egs... they seem more an offshoot of the nando pehnom than any pre-existing burger chains, tho.

― stevie, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 12:00 (eighteen years ago)

Morley's is nightmarish.

― Michael Philip Philip Philip philip Annoyman, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 12:01 (eighteen years ago)

marcello, making your own burgers is very very easy! mince + ketchup to bind, refridge for ten minutes and yr ready to go. stick a lump of mozzarella in there for a nice surprise, season to taste (jerk seasoning is great mixed in to a buger, for some reason)

― stevie, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 12:04 (eighteen years ago)

Nando's is a step beyond. King of foods.

― Dom Passantino, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 12:04 (eighteen years ago)

they feel utterly soulless and dead inside, though. it's like going to masala zone for a hamburger. i agree with steve about home-made burgers. they are better 99% of the time, even if you don't have a grill.

haha stevie i have never even considered adding ketchup directly to the ground beef. i usually add a little parsley, some salt and pepper, and occasionally some chopped up spinach. there's a place in new york that adds chopped up beets to their burger meat and it's totally delicious but i've never tried it myself. i almost always like to put a few drops of worcestershire on them as they cook.

― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 12:06 (eighteen years ago)

woops, i wasn't talking about nando's - i mant those burger union places. nando's usually has personality to spare.

― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 12:07 (eighteen years ago)

Mandee, come to West Norwood Wimpy ASAP.

I used to love their extra-thick banana milkshake.

This thread has made me desire BURGER. I think I'll go to Red Veg on Dean Street in a minute.

it's like going to masala zone for a hamburger

Ha - xpost. This was my second choice, actually (the veggie burger). Over a fiver though and they take about 20min to prepare it.

― Michael Jones, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 12:10 (eighteen years ago)

haha stevie i have never even considered adding ketchup directly to the ground beef.

it works to bind it all together, cos i often don't have any eggs in the house, but ALWAYS have ketchup.

― stevie, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 12:12 (eighteen years ago)

I like Jamie Oliver's burger recipe: "breadcrumbs yeah? celery yeah? retrosalad yeah?"

― Marcello Carlin, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 12:27 (eighteen years ago)

i have never had a problem with my meats binding up.

― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 12:29 (eighteen years ago)

Over a fiver though

Where isn't? (BK and McD and yr local pizzachickenfish excepted).

― ledge, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 12:30 (eighteen years ago)

Wendy's didn't last long did they? And as for the American Burger Company if anyone's brave enough to remember that far back - their lime milkshakes tasted like mucus.

― Marcello Carlin, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 12:32 (eighteen years ago)

Who on earth would order a lime milkshake?

― Dom Passantino, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 12:33 (eighteen years ago)

We did, once, as an experiment, way back in the days when Pat and Mick had hits.

― Marcello Carlin, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 12:37 (eighteen years ago)

There is a posh burger place on Putney Bridge Road just before you get to the High Street, Stevie, which is New Zealandish and very good indeed - and far from soulless. Very much a recommendation.

― Mark C, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 12:38 (eighteen years ago)

hmmm... i have mates living round there, we must search it out!

― stevie, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 12:46 (eighteen years ago)

Sounds like the Putney branch of Gourmet Burger Kitchen, as recommended by me earlier.

― Marcello Carlin, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 12:52 (eighteen years ago)

OK, tell me about Nando's in London pls (I can't tell if the comments above are ironic). My sister reckons they're great, but her taste isn't always to be trusted.

All the Nando'ses I've seen in Glasgow are in the car parks next to shopping malls, multiplex cinemas or bowling alleys a la Frankie & Benny's and are 100% without soul (I've only eaten in the one at Glasgow Fort, though).

― Madchen, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 13:07 (eighteen years ago)

Who on earth would order a lime milkshake?

Most of the characters in Neighbours seem to love them.

― braveclub, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 13:07 (eighteen years ago)

Nando's just seem sort of cheerfully seedy to me in a way that Hamburger Union et al are not.

― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 13:08 (eighteen years ago)

i've never been in a Nando's, it's just never appealed - assume it's crap for some reason. ditto Masala Zone.

― blueski, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 13:10 (eighteen years ago)

We went to Nando's in Fulham Road once.

The food was cold.

I haven't returned.

― Marcello Carlin, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 13:10 (eighteen years ago)

Nando's is beloved of primary school children, which I have always taken to be indicative of its place on the lower rungs of gastronomic pleasure.

― ledge, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 13:13 (eighteen years ago)

The food was OK, to be fair. It's just that the place was parked next to a giant ASDA Home store.

― Madchen, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 13:14 (eighteen years ago)

Heh, and a girl at the next table's two sides were rice and chips (=2 veg in Glasgow).

― Madchen, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 13:14 (eighteen years ago)

I just read this thread, hoping against hope that the Union St. Wimpy's still existed, even though I was about 95% sure it didn't anymore. I think the last one left in town was the Ingram (? Modern Art Museum, whatever) and was sad to see it go. I loved going to Wimpy's, and occasionally stopped in for a burger. For some reason I preferred it to all other fast food chains, and never went to a McDonald's or a Burger King.

The other night I was drunk and had a burger in McDonald's for the first time in a very long while, and it was AMAZING. My American desire for disgusting fast food is hard to supress.

― Gukbe, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 13:53 (eighteen years ago)

Nando's is sort of the Pizza Hut of chicken restaurants - I've never been because I assume it's shit.

― Matt DC, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 13:54 (eighteen years ago)

That's KFC Matt.

― braveclub, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 13:55 (eighteen years ago)

Can't do normal American burgerfood any more, it all sinks to the bottom of my stomach like an giant ROCK.

― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 13:55 (eighteen years ago)

(I am talkin about the fastfood chains I mean)

― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 13:58 (eighteen years ago)

even though I probably only went to it about three times in three years (OMG so hungover howdowecureit? BUCKET O'CHICKEN!), I miss the KFC on Byres Rd. I guess the street is too posh for it now. I don't have any fast food chains within reasonable walking distance!

― Gukbe, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 14:00 (eighteen years ago)

if i eat mcdonalds/burger king now - usually when i haven't eaten in 12 hours and am about to pass out - i guarantee i will have apocalyptic shits within 2 hours. i lived off that crap when i was younger - what has happened to me?

― stevie, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 14:02 (eighteen years ago)

there was some commentary on nando's on a similar thread the other day. i haven't heard a single bad thing about it -- such is the company i keep.

― That one guy that quit, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 14:02 (eighteen years ago)

As Ben Elton used to say when he was funny, you might as well flush the Big Mac straight down the toilet and cut out the middleman.

― Marcello Carlin, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 14:04 (eighteen years ago)

I've been to Nandos twice - nothing special at all, atmos is like TGI Friday or something - like with ice cream machines and balloons for the nippers etc (perhaps Matt's Pizza Hut thing is more OTM)! And the chicken was fairly dry and bland, not that cheap either. It's not TERRIBLE but definitely lower-average. For people who can't face up to the percieved shame of KFC/Morleys/Amir's/Dollar etc.

― Sarah, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 14:06 (eighteen years ago)

Best thing about Nando's: hot sauce!

― braveclub, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 14:07 (eighteen years ago)

I really like Nando's. Since I gave up eating sad chicken Nando's is the thing I've really missed. (OK, drunken KFC comfort eating too, which I have actually succumbed to, but I felt very bad about it.)

What I particularly miss is their chicken livers in a roll with hot sauce.

xpost Sarah you are insufficiently bourgeois :( I agree their actual chicken qua chicken isn't all that tho.

― Groke, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 14:07 (eighteen years ago)

The Nandos in Brum isn't too bad at all. And, yes, the kids loved it. The only other thing I know about them is that they say all their chicken is halal.

― Ned Trifle II, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 14:11 (eighteen years ago)

Oh wait - this just coming in...[Removed Illegal Link]

― Ned Trifle II, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 14:14 (eighteen years ago)

Well, it was to a link that said 'most of their branches are halal'.

― Ned Trifle II, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 14:15 (eighteen years ago)

hey, there is still a wimpey in borehamwood! i saw it on sunday, we nearly went in.

i think wimpeys tend to be a [ahem] secondary market establishment, like peacocks and bon marche and littlewoods...

― CarsmileSteve, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 16:07 (eighteen years ago)

also, in gloucestershire there were Burger Stars (not star burgers) that did a cracking veggie burger and (USP at the time) had unlimited mayo/ketchup/burger sauce/garlic mayo on the counter in big tubs with squirty things on.

― CarsmileSteve, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 16:09 (eighteen years ago)

Yeah, I thought Nando's major selling point was the Piri Piri and their invitations to see if you're hard enough to have the ultra-hot variety. I am that hard, btw. (But not man enough to actually eat chicken).

Masala Zone is pretty good, I think.

My sub-£5 burger today - a ChiliVeg from RedVeg. £3.25, I think. That seems outrageously expensive now I've typed it out. Back to the £1.80 sushi tomorrow.

― Michael Jones, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 16:25 (eighteen years ago)

I love the ChiliVeg!

― braveclub, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 16:33 (eighteen years ago)

KFC is too downmarket to even be Pizza Hut. Also Nando's isn't quite poncey enough to be analogous to Pizza Express.

― Matt DC, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 16:34 (eighteen years ago)

And we have yet to discuss the not-entirely-unrelated horror that is the Wetherspoons beer + burger combo.

― Matt DC, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 16:35 (eighteen years ago)

lol wetherspoons curry club lol

― Dom Passantino, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 16:36 (eighteen years ago)

horror that is the Wetherspoons beer + burger combo

pre-match staple, that is! You can't beat a bit of overcooked lamb and a wabbit salad.

― onimo, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 16:37 (eighteen years ago)

I have never dared to even attempt a Wetherspoons Curry Club curry. Are they as bad as I suspect?

― Matt DC, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 16:39 (eighteen years ago)

wetherspoons food isn't actively bad, it's just not particularly good.

― blueski, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 16:40 (eighteen years ago)

we need more argentinian steak houses like they have in amsterdam

― blueski, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 16:41 (eighteen years ago)

what kind of expectations could you have really, for wetherspoons food.

― That one guy that quit, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 16:43 (eighteen years ago)

It's just the idea of going to Wetherspoons to get a curry, on a specifically designated day. Because, y'know, inner city curry houses are such expensive beasts. Maybe you like a go on a fruitie before your korma?

― Dom Passantino, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 16:44 (eighteen years ago)

Last time I was in Glasgow (1999), I noticed that the Wimpy Bar on Sauchiehall Street was completely empty. On a Saturday afternoon. When all the other nearby eateries were full. I decided to trust the locals and go elsewhere for lunch.

― mike a, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 16:46 (eighteen years ago)

And we have yet to discuss the not-entirely-unrelated horror that is the Wetherspoons beer + burger combo.

they are like beermats soaked in beef fat and then burned in a deep fat fryer, and sprinkled with the absolute opposite of antacid.

― stevie, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 16:46 (eighteen years ago)

am i imagining this, or did Wendy in the late 1980s have SQUARE BURGERS?

― CharlieNo4, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 16:48 (eighteen years ago)

i had one four years ago and it was supermarket quality (because it came from the supermarket duh). (xp)

― blueski, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 16:49 (eighteen years ago)

You are not imagining that.
xpost

― onimo, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 16:49 (eighteen years ago)

our local whetherspoons has all the charm of a run down hotel foyer in the 1980s

― stevie, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 16:50 (eighteen years ago)

More of a Yates man, stevie?

― Dom Passantino, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 16:50 (eighteen years ago)

wendy's still has square burgers. it's their thing.

― lauren, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 16:53 (eighteen years ago)

yo durrr

wendy's burgers are also the best thing this side of steak & shake you crazy fuckers

― deeznuts, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 16:55 (eighteen years ago)

who here has most recently been to a Harvester?

only 5 years ago for me!

― blueski, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 16:57 (eighteen years ago)

did we even have wendy's in the UK?

― That one guy that quit, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 16:57 (eighteen years ago)

I haven't been to a Harvester (Hendon) in close to 10 years. I could quite fancy one now though!

