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

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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 (seventeen years ago) link

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 (seventeen years ago) link

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 (seventeen years ago) link

*Microwaved* poppadoms.

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

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 (seventeen years ago) link

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 (seventeen years ago) link

it's a french restaurant

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

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 (seventeen years ago) link

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

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

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

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

that Greenwich milkshake place is great tho.

OTM

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

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

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

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

Barba Papa?

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

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 (seventeen years ago) link

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 (seventeen years ago) link

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

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

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

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 (seventeen years ago) link

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 (seventeen years ago) link

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

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

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 (seventeen years ago) link

"THINGS ARE CHANGING - BACK SOON!

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

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 (seventeen years ago) link

GUTSY

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

GRITTY

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

BLUTO

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

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

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

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 (seventeen years ago) link

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 (seventeen years ago) link

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 (seventeen years ago) link

You'd think so, wouldn't you?

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

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 (seventeen years ago) link

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 (seventeen years ago) link

We were still getting over The War.

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

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 (seventeen years ago) link

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

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

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 (seventeen years ago) link

McDonalds didnt open a UK 'restaurant' until 1974.

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

In Woolwich innit. Opened by Noel Edmonds?

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

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 (seventeen years ago) link

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

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

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 (seventeen years ago) link

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

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

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 (seventeen years ago) link

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 (seventeen years ago) link

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 (seventeen years ago) link

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

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

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 (seventeen years ago) link

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 (seventeen years ago) link

*longer

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

one month passes...

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

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

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