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

Message Bookmarked
Bookmark Removed
Not all messages are displayed: show all messages (548 of them)
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

O God!!!

JTS, Sunday, 1 July 2007 00:40 (sixteen years ago) link

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 (sixteen years ago) link

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 (sixteen years ago) link

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 (thirteen years ago) link

ya-hah

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

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 (thirteen years ago) link

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 (thirteen years ago) link

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 (thirteen years ago) link

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 (thirteen years ago) link

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

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

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 (thirteen years ago) link

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 (thirteen years ago) link

They always are, and they're always grey.

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

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

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

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 (twelve years ago) link

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

Ward Fowler, Sunday, 12 February 2012 07:22 (twelve years ago) link

i was gonna say

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

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 (twelve years ago) link

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 (twelve years ago) link

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 (twelve years ago) link

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 (twelve years ago) link

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 (twelve years ago) link

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 (twelve years ago) link

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 (twelve years ago) link

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 (twelve years ago) link


You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.