― admrl, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 16:58 (eighteen years ago)

We did have Wendy's - there was one in the West End somewhere. But it wasn't like US Wendy's, it had table service, etc.

― admrl, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 16:59 (eighteen years ago)

I went to an away day last year at a Harvester.

― jel --, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 16:59 (eighteen years ago)

I'm sure there was a Wendy's in Acton High Street circa 1980.

― jel --, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 16:59 (eighteen years ago)

i think i went to a harvester in bristol, like almost ten years ago. first and only time.

― That one guy that quit, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 16:59 (eighteen years ago)

Oh actually, there still is a Wendy's in Acton!

― jel --, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 17:00 (eighteen years ago)

West London is proper.

― jel --, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 17:01 (eighteen years ago)

i def had a wendy's on oxford st around the time crocodile dundee II came out in the cinema - i remember that particular school trip very well...

― CharlieNo4, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 17:01 (eighteen years ago)

who here has most recently been to a Harvester

Wolverhampton, 1999. I like their honey mustard sauce, but not anything else really.

― Anna, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 17:05 (eighteen years ago)

Also there is a Wimpy in Greenwich and my boyfriend is one of the maladjusted souls who likes lime milkshakes.

― Anna, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 17:06 (eighteen years ago)

that Greenwich milkshake place is great tho.

― blueski, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 17:17 (eighteen years ago)

yates in wimbledon is a wretched hive of scum and villainy, dom. i haven't dared enter.

― stevie, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 18:13 (eighteen years ago)

I don't think I've ever been in a Harvester. I take it I'm not missing much.

Wetherspoons beer + burger combo

pre-match staple, that is!

I'm with Onimo on the beer'n'burger Wetherspoons thing. Actually I'm usually with Onimo *for* the beer'n'burger Wetherspoons thing. Cheapo food, in a pub, with two such establishments within five minutes of work/ transport to football. What's not to, um, tolerate.

Their curries are OK, actually, but, yeah, it seems a bit silly to not just go for a proper curry, except for the beer being cheaper and it means you don't have to leave the pub then go back to it. But that's not often a problem on any given Thursday. So, basically, they are excellent for UEFA cup pre-match meet-ups (i.e. I don't do this one so much any more)

― ailsa, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 18:32 (eighteen years ago)

There was a Wendy's in Croydon, about fifteen years ago.

I've not been to a Wimpy since I was about 5 - our local one was in the shopping centre, next door to Woolies. I am told there is still one in Bootle.

― Forest Pines, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 18:49 (eighteen years ago)

i wish Doughmasters were all over the country.

― blueski, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 18:56 (eighteen years ago)

A Wendy's opened in Leeds as well. I liked the food there a lot, but apparently few people agreed with me cos it closed after about three months or something.

― braveclub, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 18:56 (eighteen years ago)

I've never been to a Harvester before.

Has anyone here been to an Aberdeen/Angus steak house? Somehow this seems the unlikeliest of all the propositions so far.

― ledge, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 21:52 (eighteen years ago)

there's a wimpy's in twickenham

― negotiable, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 21:56 (eighteen years ago)

This thread is reminding me of how depressingly terrible 90% of the food I ate in england was. :(

― Trayce, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 22:06 (eighteen years ago)

OMG, there's a Harvester just opened round here - we drove past it tonight! I honestly don't think I've ever seen one before, let alone been in one, we pop round the corner, and our local Brewers Fayre has been rebranded as a Harvester!

― ailsa, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 22:51 (eighteen years ago)

I last went to a Harvester in October 2006 and I will be going again this month. Yes, that's right - the in-laws are back in town. (We have about 20 eateries in Crystal Palace but the folks, bless 'em, refer to the Harvester on Beulah Hill as "the restaurant").

The cod and chips is fine. I wouldn't stray too far from that, though.

― Michael Jones, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 23:14 (eighteen years ago)

Wetherspoon's curries are just like any other microwave curry both in terms of taste and convenience.

The last Beefeater I went to was the Leefe Robinson on Uxbridge Road, Harrow with my 93-year-old grandfather and 91-year-old grandmother. They both like it there.

― Madchen, Thursday, 3 May 2007 10:59 (eighteen years ago)

Wetherspoon's curries are just like any other microwave curry both in terms of taste and convenience.

And texture - eww soggy poppadoms

― braveclub, Thursday, 3 May 2007 11:01 (eighteen years ago)

*Microwaved* poppadoms.

― Madchen, Thursday, 3 May 2007 11:01 (eighteen years ago)

Can anyone enlighten me on the point of Beard Papa? Are there any others except for the Oxford Street one? All they sell is cream buns and have anime style sea-captain decoration. I don't get it. At all.

― Anna, Thursday, 3 May 2007 11:28 (eighteen years ago)

the point of their menu or the theme or the name? I have never heard of the place but "papa's beard" ("le barbe de papa") is what they call candy floss in france? maybe they only eat cream buns and decorate in anime sea-captain style in france, too

― RJG, Thursday, 3 May 2007 11:32 (eighteen years ago)

it's a french restaurant

― RJG, Thursday, 3 May 2007 11:32 (eighteen years ago)

Wetherspoons are in the midst of their real ale fortnight at the moment - all £1.99/pint. Sounds quite tempting. I never, ever go in the Postal Order in SE19 but perhaps this weekend (with the arrival of another ILXor [plus one] in the area) I will make an exception if there's a chance I can have four different halves for under four quid. We could work our way through the whole bloody lot.

(Pam, if you're reading this - I'm only kidding. I will not be taking the Mutsy buggy into a public house).

― Michael Jones, Thursday, 3 May 2007 11:52 (eighteen years ago)

beard papa is a japanese chain. their cream puffs are obscenely good.

― lauren, Thursday, 3 May 2007 14:20 (eighteen years ago)

still, a shop on oxford street that sells nothing but cream puffs! i give it six months.

― braveclub, Thursday, 3 May 2007 14:24 (eighteen years ago)

that Greenwich milkshake place is great tho.

OTM

― Michael Philip Philip Philip philip Annoyman, Thursday, 3 May 2007 14:25 (eighteen years ago)

no, he'll be leaving the buggy outside, obv.

― CarsmileSteve, Thursday, 3 May 2007 14:25 (eighteen years ago)

http://www.abumazin.net/pics/TV/barba-theatre.gif

Barba Papa?

― CarsmileSteve, Thursday, 3 May 2007 14:27 (eighteen years ago)

not just cream puffs. they sell other baked goods, mochi and mochi ice cream, and smoothies/bubble tea kind of drinks.

― lauren, Thursday, 3 May 2007 14:29 (eighteen years ago)

Whatever happened to Spud-u-Like? Are there still Spud-u-Likes hiding in far flung corners of the UK? Have they been taken over by Fat Jackets?

I went out with a girl who took me to spud-u-like for lunch once.

― onimo, Thursday, 3 May 2007 14:35 (eighteen years ago)

There are a few Spud-U-Likes around, still:

http://www.spudulike.co.uk/store/index.htm

― braveclub, Thursday, 3 May 2007 14:39 (eighteen years ago)

I immediately think of Victoria Wood wondering whether the correct pronounciation might be "spud-yul-e-kay".

"Fat Jackets"! I think they're making a bid to buy out Boober Tuber.

― Michael Jones, Thursday, 3 May 2007 14:44 (eighteen years ago)

was that not waynetta slob pronouncing it spud-oo-lick-ay when she named her baby?

of course enfield could have nicked it from wood...

― CarsmileSteve, Thursday, 3 May 2007 14:46 (eighteen years ago)

Which Greenwich milkshake place? I feel a Bank Holiday outing coming on...

― Matt DC, Thursday, 3 May 2007 14:47 (eighteen years ago)

Enfield nicked everything from Wood (Green).

That's a much better phonetic representation than mine. Whatever happened to Starchy Archie's?

― Michael Jones, Thursday, 3 May 2007 14:49 (eighteen years ago)

"THINGS ARE CHANGING - BACK SOON!

― braveclub, Thursday, 3 May 2007 14:50 (eighteen years ago)

as a brand name is Wimpy no good in this modern age?

they should come back as HULKY.

― blueski, Thursday, 3 May 2007 14:53 (eighteen years ago)

GUTSY

― blueski, Thursday, 3 May 2007 14:54 (eighteen years ago)

GRITTY

― the next grozart, Thursday, 3 May 2007 14:57 (eighteen years ago)

BLUTO

― Marcello Carlin, Thursday, 3 May 2007 15:02 (eighteen years ago)

Matt it is right opposite MVE, very hard to miss!

― Sarah, Thursday, 3 May 2007 15:08 (eighteen years ago)

Near the very poor pseudo-Mexican restaurants (note to all pseudo-Mexican restaurateurs: burritos and pasta DO NOT MIX)

― Marcello Carlin, Thursday, 3 May 2007 15:15 (eighteen years ago)

250 posts in 24 hours about Wimpy. TF I don't look past ILM that much.

My brother worked in Dawlish Wimpy when he was 13, washing up. DON'T GET THAT IN MCDONALDS, EH. There's still, I think, one in Newton Abbot. You get cutlery! And plates! I can't remember the burgers at all.

There are two Wetherspoons in Exeter, one of them a GIANT OLD HOTEL on the edge of town with a huge beer garden that is amazing in summer. It is perfectly fine if you want to sit on the grass with a pint or a bottle of Koppaberg. We eat there maybe three time a year when all else has failed.

― Scik Mouthy, Thursday, 3 May 2007 15:23 (eighteen years ago)

hang on surely you don't need to drink Kopparberg as you've got easy access to some sort of local perry?

― blueski, Thursday, 3 May 2007 15:25 (eighteen years ago)

You'd think so, wouldn't you?

― Scik Mouthy, Thursday, 3 May 2007 15:29 (eighteen years ago)

OK, so here's a question. If almost no one really likes Wimpy, how did it last so long in the UK as a viable brand, to the extent of being referenced in punk songs (e.g. X-Ray Spex's "The Day The World Turned Day-Glo")? Had the international chains just not moved in yet?

― mike a, Thursday, 3 May 2007 15:42 (eighteen years ago)

International chains didnt get a hold in the UK till the early 80s, I'd suggest. Certainly not outside London.

― Scik Mouthy, Thursday, 3 May 2007 15:47 (eighteen years ago)

We were still getting over The War.

― Marcello Carlin, Thursday, 3 May 2007 15:48 (eighteen years ago)

Who remembers;

COME ON OVER TO MY PLACE
HEY HEY
WE'RE HAVIN A WIMPY
WE'LL BE SHAKIN'
CHEWIN' AND [something]
COME ON OVER TONIGHT
YEAH YEAH YEAH

― Scik Mouthy, Thursday, 3 May 2007 15:48 (eighteen years ago)

http://www.wimpyburgers.co.uk/site/enjoy_wimpy/menu.php

― Scik Mouthy, Thursday, 3 May 2007 15:50 (eighteen years ago)

The Burger King buyout of the Wimpey establishments was 1989, if you need a date for their effective death.

― Dom Passantino, Thursday, 3 May 2007 15:51 (eighteen years ago)

McDonalds didnt open a UK 'restaurant' until 1974.

― Scik Mouthy, Thursday, 3 May 2007 15:52 (eighteen years ago)

In Woolwich innit. Opened by Noel Edmonds?

― Marcello Carlin, Thursday, 3 May 2007 15:54 (eighteen years ago)

The Burger King buyout of the Wimpey establishments was 1989, if you need a date for their effective death.

McDonalds didnt open a UK 'restaurant' until 1974.

In Woolwich innit. Opened by Noel Edmonds?

It's all upthread, though probably hiding under shitty red "skipping" box

― onimo, Thursday, 3 May 2007 16:28 (eighteen years ago)

I work a block away from a Beard Papa. It is amazing.

― admrl, Thursday, 3 May 2007 16:30 (eighteen years ago)

Ugh Nick you mean the Imperial don't you? I hated that place, but the outside was alright. Bludy enormous as I remember.

