please empty your brain below
Wimpys in London?

Medford | 20.03.22 - 7:20 a.m. | #

Well that was no fun.

Well done!

diamond geezer | Homepage | 20.03.22 - 7:20 a.m. | #

Wow! My guess was dg was throwing darts on a map of London.

Dan | 20.03.22 - 7:24 a.m. | #

Wimpy Bars in my day. And I still shudder at the memories.

Waterhouse | 20.03.22 - 7:27 a.m. | #

That was like setting off all the fireworks in one go.

According to Wikipedia we now have the South African branded version of Wimpy.

Still Anon | 20.03.22 - 7:52 a.m. | #


diamond geezer | Homepage | 20.03.22 - 7:58 a.m. | #

Well, I think it's fair to say I would never have guessed that, and could have spent (wasted?) most of my day trying to work it out.

Hope they still provide 'real knives and forks' or however they used to word it i the adverts.

Peter of London | 20.03.22 - 8:13 a.m. | #

I wonder if he gets Wordle in one guess too.

Frank F | 20.03.22 - 8:17 a.m. | #

I like the way that Wimpys give Hillingdon eyes.

Entertained | 20.03.22 - 8:18 a.m. | #

I visited the Watney Market one on 28 Feb, then walked up B140 and along Regents Canal towards QEOP. A glorious sunny day and got within 10m of a friendly heron at Mile End.
Proper cutlery plus their unique orange coloured sauce.

scrumpy | 20.03.22 - 8:18 a.m. | #

Wimpy-less boroughs: 22
Double-Wimpy boroughs: Bexley, Bromley, Greenwich, Havering, Hillingdon

diamond geezer | Homepage | 20.03.22 - 8:23 a.m. | #

I thought this was going to be about the number of visits you've made to each London Borough after acquiring your Travelcard.

Hadders | 20.03.22 - 8:28 a.m. | #

This made me look up the Wimpy's that was in Clapham Junction, which apparently is no longer and is now a restaurant called Steers, which apparently is a South African burger chain. It gets very mixed reviews on Trip Advisor.

Greg | 20.03.22 - 8:45 a.m. | #

Ha ha, well done Medford!

Kevin | 20.03.22 - 9:03 a.m. | #

And Havering looks a little like an elephant!

Mikey C | 20.03.22 - 9:12 a.m. | #

I could murder a Brown Derby right now

frank | 20.03.22 - 9:25 a.m. | #

Wimpys were very family-friendly and convenient for our three children when we were travelling around. Toasted tea cake and good cup of tea, no fuss. Space for pushchair. Hornchurch and Upminster - amazed they are still there.

Herbof | 20.03.22 - 9:26 a.m. | #

I wonder when the one in Barking closed down. I seem to recall it being there still in the mid 2000s

David (@DTL) | Homepage | 20.03.22 - 9:46 a.m. | #

I had my first Wimpy hamburger at the Ruislip High St branch. I looked them up on Google and they are still there.

dg writes: yes, see map

Michael | 20.03.22 - 9:47 a.m. | #

I used to frequent the Wimpy in Thornton Heath after swimming lessons in the 80s but, alas, Croydon is now a Wimpy-less borough. I do now live in Orpington and can confirm that our Wimpy branch looks very unfrequented.

Lucy | 20.03.22 - 10:27 a.m. | #

(for my RRS feed at least that was a blank post and for anybody else would have been ignored as click bate)

I spent a while in Southern Africa about 10 years ago, and rediscovered Wimpy then. It was different to the UK Wimpy I remember from my youth, but especially for breakfast/brunch, they were very good. British menu a little different, and the one we tried (Bourne End) was ok if pricy. I can also confirm that Steers is a fairly popular and ubiquitous burger chain in South Africa, though with a variable rating. My memory is that the burgers were generally ok not great, but the fries were awful. I haven't tried a Steers in UK and have no plan to do so!

Rich (no not that one, the other one) | 20.03.22 - 10:32 a.m. | #

The Upminster one has been there for ages, as Herbof mentions - long enough that I remember it being huge (it isn't), and I'm 51. We went once, I think; one of those moments when Mum decided to be trendy, before deciding that no, being not-trendy was more her thing. There was a little caff near the 'square' fountain (still there?) in Romford which was more her style.

mark addy | 20.03.22 - 10:48 a.m. | #

Well I would never have guessed that!!
Looks like the one in Twickenham has finally succumbed to the times.