― Matt DC, Thursday, 3 May 2007 16:34 (eighteen years ago)

Taco Bell was pushing things too far for the UK market.

― blueski, Thursday, 3 May 2007 16:43 (eighteen years ago)

to the extent of being referenced in punk songs

Now you've got "Wimpys Are Shit" by Peter & the Test Tube Babies stuck in my head. Although they do also sing "and so is McDonalds" and that song is from '83 or so, so McDonalds had reached Brighton by then, at least.

― Colonel Poo, Thursday, 3 May 2007 16:47 (eighteen years ago)

Notable Taco Bell employees

* José Padilla, alleged supporter of terrorism
* Boyd Rice, noise music pioneer and Social Darwinist ("...when I was sixteen. Just long enough to cause enough trouble to get kicked out of there." Recounted in RE/Search No. 11: Pranks!.)
* Krist Novoselic, Nirvana bassist.
* Steve Smith, Wide Receiver for the Carolina Panthers NFL team.
* Kevin Sellers, vocalist of hardcore punk band The Outsiders
* John C. Dvorak, former TechTV personality and current This Week In Tech pundit, worked there while attending college.
* Tyler Spencer, aka "Dick Valentine" from Electric Six.
* Mike Kennerty, guitar player for the All-American Rejects
* David Barbe, recording engineer/producer (Played in Sugar, and Meryland, Produced Drive By Truckers, Son Volt, many others)
* Hulk Hogan, professional wrestler.
* Jenna Jameson, famous adult film actress
* Jason Lee, former skateboarder and currently starring in My Name Is Earl

― Dom Passantino, Thursday, 3 May 2007 16:49 (eighteen years ago)

Now you've got "Wimpys Are Shit" by Peter & the Test Tube Babies stuck in my head.

Also "A Bang and A Whimpy" (sic) by Attila the Stockbroker.

― mike a, Thursday, 3 May 2007 17:13 (eighteen years ago)

Also the John Cooper Clarke ditty which ends "not with a bang but a Wimpy."

― Ned Trifle II, Thursday, 3 May 2007 19:36 (eighteen years ago)

Actually the whole lat verse of Psycle Sluts is kind of relevant...

"or you can dine and whine on stuff that's bound to give you boils
hot dogs direct from cruft's
done in diesel oil
or the burger joint around the bend
where the meals thank christ are skimpy
for you that's how the world could end
not with a bang but a wimpy"

― Ned Trifle II, Thursday, 3 May 2007 19:38 (eighteen years ago)

i just went in holborn burger king and they no longed do milkshakes. is this just the one branch or have burger king fazed them out altogether? weird.

― acrobat, Friday, 4 May 2007 15:03 (eighteen years ago)

*longer

― acrobat, Friday, 4 May 2007 15:03 (eighteen years ago)

one month passes...

Spotted last week: Wimpy at M&D's.

― jim, Saturday, 30 June 2007 01:44 (eighteen years ago)

O God!!!

― JTS, Sunday, 1 July 2007 00:40 (eighteen years ago)

Is Cumberland ring what you get the next morning after a meal at Wimpy's? Or is it something else?

― moley, Sunday, 1 July 2007 03:07 (eighteen years ago)

i like that you get a plate and a fork and a knife and such but the food itself is very poor.

― Dy, Sunday, 1 July 2007 12:23 (eighteen years ago)

three years pass...

are these still around?

― Ed Kranepool borrow Chico Escuela's soap and never give it back (Eisbaer), Sunday, 26 September 2010 14:44 (fifteen years ago)

ya-hah

― l'avventura: pet detective (history mayne), Sunday, 26 September 2010 14:45 (fifteen years ago)

You can still get a Bender in a Bun (like a rubber hose) and a Spicy Beanburger (explosive results after a couple of hours).

― Les centimètres énigmatiques (snoball), Sunday, 26 September 2010 14:56 (fifteen years ago)

One near me in Watney Market, Shadwell. Never been in, 20 years since I've been in one probably.

― mmmm, Sunday, 26 September 2010 15:00 (fifteen years ago)

according to wikipedia:

"In the UAE it [the spicy bean burger] is called the Bean Royal."

― Ed Kranepool borrow Chico Escuela's soap and never give it back (Eisbaer), Sunday, 26 September 2010 15:01 (fifteen years ago)

i have friends working in Dubai right now, i should ask them if they've seen this there.

― Ed Kranepool borrow Chico Escuela's soap and never give it back (Eisbaer), Sunday, 26 September 2010 15:01 (fifteen years ago)

Last time I ate in one was the Brighton branch in 1996.

― Les centimètres énigmatiques (snoball), Sunday, 26 September 2010 15:06 (fifteen years ago)

i went to one with my dad and brother for nostalgia value a couple of months ago, seemed kinda depressing. food was meh, and the milkshakes are crap now.

that "dr beaks" thing is nuts. why would you want to associate your restaurant brand with:

a) someone people see when they're ill

b) a part of the chicken that nobody would ever eat

― ed chilliband (max arrrrrgh), Sunday, 26 September 2010 15:12 (fifteen years ago)

Had a Wimpy burger about 18 months ago and it was hugely disappointing tbh. The onions were bland as fuck.

― dociah t. azzahole (Noodle Vague), Sunday, 26 September 2010 15:57 (fifteen years ago)

They always are, and they're always grey.

― Les centimètres énigmatiques (snoball), Sunday, 26 September 2010 16:10 (fifteen years ago)

the woman serving didn't look much like Eleanor Bron either :(

― dociah t. azzahole (Noodle Vague), Sunday, 26 September 2010 16:15 (fifteen years ago)

one year passes...

this franchise still fascinates me

― it might look subversive, but it's actually crap ... crap does exist (Eisbaer), Sunday, 12 February 2012 07:13 (thirteen years ago)

http://cdn.fxguide.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/779c0a.jpg

― Ward Fowler, Sunday, 12 February 2012 07:22 (thirteen years ago)

i was gonna say

― the jazz zinger (s1ocki), Sunday, 12 February 2012 07:24 (thirteen years ago)

twas that film which brought wimpy's to mind, yes

― it might look subversive, but it's actually crap ... crap does exist (Eisbaer), Sunday, 12 February 2012 07:49 (thirteen years ago)

i feel like i will still eat at Wimpy because it is Wimpy even tho most of the menu is pretty sucky

― dayove cool (Noodle Vague), Sunday, 12 February 2012 09:05 (thirteen years ago)

I just recall Wimpy being crazy expensive when I was a kid (you only got a SAUCER full of chips!) but we still went because it was the only place we were allowed to smoke in our school uniforms.

― owenf, Sunday, 12 February 2012 20:42 (thirteen years ago)

a friend of mine, being a Wimpy aficionado, was at one point trying to visit all remaining Wimpys in the country. he took me to one once, I think it was the one in Greenwich, and tbh I was pretty underwhelmed.

― salsa shark, Sunday, 12 February 2012 22:24 (thirteen years ago)

is there still one in brighton? i remember seeing that before. they did a "bender breakfast", which "may contain bone" apparently.

― Rosie 47 (ken c), Tuesday, 14 February 2012 15:54 (thirteen years ago)

hahaa I forgot about the bender. Wasn't there a 'big bender' too? awesome. They looked fucking gross too

http://www.wimpy.uk.com/images/products/Bender-in-a-Bun-Cheese.jpg

http://pics.livejournal.com/amuchmoreexotic/pic/0003xbqs/s320x320.jpg

― owenf, Tuesday, 14 February 2012 16:10 (thirteen years ago)

one month passes...

"One good thing about this tour was that we always had some money, so everyone was well fed. Although I must say that I missed having a good hamburger now and then. The only place we could locate then that sold hamburgers was called Wimpy's, after the character in the Popeye cartoons, who ate burgers all the time. They smelled and tasted like dog food on soggy buns. Occasionally, when we were desperate, we would send out for these terrible things."

-John 'Drumbo' French on Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band's second UK tour, 1968 ('Beefheart: Through the Eyes of Magic', pg. 333)

― Ward Fowler, Monday, 19 March 2012 22:24 (thirteen years ago)

I had one of these things in Cape Town a couple of years ago. The mustard actually stained my finger for a whole day. The yellow dye would not wash out of my skin.

― TURPS-DEFCON1.jpg (Autumn Almanac), Tuesday, 20 March 2012 22:16 (thirteen years ago)

nine months pass...

Spotted in Newark, Nottinghamshire, over Christmas:

http://i1214.photobucket.com/albums/cc497/WardFowler/P1000243_zps155c6e01.jpg

― Ward Fowler, Monday, 7 January 2013 16:19 (twelve years ago)

ooh, new logo

― Manhattan Transfer Window (Noodle Vague), Monday, 7 January 2013 16:20 (twelve years ago)

britishes: your Newark looks as shabby as our Newark.

― happier than GG Allin in a laxative factory (Eisbaer), Monday, 7 January 2013 18:37 (twelve years ago)

don't think i've ever stopped in Newark but it ain't scenic, true

― Kindle Nagasaki (Noodle Vague), Monday, 7 January 2013 18:47 (twelve years ago)

this is round the corner from the wimpy

http://www.newarkscaffold.com/cdata/43179/img/43179_2693495.jpg

― Ward Fowler, Monday, 7 January 2013 19:12 (twelve years ago)

britishes: your Newark looks as shabby as our Newark.

psst: nobody tell the Americans that that's what all of the UK looks like, "nice" towns and shabby towns alike, anywhere with a population greater than a few cows looks pretty much like that

I am fairly sure Wimpy isn't any good now, and probably never was, but the mere mention of it does make me wildly nostalgic for some unknown reason. This is a distant glimpse of the Wimpy of my youth, probably a decade before I got there, but since in Swindon the 70s lasted until at least 1987 it's hard to tell:
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6149/6001211137_36d933bcd0.jpg

― a panda, Malmö (a passing spacecadet), Monday, 7 January 2013 19:57 (twelve years ago)

There's still a Wimpy in Dingwall!

http://lds.localdataimages.com/large/1052/10524652.jpg

― ailsa, Monday, 7 January 2013 20:01 (twelve years ago)

I forgot about the Dingwall one. The one in Dundee only closed with its host Megabowl about a year ago.

― michaellambert, Monday, 7 January 2013 20:50 (twelve years ago)

two weeks pass...

Is there a Wimpy opening in your town?
Andover: Opening Summer 2012
Alton: Opening Winter 2012

http://www.wimpy.uk.com/coming-soon.asp

― michaellambert, Tuesday, 22 January 2013 19:41 (twelve years ago)

Hope the halfpounder fans of Yately and Yeovil are patient...

― sktsh, Tuesday, 22 January 2013 20:31 (twelve years ago)

Your closest Wimpy is:
MOTHERWELL
STRATHCLYDE COUNTRY PARK
HAMILTON ROAD
ML1 3RT
This is an Express Wimpy and therefore may not be able to cater the complete Wimpy Menu.

― Ward Fowler, Tuesday, 22 January 2013 20:49 (twelve years ago)

Your closest Wimpy is:
49.6 miles

Yeah, I might not bother with that, thanks.

― a panda, Malmö (a passing spacecadet), Tuesday, 22 January 2013 20:57 (twelve years ago)

two months pass...

It is astonishing to think that when Margaret Thatcher first joined the cabinet in 1970, the Wimpy hamburger chain still banned women from coming in late on their own on the bizarre grounds that only prostitutes would be out at that time of night.

― Nilmar Honorato da Silva, Tuesday, 9 April 2013 21:27 (twelve years ago)

I was expecting that quote to pop up in this thread.

― michaellambert, Tuesday, 9 April 2013 23:28 (twelve years ago)

one year passes...

two wimpys spotted in the wild last week

Eltham:

http://i1194.photobucket.com/albums/aa362/Andrew_Littlefield/P1010164_zpsb048044a.jpg

Dartford:

http://i1194.photobucket.com/albums/aa362/Andrew_Littlefield/P1010181_zpsdd578b05.jpg

― Ward Fowler, Tuesday, 22 April 2014 18:08 (eleven years ago)

one year passes...

ye olde wimpy, bicester, two views:

http://i1194.photobucket.com/albums/aa362/Andrew_Littlefield/P1010681_zps2fttrinn.jpg

http://i1194.photobucket.com/albums/aa362/Andrew_Littlefield/P1010682_zpsv16lbbaj.jpg

― sʌxihɔːl (Ward Fowler), Sunday, 24 May 2015 11:14 (ten years ago)

FREE BOILED EGG

― nashwan, Sunday, 24 May 2015 11:19 (ten years ago)

I saw their hot dog option when I went in last week #thingstotrybeforeyoudie

― xyzzzz__, Sunday, 24 May 2015 12:19 (ten years ago)

four months pass...

Phantom Wimpy on Union Street, Glasgow

http://i1214.photobucket.com/albums/cc497/WardFowler/P1010804_zpsl8kp3mof.jpg

― sʌxihɔːl (Ward Fowler), Wednesday, 30 September 2015 21:47 (ten years ago)

Still strong in Beckenham

― nashwan, Wednesday, 30 September 2015 22:09 (ten years ago)

eight months pass...

Interior of Sidcup Wimpy, circa 1980:

https://scontent.fman2-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/13417657_10206703443765831_7633815549786743904_n.jpg?oh=ab641c45907798a9c587f0aed3b04725&oe=57D2F3B6

― Foster Twelvetrees (Ward Fowler), Tuesday, 14 June 2016 05:01 (nine years ago)

IF it still exists, it probably looks exactly the same.

― get on (down) / to the funky (sound) / of (snoball), Tuesday, 14 June 2016 17:43 (nine years ago)

...now.

― get on (down) / to the funky (sound) / of (snoball), Tuesday, 14 June 2016 17:43 (nine years ago)

four months pass...

Leicester Square, 1976

http://flashbak.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Leicester-Square-Warner-West-End-1976-KH.jpg

― Foster Twelvetrees (Ward Fowler), Tuesday, 25 October 2016 21:39 (nine years ago)

Spot on @1:25: "We went to a Wimpy Bar but it wasn't all that nice"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4czDYeM-tQ8

― everything, Tuesday, 25 October 2016 22:49 (nine years ago)

weve one of these 30 mins drive from the island.

milkshakes were good.

its no supermacs obv.

― the kids are alt right (darraghmac), Tuesday, 25 October 2016 23:22 (nine years ago)

is supermacs your robust self-esteem's name for your own kitchen

― estela, Wednesday, 26 October 2016 07:06 (nine years ago)

shame on both of us for the dining opportunities spurned that lead to your recent public ignorance

― the kids are alt right (darraghmac), Wednesday, 26 October 2016 07:42 (nine years ago)

i got to keogh's which is the main thing

― estela, Wednesday, 26 October 2016 08:13 (nine years ago)

i really enjoy it that when you try to google "doctor beak's" now you find nothing but information on the black plague.

― mystery local boy (rushomancy), Wednesday, 26 October 2016 08:45 (nine years ago)

four months pass...

Wimpy, Watney Market London E1, two views:

http://i1194.photobucket.com/albums/aa362/Andrew_Littlefield/P1020679_zpsvf1lxexc.jpg

― Bernie Lugg (Ward Fowler), Monday, 13 March 2017 20:52 (eight years ago)

Apologies, should have been this one also;

http://i1194.photobucket.com/albums/aa362/Andrew_Littlefield/P1020678_zps9wshayvk.jpg

― Bernie Lugg (Ward Fowler), Monday, 13 March 2017 20:53 (eight years ago)

Whoever redesigned their signage should be hung, bevelled and embossed (tho the lettering as the burger filling is alright).

― nashwan, Monday, 13 March 2017 21:02 (eight years ago)

slides from some guy's talk about visiting every Wimpy in the country:

https://pt.slideshare.net/franticorang/alistairhoughton

― soref, Monday, 13 March 2017 21:03 (eight years ago)

https://image.slidesharecdn.com/alistairhoughton-100418012001-phpapp02/95/wimpycrawling-14-728.jpg?cb=1271553798

― soref, Monday, 13 March 2017 21:05 (eight years ago)

ahh watney market. snapped this window display a few doors along from that wimpy bar a couple of months ago - only one view I'm afraid:

http://i.imgur.com/RP4ye5X.jpg

― conrad, Monday, 13 March 2017 21:08 (eight years ago)

Wimpy Cairo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Or6TMUbYGXk

― soref, Monday, 13 March 2017 21:13 (eight years ago)

haha that slideshow.

had forgotten about the motherwell branch of wimpy, it then got me thinking about brandon parade, and the weird sculptural thing there, and that brought me to this site http://charlesandersonart.co.uk/murals.html

― Islamic State of Mind (jim in vancouver), Monday, 13 March 2017 21:17 (eight years ago)

one month passes...

Just watched Michael Reeves' The Sorcerers - a 1967 horror movie about an elderly couple who literally lives vicariously through 'the yoof' - and was delighted to find it includes a scene where Boris Karloff approaches Ian Ogilvy in a Wimpy Bar (Chiswick High Road, north of Turnham Green, according to this website: http://www.reelstreets.com/index.php/component/films/?task=view&id=937&film_ref=sorcerers,_the). No signage, but great 60s interiors and shots of burgers being cooked (Ogilvy even asks for "a wimpy" rather than a hamburger.) Sadly haven't been able to find any screenshots online, but will keep digging.

― Bernie Lugg (Ward Fowler), Tuesday, 2 May 2017 19:57 (eight years ago)

i'm continually impressed by your dedication to this topic.

― new noise, Tuesday, 2 May 2017 20:04 (eight years ago)

Here's the one that's still in Kilmarnock. It's inside a bowling alley.
https://www.yell.com/static/image/44a9d830-6094-47fe-baae-bb5f3c5b7334_image_jpeg

― everything, Tuesday, 2 May 2017 22:15 (eight years ago)

saw a massive one on the coast of Porthcawl in Wales at the weekend. highlight of my visit

― Lennon, Elvis, Hendrix etc (dog latin), Tuesday, 2 May 2017 23:37 (eight years ago)

pretty accurate one in Tinker Tailor.. also

http://www.btlnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/LR-Tinker-Tailor-Soldier-Spy-3.jpg

― piscesx, Wednesday, 3 May 2017 01:38 (eight years ago)

With the brand recognition and affection Wimpy has, they could totally resurrect themselves as a more modern burger bar - dirty beef porn style - and probably do quite well. Cooler and more sophisticated than McDs or Burger King (keep the slightly clean, modernist decor), less hipster than your indie mini chains.

Five Guys, basically.

― Hey Bob (Scik Mouthy), Wednesday, 3 May 2017 09:14 (eight years ago)

five guys already exists tho

they should turn the remaining wimpys into unique horror-dining experiences where you have to scarf your grey, flaccid wimpy burger on the hoof while trying to avoid the terrifying attention of a feral, cannibalistic mr wimpy, who roams the restaurant in search of human sport

if you avoid mr wimpy for the duration of your meal you get to eat free; if you don't, you get recycled in the vast soylent green factories of post-brexit britain (and charged for your meal)

― gnaw on my meat oreo (bizarro gazzara), Wednesday, 3 May 2017 09:19 (eight years ago)

I had my last Wimpy burger at a service station driving home from Reading Festival about 13 years ago. The bun was wholemeal. THE BUN WAS WHOLEMEAL.

― Impartial Father (stevie), Wednesday, 3 May 2017 10:22 (eight years ago)

Wholemeal buns were usually reserved for the bean burgers, iirc.

― mahb, Wednesday, 3 May 2017 10:34 (eight years ago)

I can't remember the last time I even saw a Wimpy. My brother used to work in the Dawlish one. There was lone in dawlish! Early 80s franchising gone mad.

― Hey Bob (Scik Mouthy), Wednesday, 3 May 2017 11:00 (eight years ago)

One not lone. Too excited.

― Hey Bob (Scik Mouthy), Wednesday, 3 May 2017 11:00 (eight years ago)

The last Wimpy I ate was about 2 years ago at the Porthcawl one spotted by Dog Latin. Porthcawl funfair was hosting its annual Elvis festival. The whole thing was grim af.

― nate woolls, Wednesday, 3 May 2017 11:02 (eight years ago)

i saw one in ireland on the way back from a rave in the wicklow countryside a long time ago, at a petrol station in the middle of nowhere.

which makes sense: Wimpy has been in Ireland on two occasions, in the 1960s, and more recently in the early 2000s.[29] In the 2000s, petrol station chain operator Petrogas took on the master franchise for Ireland,[30] and had operated a large number of sites until 2010.[31]

― Bein' Sean Bean (LocalGarda), Wednesday, 3 May 2017 11:04 (eight years ago)

i saw one in ireland on the way back from a rave in the wicklow countryside

really, there needs to be a 'real ireland' thread

― gnaw on my meat oreo (bizarro gazzara), Wednesday, 3 May 2017 11:12 (eight years ago)

Wholemeal buns were usually reserved for the bean burgers, iirc.

This was def not a bean burger

― Impartial Father (stevie), Wednesday, 3 May 2017 11:22 (eight years ago)

is 13 years too long to wait to complain to wimpy that you got the wrong bun? do their customer services department have a statute of limitations?

― gnaw on my meat oreo (bizarro gazzara), Wednesday, 3 May 2017 11:24 (eight years ago)

brb gonna apply for a position in wimpy's burger-crime squad

― gnaw on my meat oreo (bizarro gazzara), Wednesday, 3 May 2017 11:24 (eight years ago)

i believe slater gordon are taking on these cases as one big bloc lawsuit

xpost

― Bein' Sean Bean (LocalGarda), Wednesday, 3 May 2017 11:24 (eight years ago)

historic wimpy negligence

― Bein' Sean Bean (LocalGarda), Wednesday, 3 May 2017 11:24 (eight years ago)

my last wimpy was in luxembourg ca. 1984 and i got food poisoning so badly i spent the rest of the trip hunched up and shaking on the hotel toilet like a pale teenage foetus, feeling with each deep spasm that i was somehow spraying out my mortal soul in judderingly violent blasts across the cold holiday inn porcelain

― del esdichado (NickB), Wednesday, 3 May 2017 11:29 (eight years ago)

finally, mr wimpy will face justice xp

― gnaw on my meat oreo (bizarro gazzara), Wednesday, 3 May 2017 11:30 (eight years ago)

nick, slater gordon's freefone number is 0808 175 8000 - time to get on this class-action gravy train

― gnaw on my meat oreo (bizarro gazzara), Wednesday, 3 May 2017 11:31 (eight years ago)

let us never talk of gravy again

― del esdichado (NickB), Wednesday, 3 May 2017 11:33 (eight years ago)

i had at least two or three birthday parties at the dunfermline branch of wimpy back in the late 80s/early 90s

i have an indelible memory of an employee in full head-to-toe mr wimpy drag encouraging me and my friends to compete against each other in a pushup contest. the reasons why, sadly, are lost to time but i can't help but infer a sinister motive

― gnaw on my meat oreo (bizarro gazzara), Wednesday, 3 May 2017 11:34 (eight years ago)

those contests were videotaped and sold to prominent tory mps

― Bein' Sean Bean (LocalGarda), Wednesday, 3 May 2017 11:42 (eight years ago)

fuck

― gnaw on my meat oreo (bizarro gazzara), Wednesday, 3 May 2017 11:45 (eight years ago)

not even a cut of the profits either

― gnaw on my meat oreo (bizarro gazzara), Wednesday, 3 May 2017 11:46 (eight years ago)

I remember the buns being wholemeal for the Quarter and Half-pounders. Didn't bother me at all, they might even have been better than McD's and BK's overall.

― nashwan, Wednesday, 3 May 2017 12:37 (eight years ago)

The bun was wholemeal. THE BUN WAS WHOLEMEAL.

Having had a few "gastropub" burgers lately with over-sweet brioche buns taller than any human's mouth, outside incinerated until the whole thing has the texture of a brick, I would go for a nice soft wholemeal bun tbh

― a passing spacecadet, Wednesday, 3 May 2017 12:53 (eight years ago)

since brioche buns became an easy way to try to tell people you're not serving a hockey puck in a ciabatta, there definitely are some bad examples of the same, but i had a burger recently that came in bread and it brought back bad memories, so heavy and doesn't even hold together. a light brioche bun is the best. the m&s ones are nice for your own bbq too.

― Bein' Sean Bean (LocalGarda), Wednesday, 3 May 2017 12:58 (eight years ago)

since brioche buns became an easy way to try to tell people you're not serving a hockey puck

I can also attest that some of those brioche buns LIE

― Impartial Father (stevie), Wednesday, 3 May 2017 13:08 (eight years ago)

yeah true. p much everywhere in london now does brioche buns, i've had some terrible burgers at team lunches in westminster or whatever, prob the most retrograde spot in the city for pubs/ways of working, and it's always a brioche bun.

― Bein' Sean Bean (LocalGarda), Wednesday, 3 May 2017 13:16 (eight years ago)

Pret can fuck off with their brioche - restore the muffin.

― nashwan, Wednesday, 3 May 2017 13:24 (eight years ago)

Last one I saw was on Southsea sea front, maybe two years ago?

― Mark G, Wednesday, 3 May 2017 13:38 (eight years ago)

according to the wimpy website they have 81 restaurants in the uk, perhaps not coincidentally in many locations i'd suspect are living at least 20 years behind the rest of the country

― gnaw on my meat oreo (bizarro gazzara), Wednesday, 3 May 2017 13:43 (eight years ago)

there are two within 20 miles of my current location! maybe i should make a pilgrimage and hope that it doesn't jar loose any repressed memories surrounding the circumstances of my pushup contest

― gnaw on my meat oreo (bizarro gazzara), Wednesday, 3 May 2017 13:45 (eight years ago)

http://www.les-crises.fr/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/quote-s-ils-n-ont-pas-de-pain-qu-ils-mangent-de-la-brioche-marie-antoinette-d-autriche-114706.jpg

― mark s, Wednesday, 3 May 2017 13:47 (eight years ago)

now you leave woolwich alone

― imago, Wednesday, 3 May 2017 13:50 (eight years ago)

the chatham branch appears to be deliberately cultivating an air of mystery

CHATHAM
245A High street
Chatham, Kent, ME4 4BQ
Telephone :01634 789424
Hours:
Monday : TBC
Tuesday : TBC
Wednesday : TBC
Thursday : TBC
Friday : TBC
Saturdays : TBC
Sundays : TBC

perhaps it shows up in our plane of reality for just one day every century

― gnaw on my meat oreo (bizarro gazzara), Wednesday, 3 May 2017 13:52 (eight years ago)

it only opens on feb 29th

― Bein' Sean Bean (LocalGarda), Wednesday, 3 May 2017 13:54 (eight years ago)

PORTHCAWL
Note that this is a seasonal Wimpy outlet and opening dates/hours are subject to change. Please contact the outlet for further info.

open once a year on christmas day

― gnaw on my meat oreo (bizarro gazzara), Wednesday, 3 May 2017 14:01 (eight years ago)

i think my nearest is on telscombe cliffs, i think the locals keep it going as some sort of bastion of inedibleness to ward off the marauding waves

― del esdichado (NickB), Wednesday, 3 May 2017 14:02 (eight years ago)

Just checked - Southsea is open for biz - here is one of the good reviews..

“A year later and still an O.K. Beanburger and a dump”
3 of 5 bubbles Reviewed 22 January 2017

.. you only feel better after one of those things..

― Mark G, Wednesday, 3 May 2017 14:15 (eight years ago)

king's lynn branch sounds like it caters for specific tastes

★★★★★
Never had a more delectable bender in my life! It was perfection... It just melted my taste buds with its meaty sensation defiantly recommend to anyone that loves a good bit of meat ;)

― gnaw on my meat oreo (bizarro gazzara), Wednesday, 3 May 2017 14:21 (eight years ago)

If they still did the banana split I might consider visiting the Birkenhead location, but the brown derby doesn't have the same appeal.

― AlanSmithee, Wednesday, 3 May 2017 14:28 (eight years ago)

everything about this discussion now sounds like a euphemism for adventurous sex after that king's lynn review

― gnaw on my meat oreo (bizarro gazzara), Wednesday, 3 May 2017 14:33 (eight years ago)

I'm always glad to see that the Wimpy in Nottingham remains open, emblazoned with its 'Bender in a Bun' offers.

― emil.y, Wednesday, 3 May 2017 15:14 (eight years ago)

Last time I ate in a Wimpy was ~21 years ago, and co-incidentally one of the friends I was with had a Bender in a Bun. He said it was like eating a bicycle inner tube.

― Zings Can Only Get Better (snoball), Wednesday, 3 May 2017 18:00 (eight years ago)

phwoar

― gnaw on my meat oreo (bizarro gazzara), Wednesday, 3 May 2017 18:02 (eight years ago)

five guys already exists tho

I walk past a Five Guys on the way home from work every evening, and they have a level of modernity and hipness that the marketeers at Wimpy couldn't even dream of.

― Zings Can Only Get Better (snoball), Wednesday, 3 May 2017 18:03 (eight years ago)

so wimpy has a bean burger? child jim didn't care for such shenanigans but adult jim who doesn't eat meat would give it a bash

― -_- (jim in vancouver), Wednesday, 3 May 2017 18:14 (eight years ago)

My friend's pet name for me and her is "a bender 'n a bun"

― Heavy Doors (jed_), Wednesday, 3 May 2017 18:18 (eight years ago)

haha

― -_- (jim in vancouver), Wednesday, 3 May 2017 18:46 (eight years ago)

i once went to the wimpy on union street in glasgow when i was wee but all i remember of it was that half the people in there were smoking. way it should be imo, before the nanny state clamped down n such

― lazy rascals, spending their substance, and more, in riotous living (Merdeyeux), Wednesday, 3 May 2017 19:19 (eight years ago)

i used to go to the one on byres road fairly often as a kid and also remember the people smoking and there being a non-smoking section

― -_- (jim in vancouver), Wednesday, 3 May 2017 19:21 (eight years ago)

Eastern Promises has a scene set in a Wimpy. Character has burger, fries and side salad on a plate. Bun is wholemeal.

― nate woolls, Thursday, 4 May 2017 21:25 (eight years ago)

^^^ accurate

― Impartial Father (stevie), Friday, 5 May 2017 13:50 (eight years ago)

I ate at Five Guys today for the first time. Burger and fillings were swell. Bun held together okay but was a little bit sweet and weird. Received an abundance of spicy chips which were saturated in salt and just not that great. Didn't mind the burger though.

― Lennon, Elvis, Hendrix etc (dog latin), Friday, 5 May 2017 15:39 (eight years ago)

five guys was no better than burger king when i went, and very expensive.

― Bein' Sean Bean (LocalGarda), Friday, 5 May 2017 15:41 (eight years ago)

yeah, five guys is insanely expensive for what it is

― finger my 60s Soul Pie (bizarro gazzara), Friday, 5 May 2017 15:44 (eight years ago)

not to go too far down the burger route but i like shake shack a lot. five guys not so much.

― Bein' Sean Bean (LocalGarda), Friday, 5 May 2017 15:44 (eight years ago)

Yeah I paid about £13 for a burger, fries and a drink. You got a choice of free fillings but definitely nothing special.

― Lennon, Elvis, Hendrix etc (dog latin), Friday, 5 May 2017 15:52 (eight years ago)

If anyone visits Bristol, I can't recommend Oowee Diner (a tiny little burger place in Montpelier area) highly enough. I paid less than I did at Five Guys and the burger was INSANELY good. Worth a pilgrimage.

― Lennon, Elvis, Hendrix etc (dog latin), Friday, 5 May 2017 15:53 (eight years ago)

my main takeaway from living away from the uk and coming back to visit is that there are hundreds of expensive burger places everywhere now

― -_- (jim in vancouver), Friday, 5 May 2017 16:52 (eight years ago)

we've the same in Aus too. which is criminal because the original chip shop burger is to die for, but there's all these places like new york minute, burger edge, grill'd and such where you end up paying $18 for a burg and chips and that's just not on. oh and don't start me on "royal stacks" near my work who get queues out the door at lunch for burgers with sides of fucking frozen potato gems drenched in cheese goo which is somehow retro and trendy.

― Stoop Crone (Trayce), Saturday, 6 May 2017 06:58 (eight years ago)

fillings

toppings

(hoping this is yet another divisive uk/us usage quirk)

― j., Saturday, 6 May 2017 07:18 (eight years ago)

Thick, dry brioche buns seem to be a plague in London at the moment.

― Wag1 Shree Rajneesh (ShariVari), Saturday, 6 May 2017 07:23 (eight years ago)

bad burgers are an eternal plague.

― Bein' Sean Bean (LocalGarda), Saturday, 6 May 2017 07:44 (eight years ago)

stupidly expensive burgers a slightly newer one. thanks hipsters

― The Remoans of the May (Noodle Vague), Saturday, 6 May 2017 09:54 (eight years ago)

same in Paris now, expensive burgers on brioche are everywhere. I saw one recently for 22€ ! yeah it had foie gras but c'mon. at one such place though, Le camion qui fume, a food truck that also has a resto now, I had the best burger of my life (was 10€ I think?), so it's not all bad.

― droit au butt (Euler), Saturday, 6 May 2017 10:56 (eight years ago)

Drifting further off topic, Manhattan Burger in Berlin does burger, chips and cola for about €7 and is stunning. It shouldn't really be as hard as everyone seems intent on making it look.

― Wag1 Shree Rajneesh (ShariVari), Saturday, 6 May 2017 10:59 (eight years ago)

love foie gras way too much to ruin it by wrapping a burger around it

― The Remoans of the May (Noodle Vague), Saturday, 6 May 2017 11:04 (eight years ago)

yeah that sounds wrong.

had a burger with peanut butter in the other week. sounded interesting on paper, but in reality the pb muted the beefiness of the pattie

― Shat Parp (dog latin), Saturday, 6 May 2017 11:24 (eight years ago)

four weeks pass...

bump for Wimpy content.

http://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/esmagazine/grace-dent-on-the-highs-and-lows-of-having-the-best-job-in-london-a3552256.html

― xyzzzz__, Monday, 5 June 2017 20:04 (eight years ago)

That one in Southsea/Portsmouth is still there, saw it yesterday.

― Mark G, Monday, 5 June 2017 20:08 (eight years ago)

We need photos, Mark

― Bernie Lugg (Ward Fowler), Monday, 5 June 2017 20:12 (eight years ago)

Ah, not going back until Amber's at uni.

― Mark G, Monday, 5 June 2017 20:13 (eight years ago)

There's still a Wimpy on Lewisham High Street which unlike the McDonald's over the road is curiously un-immortalised in grime.

― Matt DC, Monday, 5 June 2017 20:16 (eight years ago)

I used to go to the one on Lewisham High Street. Just a couple of times until I realised that actually I didn't like any of their food.

― Camaraderie at Arms Length, Monday, 5 June 2017 20:35 (eight years ago)

wimpy's twitter is like a glimpse into an alternate universe

― he's also fouled up with NON-FAT (bizarro gazzara), Monday, 5 June 2017 20:58 (eight years ago)

https://mobile.twitter.com/WimpyUK/status/868118503311716362/photo/1

― he's also fouled up with NON-FAT (bizarro gazzara), Monday, 5 June 2017 20:59 (eight years ago)

I love the photos of their awards. How many things are wrong with every single picture. It's this kind of acceptance of mediocrity that makes me think perhaps the UK is the place for me after all.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C_kx7aIXUAAATKv.jpg

― Camaraderie at Arms Length, Monday, 5 June 2017 21:12 (eight years ago)

https://scontent.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/19224841_1463387303715573_2014595867061447693_n.jpg?oh=de593ce610855cf5ffba285094ebca8e&oe=59E4EBA3

― heaven parker (anagram), Monday, 19 June 2017 12:45 (eight years ago)

'the world wide symbol of eating pleasure'

― cast your vote for fully automated gay space luxury communism (bizarro gazzara), Monday, 19 June 2017 12:59 (eight years ago)

'french fried potatoes' is cracking me up

― cast your vote for fully automated gay space luxury communism (bizarro gazzara), Monday, 19 June 2017 13:00 (eight years ago)

So are these what Peter Gabriel was singing about in "Dancing With the Moonlit Knight"?: "Chewing through your Wimpy dreams/They eat without a sound/
Digesting England by the pound"

― No purposes. Sounds. (Sund4r), Monday, 19 June 2017 13:12 (eight years ago)

the connective tissue between wimpy and prog rock has been disappointingly underexplored thus far, it's true

― cast your vote for fully automated gay space luxury communism (bizarro gazzara), Monday, 19 June 2017 13:15 (eight years ago)

BENDER the meaty frankfurter

― André Ryu (Neil S), Monday, 19 June 2017 13:17 (eight years ago)

King Wimpson

― Shat Parp (dog latin), Monday, 19 June 2017 14:27 (eight years ago)

I'm sure Bob Stanley has posted pictures of the Amersham branch in the last six months or so.

― djh, Monday, 19 June 2017 18:24 (eight years ago)

I think the Genesis line is a pun on the hamburger and also the Wimpy housing company that I guess Gabriel saw "digesting England by the pound" as they blanketed England with lots of identikit suburban housing.

― Who's puttin' sponge in the zings I once zung (stevie), Monday, 19 June 2017 18:54 (eight years ago)

what year is that menu from?

― kinder, Monday, 19 June 2017 22:01 (eight years ago)

sneak preview of the 2018 lineup iirc

― epilate your teeth (bizarro gazzara), Monday, 19 June 2017 22:04 (eight years ago)

xp it has halfpenny on it so pre-1971

― -_- (jim in vancouver), Monday, 19 June 2017 22:15 (eight years ago)

No, we had halfpennies post-decimalisation, they went out of circulation around 1984. That'd be in shillings and that if it was pre-1971.

― ailsa, Monday, 19 June 2017 22:31 (eight years ago)

i never knew!

― -_- (jim in vancouver), Monday, 19 June 2017 22:37 (eight years ago)

internet says it's 1972

― El Tomboto, Monday, 19 June 2017 23:06 (eight years ago)

two months pass...

I did not know (although it was mentioned on this thread ten years ago) that there was a Wimpy computer game for the ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64. The box looked like this:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/ff/Mr._Wimpy_Coverart.png

However, the original cover art as designed by Bob Wakelin* for Ocean Software and rejected by Wimpy, was... this (click through):
https://www.exotica.org.uk/wiki/File:Mr._Wimpy_(Original_Artwork).jpg

The game was apparently not very good, in case you hadn't guessed.

* if you played any games on 8-bit micros or the Amiga circa '84-92 you've probably seen Wakelin's art before: https://www.exotica.org.uk/wiki/Bob_Wakelin plus many others

― a passing spacecadet, Sunday, 3 September 2017 10:44 (eight years ago)

It was a version of Burger Time iirc, i think I liked it

― a big sausage-handed small-eared guy (Noodle Vague), Sunday, 3 September 2017 11:57 (eight years ago)

more information than you probably need here:

http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseekid.cgi?id=0003312

― koogs, Sunday, 3 September 2017 12:20 (eight years ago)

(it's kind of hilarious how those tiny thumbnails on the side there are actual 1:1 spectrum screenshots, 256x192px)

― koogs, Sunday, 3 September 2017 12:22 (eight years ago)

I can remember the Spectrum/C64 rivalry being quite sectarian at times, and almost spilling into real hate and violence at my local community centre computer club!

― calzino, Sunday, 3 September 2017 12:39 (eight years ago)

the connective tissue between wimpy and prog rock has been disappointingly underexplored thus far, it's true

They come up in Jethro Tull's "Up to Me" too.

― No purposes. Sounds. (Sund4r), Sunday, 3 September 2017 12:51 (eight years ago)

xp yeah but Speccy owners were right :D

― a big sausage-handed small-eared guy (Noodle Vague), Sunday, 3 September 2017 12:54 (eight years ago)

don't get me showing unflattering images of the much better graphics and colour qualities of the C64 version of Uridium, next to the Spectrum version!

― calzino, Sunday, 3 September 2017 12:59 (eight years ago)

That link to Bob Wakelin's art, annotated, is brilliant
Just wasted too much time on WOS, shame a lot of links have gone

― kinder, Sunday, 3 September 2017 17:14 (eight years ago)

four months pass...

Made it. Sitting in not my local Wimpy but the Eltham one

― imago, Saturday, 27 January 2018 12:52 (seven years ago)

It's long, thin and tawdry. My burger will be appalling, my mocha worse. Hurrah!

― imago, Saturday, 27 January 2018 12:53 (seven years ago)

#awaydays?

― ♫ very clever with maracas.jpg ♫ (Le Bateau Ivre), Saturday, 27 January 2018 12:56 (seven years ago)

This is atrocious but quite nice

― imago, Saturday, 27 January 2018 12:59 (seven years ago)

No, I'm between lessons haha

― imago, Saturday, 27 January 2018 12:59 (seven years ago)

― ♫ very clever with maracas.jpg ♫ (Le Bateau Ivre), Saturday, 27 January 2018 13:08 (seven years ago)

Oh god I feel actually sick

― imago, Saturday, 27 January 2018 13:11 (seven years ago)

It's long, thin and tawdry.

I thought this was the burger you were talking about at first.

― Video reach stereo bog (Tom D.), Saturday, 27 January 2018 13:21 (seven years ago)

yeah me too, only just worked out it was the shop

― hard to be a spod (Noodle Vague), Saturday, 27 January 2018 13:23 (seven years ago)

Well, it's what Giles Coren et al get paid for, after all.

― Video reach stereo bog (Tom D.), Saturday, 27 January 2018 13:24 (seven years ago)

One of those thread titles that make you sing along..

"Oh no don't ask why..."

― Mark G, Saturday, 27 January 2018 13:31 (seven years ago)

Do the burgers still have a definite gristle taste?

― 2018 has to be better (snoball), Saturday, 27 January 2018 13:45 (seven years ago)

Did we have this exciting and definitely wholly accurate article yet?

http://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/leisure/showbiz/11331933.Brad_Pitt_has_a_taste_for_Wimpy/

(found while searching for Swindon Wimpy, because for some reason I felt a strange urge to see the picture of it I posted upthread which is now a broken link)

― a passing spacecadet, Saturday, 27 January 2018 14:08 (seven years ago)

fizzy drinks

― j., Saturday, 27 January 2018 14:12 (seven years ago)

I really want to visit the one near(ish) to me in Eastcote

― MaresNest, Saturday, 27 January 2018 15:04 (seven years ago)

Phil Lynott in a Dublin Wimpy
https://brandnewretro.ie/2012/02/17/old-adverts-52-wimpy-dorset-st-dublin-with-phil-lynott-1968/

― a passing spacecadet, Saturday, 27 January 2018 15:21 (seven years ago)

"rendezbvous for showband" :D <3

― hard to be a spod (Noodle Vague), Saturday, 27 January 2018 15:22 (seven years ago)

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/07/12/article-2172701-14075D65000005DC-164_964x677.jpg

Joe Strummer and John Peel @ Wimpy

― ♫ very clever with maracas.jpg ♫ (Le Bateau Ivre), Saturday, 27 January 2018 15:26 (seven years ago)

not an advertisement for wimpy's health benefits tbh

― "Taste's very strange!" (stevie), Sunday, 28 January 2018 12:28 (seven years ago)

Fosters? really?

― calzino, Sunday, 28 January 2018 12:31 (seven years ago)

I guess sometimes you might need a diuretic, but otherwise I wouldn't use that piss to clean my boots.

― calzino, Sunday, 28 January 2018 12:36 (seven years ago)

six months pass...

Just time for a quick look at the papers... pic.twitter.com/65EhPNHhQd
— Pulp Librarian (@PulpLibrarian) August 11, 2018

― soref, Saturday, 11 August 2018 20:34 (seven years ago)

four months pass...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-46760299

― mfktz (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 7 January 2019 13:00 (six years ago)

Oh man I've eaten there more than a few times :(

― I can't dérive fifty-feev (Noodle Vague), Monday, 7 January 2019 13:14 (six years ago)

i am moved to ponder the mysterious confluence of culture, circumstance and economic trends which has somehow led essex to have 18 surviving wimpys, the most in the uk

― an erotic picnic with Ming (bizarro gazzara), Monday, 7 January 2019 13:24 (six years ago)

Gonna guess massive racism

― I can't dérive fifty-feev (Noodle Vague), Monday, 7 January 2019 13:31 (six years ago)

i'm happy to accept that as correct until i see persuasive evidence to the contrary tbh

― an erotic picnic with Ming (bizarro gazzara), Monday, 7 January 2019 13:43 (six years ago)

A preference for stuff that you had when you were a kid vs stuff that is much better but has no nostalgia value?

Looking on the Wimpy website it seems that I would have to travel 30-40 miles from Cambridge to find a Wimpy, but if I did so, there are 8 to choose from, forming a ring of Wimpy around the neighbouring counties. Peterborough, Cheshunt, Loughton, King's Lynn, Colchester, Maldon, Borehamwood, Billericay. If they opened a branch in Thetford it would be perfect.

― mfktz (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 7 January 2019 13:44 (six years ago)

It's probably posted upthread but the last time I had a Wimpy, several years ago after probably a decade or more of abstinence, it was crushingly disappointing

― I can't dérive fifty-feev (Noodle Vague), Monday, 7 January 2019 13:47 (six years ago)

there's one a mere 4.68 miles from my front door

and it's... closed until friday? wtf

― an erotic picnic with Ming (bizarro gazzara), Monday, 7 January 2019 13:49 (six years ago)

I last had one when I was working in Lewisham about a decade ago, it was not good.

― mfktz (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 7 January 2019 13:49 (six years ago)

maybe this will whet yr appetite

Talk about a Happy #NewYear! Our new specials are here and they’re priced to please! Click here for details>> https://t.co/PeCCX6pZbL pic.twitter.com/tgfMepsBnr
— WimpyUK (@WimpyUK) January 7, 2019

― an erotic picnic with Ming (bizarro gazzara), Monday, 7 January 2019 13:58 (six years ago)

god imagine being in charge of wimpy's social media, tweeting shit like this to an audience of 4,431 comprised entirely of bots and people who clicked 'follow' by mistake and haven't realised it yet

That looks absolutely delicious! 🍔😋 https://t.co/c0PvdPLcgs
— WimpyUK (@WimpyUK) December 30, 2018

― an erotic picnic with Ming (bizarro gazzara), Monday, 7 January 2019 14:01 (six years ago)

The burger emoji looks tastier than the actual thing

― lbi's life of limitless european glamour (Le Bateau Ivre), Monday, 7 January 2019 14:02 (six years ago)

what does danger mouse have to do with wimpy? why is he visiting schoolchildren? what exactly was the prize frankie won? is this real or am i in a coma, imagining symbols of my childhood smashing into each other in a signifier-free melange of empty nostalgia?

Look who visited @RayleighPrimary School this week! A massive thanks to our prize winner Frankie and his class of future Danger Agents for giving us a warm Wimpy welcome! #DangerMouse #secretagentskills pic.twitter.com/E2lFeWi1u3
— WimpyUK (@WimpyUK) December 5, 2018

― an erotic picnic with Ming (bizarro gazzara), Monday, 7 January 2019 14:05 (six years ago)

Post-colonial irony iirc

― I can't dérive fifty-feev (Noodle Vague), Monday, 7 January 2019 14:07 (six years ago)

Honest to god the state of that burger and those chips

― I can't dérive fifty-feev (Noodle Vague), Monday, 7 January 2019 14:08 (six years ago)

this feels like a prime candidate for the 'real england' thread

Dear @WimpyUK,

Here are some more photos of your cheeseburger shops that @sadcaptains and I have visited. We have been to 25 now so we are a third of the way to visiting every one!

These ones are #Basingstoke, #Beckenham, #Billericay and #Clacton.

Kind regards,

CTD3 xx pic.twitter.com/zvTwlmpcvz
— Captain T Duck III (@captaintduck3) September 14, 2018

― an erotic picnic with Ming (bizarro gazzara), Monday, 7 January 2019 14:10 (six years ago)

this tweet made me a vegan

Thanks for the amazing feedback @TinyTroyeSivan! 😍😍 https://t.co/VI8ZbbFD7L
— WimpyUK (@WimpyUK) November 16, 2018

― an erotic picnic with Ming (bizarro gazzara), Monday, 7 January 2019 14:11 (six years ago)

always a good sign when people express their satisfaction with clearly-untouched food on social media imo

― an erotic picnic with Ming (bizarro gazzara), Monday, 7 January 2019 14:11 (six years ago)

I think there used to be a Wimpy in Worcester on Foregate St possibly next to Poppins but I can't find any evidence online of this ever existing

― Colonel Poo, Monday, 7 January 2019 14:16 (six years ago)

What is wrong with their buns? They look like they were made with sawdust and bits of brick during rationing and nobody's bothered to change the order since.

― mfktz (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 7 January 2019 14:17 (six years ago)

I'll freely admit that 25 years ago they were kind of pioneering in having a bean burger that you would want to eat and I used to go to the one in Yate maybe once a month?

Just looked to see where my nearest one is to me right now and it's 25 miles away in Porthcawl. Closed at the moment. With no opening hours all week.

― Bimlo Horsewagon became Wheelbarrow Horseflesh (aldo), Monday, 7 January 2019 14:19 (six years ago)

xxp I went to high school in Worcester in the early 90s and don't remember a Wimpy there, it went McDonald's, Poppins, Deep Pan Pizza. I don't remember a Burger King in Worcester either, and that's usually the mark of a former Wimpy.

― mfktz (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 7 January 2019 14:23 (six years ago)

Buns are wholemeal which they brag about iirc, don't have a problem with that tbh

― I can't dérive fifty-feev (Noodle Vague), Monday, 7 January 2019 14:24 (six years ago)

seems the least of their problems, really

― an erotic picnic with Ming (bizarro gazzara), Monday, 7 January 2019 14:26 (six years ago)

Xxp my mum says it was on the High St by Boots. Probably gone by the early 90s as that was the reign of Viking burgers

― Colonel Poo, Monday, 7 January 2019 14:34 (six years ago)

There was a Burger King in Worcester late 90s/early 00s but that's long gone too

― Colonel Poo, Monday, 7 January 2019 14:36 (six years ago)

https://media.boutiquehotel.me/instagram/standard/997011731703618892_455226494.jpg

this is my nearest one iirc, which is on a wind-battered cliff-edge on the greying outskirts of the already pretty scruffy town of peacehaven. maybe you can actually see it from france given good weather and military-grade imaging technology?

― my name is leee john, for we are many (NickB), Monday, 7 January 2019 14:51 (six years ago)

normally loads of dogshit on that pavement btw, someone must've had a clean up before they took the photo

― my name is leee john, for we are many (NickB), Monday, 7 January 2019 14:56 (six years ago)

Only Wimpy I've ever been in is the one in Huddersfield but I see it suffered a "shock closure"

― lbi's life of limitless european glamour (Le Bateau Ivre), Monday, 7 January 2019 15:01 (six years ago)

i see your life of limitless glamour isn't confined solely to the continent, then

― an erotic picnic with Ming (bizarro gazzara), Monday, 7 January 2019 15:53 (six years ago)

otm. u lot can leave the eu but huddersfield wimpy will always have a special place in my hedonistic heart.

― lbi's life of limitless european glamour (Le Bateau Ivre), Monday, 7 January 2019 16:06 (six years ago)

that's called cardiovascular disease iirc

― an erotic picnic with Ming (bizarro gazzara), Monday, 7 January 2019 16:10 (six years ago)

tomayto tomahto iirc

― lbi's life of limitless european glamour (Le Bateau Ivre), Monday, 7 January 2019 16:11 (six years ago)

after brexit we'll no longer have access to tomatoes, so the question of pronunciation will be rendered moot on these shores

― an erotic picnic with Ming (bizarro gazzara), Monday, 7 January 2019 16:13 (six years ago)

I went to the Hudds one a few times in late 70's early 80's but I can't remember much tbh. Watching sat matinee CFF shorts like Glitterball at the ABC cinema just up the road from it that got demolished to build the sainsburies is what gets my sad nostalgia pangs going these days.

― calzino, Monday, 7 January 2019 16:21 (six years ago)

Still a Wimpy in Morden, apparently, which was my local as a kid, tho I don't remember going to it.

― Bênoit Balls (stevie), Monday, 7 January 2019 19:32 (six years ago)

just googled to see where the nearest wimpey is to my hometown and there's only one 5 minutes away from my parents' bit, in strathclyde park

― ( ͡☉ ͜ʖ ͡☉) (jim in vancouver), Monday, 7 January 2019 19:42 (six years ago)

Very sad about the Nottingham one. Not sure if I mentioned upthread but I went on a first date there! It was v old-school and enjoyable.

― emil.y, Monday, 7 January 2019 19:50 (six years ago)

That's a beautiful memory. I had chips there w/ my then gf and munching down realized the inevitable falling apart of my relationship. Ok, maybe I didn't at the time, but it feels now like I did, so I tend to embrace that memory. They had napkins aplenty, which was nice.

― lbi's life of limitless european glamour (Le Bateau Ivre), Monday, 7 January 2019 19:54 (six years ago)

Wimpy Porthcawl is a seasonal Express bar and is now closed for the winter period. It will reopen in spring 2019, dates will be confirmed here nearer the time! This Wimpy is not offering Wimpy Ketchup or Special Sauce for retail.

― kinder, Monday, 7 January 2019 22:24 (six years ago)

The photos make it look great to be honest. I might go in the summer.

― Bimlo Horsewagon became Wheelbarrow Horseflesh (aldo), Monday, 7 January 2019 22:41 (six years ago)

six months pass...

https://scontent-lht6-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/66457848_10218821779525930_6120292460808634368_n.jpg?_nc_cat=106&_nc_oc=AQkH6fWCtdIsaeqeB_wDdPy2l9NGK9Fud9DQ89J-niRM2JVwIsSz_a6pcjYKw2ifEro&_nc_ht=scontent-lht6-1.xx&oh=90a1f29c8c289924e2fe2512e6060ed2&oe=5DACC878

― Ward Fowler, Thursday, 11 July 2019 15:11 (six years ago)

'brown derby' is never not gonna make me snigger is it

― A man offers an inverted bottle of water to the Techno Viking. (bizarro gazzara), Thursday, 11 July 2019 15:13 (six years ago)

WIMPY 16 1/2p

You could order a BENDER the meaty frankfurter + a biscuit and still not meet the 20p minimum lunchtime charge. Brutal.

― kinder, Thursday, 11 July 2019 18:15 (six years ago)

If the prices were blanked out, you wouldn't be able to tell it was from the 70s. I recall that the mid-90s menu looked almost identical.

― just another country (snoball), Thursday, 11 July 2019 18:23 (six years ago)

Dundee lost its Wimpy when the ten pin bowling closed. Went there on my birthday quite a few years ago (for the bowling, not Wimpy) and my mate who Notices Those Sorts of Things saw the Angel Delight guy from Come Dine With Me out with his family.

― michaellambert, Thursday, 11 July 2019 18:42 (six years ago)

one year passes...

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x14zas6

This thread is the place for this Ram John Holder cut.

Link for more info on this thread.

https://www.ilxor.com/ILX/ThreadSelectedControllerServlet?showall=true&bookmarkedmessageid=7641186&boardid=41&threadid=92576

― xyzzzz__, Saturday, 25 July 2020 12:27 (five years ago)

one year passes...

Joe Strummer and John Peel at Wimpy bar in Piccadilly Circus, central London in July 1981.

https://scontent.fman1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/276231258_5146100878744575_1917766481083459959_n.jpg?_nc_cat=103&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=730e14&_nc_ohc=4xuWFEyeZ-AAX9jNiwj&_nc_ht=scontent.fman1-1.fna&oh=00_AT81w0zqCy2dbEPUZ4SGoP5uSBohdCL-pKVGw9-Xmr9xbQ&oe=6240DC4D

― Ward Fowler, Wednesday, 23 March 2022 16:41 (three years ago)

They were both vegetarians. The Beanburger was the only veggieburger that was available at the time.

― everything, Wednesday, 23 March 2022 17:01 (three years ago)

The only thing in that picture that doesn't look like 1981 is the Wimpy cups.

― Being cheap is expensive (snoball), Wednesday, 23 March 2022 18:32 (three years ago)

We had a local wimpy in Hendon for birthday parties. They used to let you behind the counter to fry burgers while the chef had a cig two feet away

― Chuck_Tatum, Wednesday, 23 March 2022 20:03 (three years ago)

Basildon Wimpy still seems to be for sale

https://www.nationwidebusinesses.co.uk/businessesforsale/basildon-essex-fast-food-restaurant-takeaway-for-sale-r5975.asp

True Wimpy aficionados take note: "It will be appreciated upon inspection that the first floor area has the potential to be converted into living accommodation, if desired."

Living above a Wimpy in Basildon, does life get any better

― salsa shark, Wednesday, 23 March 2022 20:23 (three years ago)

two months pass...

Lol ok

When Cher toured Britain in the sixties, she was homesick and wanted a burger. The promoter’s gopher went to Wimpy, brought one of its delicacies back to her hotel and the famed songstress burst into tears https://t.co/HBj6cqs9jD
— Nicholas Booth (@Thievesbook) May 28, 2022

― xyzzzz__, Saturday, 28 May 2022 19:31 (three years ago)

only 15p for one of those lime green milkshakes...

― koogs, Saturday, 28 May 2022 20:32 (three years ago)

seven months pass...

https://scontent.fman1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/321675251_916746296427944_4590954951965034507_n.jpg?_nc_cat=109&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=5cd70e&_nc_ohc=6O1iHHvhN5IAX_Tdedk&tn=c92m_WFoAYtXleHM&_nc_ht=scontent.fman1-1.fna&oh=00_AfCy1uz6ylQerDDP6rKSdqhkkoGBjRkmeapmVWBJFRov2A&oe=63C1B846

― Ward Fowler, Tuesday, 10 January 2023 17:14 (two years ago)

I last went to Wimpy back in 2018. I popped off to this one in Bermondsey, but it was closed:
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-h494VRwu-Z8/W0B-WBZPqXI/AAAAAAAAXwE/LLXbveoloScxufJSV_gsKz_Y9y1etS2qACLcBGAs/s1600/Untitled-24.jpg

I must have just missed it. But there's one in Basingstoke, so I went there instead. It looked closed from the outside:
https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LgxliPO9Opc/W27YtHB7jkI/AAAAAAAAXy0/QahAV8Yk8wcyhCDtmyrbpTkWoq_ohoSDwCLcBGAs/s1600/Untitled-18.jpg

As far as I can tell it still exists. I was torn by a desire to photograph the meal, but at the same time I just didn't have the guts. I remember coming down with impostor syndrome. I have a blog, but I'm not famous. Anthony Bourdain can get away with writing about Wimpy because everybody knows that he's joking. I'm not in that position yet. I did manage this photo, which made me wonder if there's a small warehouse somewhere in Doncaster that makes things for Wimpy:
https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-V1IjMCNcZH8/W27ZQXoFq5I/AAAAAAAAXzI/J5U3eT-G_hwxg7Imw6YdFYdVO2tmbCCZQCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_Wimpy.jpg

Who works there? Old people and one young intern, probably. The burger had the same taste that I remember from when I was young.

Wimpy is trapped - they're more expensive than McDonalds and Burger King, so they compete with Wetherspoons, but Wetherspoons has beer. Nando's is slightly more expensive still but feels like a proper night out. The whole "nostalgia for the 1950s" aspect doesn't work because it's hard to be nostalgic for Britain in the 1950s. I don't want to think about self-loathing club comedians and Adam Faith when I'm eating. And the Instagram aspect doesn't work because Wimpy is meaningless in the states. It's not even naff enough to be funny, it just exists.

Like Little Chef! Except that it exists, unlike Little Chef.

― Ashley Pomeroy, Tuesday, 10 January 2023 18:02 (two years ago)

Xp We are stardust, we are golden
And we've got to get ourselves
Back to the garden

― Bully King and Chips (Bananaman Begins), Tuesday, 10 January 2023 18:02 (two years ago)

ok, I'm here

https://i.postimg.cc/LXnGkN5F/20230113-152356.jpg

― Camaraderie at Arms Length, Friday, 13 January 2023 15:47 (two years ago)

it's the mid-afternoon so not many people expected, but place is half full, mainly with kids who've just finished school, but still, no sign that this place is dying.

― Camaraderie at Arms Length, Friday, 13 January 2023 15:50 (two years ago)

Staff seem to be mostly Spanish, kids seem to be leaving, still most of the tables are occupied. Stereo is playing Sweet Harmony by The Beloved, always a favourite. let's see what's on the menu.

https://i.postimg.cc/Rh01JDZw/20230113-154751.jpg

― Camaraderie at Arms Length, Friday, 13 January 2023 15:59 (two years ago)

chose the "bendy with cheese" - a little disappointed that it isn't called a "bender in a bun" now, but relieved that I can ask for it without difficulty.

https://i.postimg.cc/J7yvF6qs/20230113-155141.jpg

sausage is good, meaty, tomato is mealy, too many onions, bread is nasty, like the cheapest rolls from the supermarket, actually crumbles as I eat. I'll give it a 5/10

― Camaraderie at Arms Length, Friday, 13 January 2023 16:08 (two years ago)

they started playing Shape Of My Heart, so I made my excuses and left.

― Camaraderie at Arms Length, Friday, 13 January 2023 16:12 (two years ago)

Last Wimpy I had was at a service station en route home from Reading festival in like 2003 or so. Bun was brown and stale and gross.

― his cartoon heart expands, then he relaxes by smoking crack (stevie), Friday, 13 January 2023 16:47 (two years ago)

last nostalgia Wimpy i had might have been around the late 2000s. normally i'd say no such thing as too much onions but given these had the texture and flavour of boiled sellotape i'd make an exception

― Wyverns and gulls rule my world (Noodle Vague), Friday, 13 January 2023 17:07 (two years ago)

My mate Paul worked in Stevenage Wimpy and used have to put on the Mr Wimpy costume for kids parties and have the shit kicked out of him by sugar-crazed nippers.

― Piedie Gimbel, Friday, 13 January 2023 17:22 (two years ago)

yes, the onions were still like boiled sellotape, no idea how / why you do that to a poor onion.

― Camaraderie at Arms Length, Friday, 13 January 2023 17:37 (two years ago)

wonderful revive. still laughing at adam faith. still laughing at boiled sellotape

aesthetic charming, bun looks heinous, menu doing too much. recalls french outlet flunch somehow

had a small fight with an ex once because he went on a longed-for nostalgia visit to the nearest wimpy without me while I was on a very prohibitive diet. thought it was brazen at the time, but in retrospect it was the low blood sugar / yearning for a bendy colouring my thinking.

― verhexen, Saturday, 14 January 2023 07:21 (two years ago)

i think the spicy beanburger is the only thing i miss and would cautiously revisit

― Wyverns and gulls rule my world (Noodle Vague), Saturday, 14 January 2023 07:28 (two years ago)

I don't think I've posted this before - UK competitive eater Beard Meats Food tackles pretty much the full Wimpy menu at the Milford, Stafford branch a couple of years ago. It's a curious wee shack rather than a sit in restaurant, for added novelty.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QG3LIX4gQY

― brain (krakow), Saturday, 14 January 2023 16:57 (two years ago)

THAT'S MY CHILDHOOD WIMPY!!

― Wyverns and gulls rule my world (Noodle Vague), Saturday, 14 January 2023 17:06 (two years ago)

and yes, it's a shack. but then Milford is basically a pub and a row of houses

― Wyverns and gulls rule my world (Noodle Vague), Saturday, 14 January 2023 17:07 (two years ago)

one year passes...

Wimpy in Woolwich, London 1987

https://i.imgur.com/u5gqwBM.jpg

― Ward Fowler, Sunday, 11 February 2024 17:48 (one year ago)

two months pass...

These photos are grim as hell

This one was my local for many years

https://i2-prod.walesonline.co.uk/lifestyle/nostalgia/article22387826.ece/ALTERNATES/s1227b/1_JS183910396.jpg

― nate woolls, Friday, 19 April 2024 02:58 (one year ago)

https://i.imgur.com/u5gqwBM.jpg

so brown so grim so true to london in the 80s

― Big Bong Theory (stevie), Friday, 19 April 2024 08:09 (one year ago)

bugger
https://i.imgur.com/u5gqwBM.jpg

― Big Bong Theory (stevie), Friday, 19 April 2024 08:09 (one year ago)

nate woolls, is that the one in ogmor, wales?

― your mom goes to limgrave (dog latin), Friday, 19 April 2024 15:04 (one year ago)

Lol that's Woolwich. I know the 96 bus well

― xyzzzz__, Friday, 19 April 2024 18:29 (one year ago)

Lol that's Woolwich. I know the 96 bus well

― xyzzzz__, Friday, 19 April 2024 18:29 (one year ago)

are you talking about the photo in the post labelled "Wimpy in Woolwich, London 1987" or the other one?

― kinder, Friday, 19 April 2024 21:00 (one year ago)

Lol don't see the label.

Anyway, feeling local pride though there was another wimpy nearby that I went to regularly

― xyzzzz__, Saturday, 20 April 2024 11:11 (one year ago)

It's in Porthcawl in Wales xp

― nate woolls, Saturday, 20 April 2024 11:41 (one year ago)

Ah Porthcawl, yes sorry. Its very prominent iirc

― your mom goes to limgrave (dog latin), Saturday, 20 April 2024 14:07 (one year ago)

I wonder if anyone ever goes into one of Britain's surviving Wimpys, sits down, starts eating their meal and then suddenly realises they're the only person there not recording themselves for a youtube video

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/myMaYrEKA3M/hq720.jpg?sqp=-oaymwEhCK4FEIIDSFryq4qpAxMIARUAAAAAGAElAADIQj0AgKJD&rs=AOn4CLDvTYMGj-jHB9NxtAJ4EaEbSoSUcg

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/1i6pNkmNlFk/maxresdefault.jpg

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/9vfpLIE_nDo/sddefault.jpg

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/pqRNd2eMk0o/maxresdefault.jpg

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/DLmFjxyMDIc/hqdefault.jpg

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/mZnxWL17x7s/maxresdefault.jpg

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/oSSWEOQPaxg/maxresdefault.jpg

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/9Q8GEH7fUgA/maxresdefault.jpg

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/pCtc2jtlubU/hq720.jpg?sqp=-oaymwEhCK4FEIIDSFryq4qpAxMIARUAAAAAGAElAADIQj0AgKJD&rs=AOn4CLC97u5Keu8o8n8RDCRRA5F4ClY4cg

― Platinum Penguin Pavilion (soref), Saturday, 20 April 2024 14:56 (one year ago)

Apart from SweatpantsjoeatstheUK, the dudes making their YouTubes of their trips to Wimpy seem to be a very specific kind of older white dude and I would not like to glimpse at their Facebook feeds

― Big Bong Theory (stevie), Monday, 22 April 2024 09:16 (one year ago)

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/oSSWEOQPaxg/maxresdefault.jpg
There is no dignity in pulling a face like this multiple times once you're in your late 40s, mate

― Big Bong Theory (stevie), Monday, 22 April 2024 09:17 (one year ago)

Also all that food looks repulsive. wholemeal buns = puke, and why are those buns such an unusually flaccid beige?

― Big Bong Theory (stevie), Monday, 22 April 2024 09:17 (one year ago)

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/myMaYrEKA3M/hq720.jpg?sqp=-oaymwEhCK4FEIIDSFryq4qpAxMIARUAAAAAGAElAADIQj0AgKJD&rs=AOn4CLDvTYMGj-jHB9NxtAJ4EaEbSoSUcg
this guy has such perfect "manager of the WH Smith's where you worked on Saturdays when you were in 6th form" vibes

― Big Bong Theory (stevie), Monday, 22 April 2024 09:20 (one year ago)

I have absolute no nostalgia for Wimpy but if we're talking about the burgers served up on the charcoal grill at the kebab shop round the corner from where I grew up, that's a Proustian rush right there (RIP Merton Kebab & Burger House on Haydon's Rd, we salute you)

― Big Bong Theory (stevie), Monday, 22 April 2024 09:21 (one year ago)

nine months pass...

https://www.change.org/p/urge-wirral-borough-council-to-facilitate-wimpy-birkenhead-s-relocation

― brain (krakow), Sunday, 2 February 2025 17:27 (ten months ago)

Thumbs up on that one!

― xyzzzz__, Sunday, 2 February 2025 18:06 (ten months ago)

I can only find a Liverpool Echo link for context, not sure if they're bad bad not good?

Apparently the area is set for regeneration, having been bought by the council, and that details of how they will handle existing tenants as this happens are sketchy.

― brain (krakow), Sunday, 2 February 2025 20:42 (ten months ago)

six months pass...

Staff with Mr Wimpy outside the Wimpy restaurant on Byres Road, Glasgow in December 1988.

https://scontent-lhr6-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/532132992_1178081174354931_5598829236503013238_n.jpg?_nc_cat=100&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=833d8c&_nc_ohc=bxuNtP8ZfTwQ7kNvwE2YE1h&_nc_oc=Admf59Jb52Rmwy0-hoDQfyl7nMveh_BN-r5j4lxD30KRgXpuoxs94urINdpI3vFtSOgESH92ymwRKRNoCYOoi1BZ&_nc_zt=23&_nc_ht=scontent-lhr6-2.xx&_nc_gid=CLc3u9wSUd5eO2KTIC40Pg&oh=00_AfUszsYtmO9iEPkw4qEefXDw2sPrIlYC9rJ9awzOCnNaMg&oe=68A3937E

― Ward Fowler, Thursday, 14 August 2025 10:20 (four months ago)

I was in one in Johannesburg airport last year (where it's still a well loved and profitable chain) and it looked exactly like a seaside treat from the 70s.

Hopefully this link works, never tried one direct to my photo stream before:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/5Gp83BAZBo5f9jf5A

― Overtoun House windows (aldo), Thursday, 14 August 2025 10:56 (four months ago)

Chips look OK but the burger is a bit grim.

― you gotta roll with the pączki to get to what's real (snoball), Thursday, 14 August 2025 17:28 (four months ago)

xxp for some reason reminds me of this photo I saw yesterday

https://i.imgur.com/ak09Pq5.png

― Proust Ian Rush (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Thursday, 14 August 2025 18:02 (four months ago)

The one in Portcawl still has a trace on Google Street View, where the footage dates back to 2011:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/HnCyWscVmxhqYxNb8

My first thought was "that's a lot of surveillance cameras". And my second thought is that from Street View's angle the place actually looks quite nice, or at least the location is nice. Except that as per the photos up the page the seaward side doesn't have windows. It would have made more sense to put the kitchen on the landward side of the restaurant, but perhaps they didn't have any choice.

If you rotate the camera 180 degrees there's an advert for Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2, which is spooky.

Because it has Wimpy in the name.

― Ashley Pomeroy, Thursday, 14 August 2025 19:18 (four months ago)

two months pass...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXoQkbyaoxY

― Ward Fowler, Wednesday, 15 October 2025 14:00 (two months ago)

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