Cornish Cockney | 20.03.22 - 10:49 a.m. | #

I assumed these were crematoria.

cau1khead | 20.03.22 - 10:56 a.m. | #

In all the wimpystalgia no-one has suggested an England chain which may be a replacement guesserama. I tried out Wickes and Jewsons, but no luck. Something with a distribution centre in Essex perhaps.

Malcolm of Kent | 20.03.22 - 10:57 a.m. | #

I am still yet to visit my local Wimpy. I must rectify this some day.

Scott | Homepage | 20.03.22 - 10:59 a.m. | #

Looks like I missed something really good during my two visits in the UK.

Patrickov | 20.03.22 - 11:04 a.m. | #

Glad to see they still do Brown Derby but what happened to the knickerbocker glory?

dg writes: withdrawn 2011

Michael | 20.03.22 - 11:19 a.m. | #

Greg: Steers was short-lived. The site is now a Nando's.

Jonathan Wadman | 20.03.22 - 11:31 a.m. | #

Wimpys were amazing. They had all sorts of weird burger, like lamb burgers and ostrich burgers and meerkat burgers. And they all tasted like identical circles of cardboard.

yerrong | 20.03.22 - 12:26 p.m. | #

I used to love a bender.

winsleigh | 20.03.22 - 12:34 p.m. | #

(photo added)

diamond geezer | Homepage | 20.03.22 - 1:12 p.m. | #

Re your map in the comments. 1 Wimpy in Norfolk. Got me thinking, was this the one that was in King's Lynn when I was a kid. Quick Google ... sure enough, best part of 50 years later it's still there.

Putters | 20.03.22 - 1:16 p.m. | #

Its good to find a Wimpy sometimes - though prices are a bit steep!

Cornish Monkey | 20.03.22 - 1:18 p.m. | #

Mark, the Romford Liberty fountain has long gone. Now glass roofed and shops extended into the area.

Fred | 20.03.22 - 1:21 p.m. | #

Fairly sure the photo is of the Upminster branch.

dg writes: Do click on it (or hover over it).

HC | 20.03.22 - 1:27 p.m. | #

Burger joints or crematoria, not much difference really.

popartist | 20.03.22 - 2:03 p.m. | #

The now owners of Welcome Break in the UK decided, for unknown reasons, that Wimpy was a brand worth resurrecting in the mid-00s and we ended up with about 30 of them in Ireland - all in petrol stations. I suspect one of the two founders had childhood memories of the first time around.

The larger ones became Burger Kings, the smaller ones are now just grill addendums to standard petrol station food counters.

The one nearest to me only operated about ten hours a week, across Friday/Saturday/Sunday so it was a very half-hearted attempt at a reintroduction.

Cian | Homepage | 20.03.22 - 2:06 p.m. | #

In the mid-80s, there was a Wimpy in Finsbury Park - right on Seven Sisters Road, IIRC, opposite the tube station.

Eddie | 20.03.22 - 2:31 p.m. | #

We used to take our two young sons to the Wimpey next to the station in Barking until McDonalds opened which they soon preferred. The Wimpey is now a Griller.

JohnC | 20.03.22 - 3:23 p.m. | #

Amazing first comment, how did he do it?I tipped my hat to the Watney Street Market one today as I walked past. I'm pretty sure they were the first burger chain to do a veggie burger or spicy bean burger. I've just checked and they do a vegan burger so they're keeping up with the times, bless 'em.

Colin | Homepage | 20.03.22 - 3:52 p.m. | #

I thought it was going to be some sort of Rorschach test. Was a bit worried that I couldn't see the green.

coffin dodger | 20.03.22 - 4:40 p.m. | #

Photo: yay, Upminstah…

Herbof | 20.03.22 - 6:21 p.m. | #

Felixstowe has one - well worth going to for the superb book shop so will have a trip down memory lane next time out there, - hopefully will have a squeezy plastic ketchup dispenser modelled on a tomato.

David Smith | 20.03.22 - 6:28 p.m. | #

I am equidistant from Mill End and Ruislip. Very nice fish and chips on my last visit.

Johnny C | 20.03.22 - 7:46 p.m. | #

This instilled nostalgia in me for The Golden Egg.

Tops | 21.03.22 - 9:41 a.m. | #

So, here's a subject where I have something to contribute - being something of a Wimpy aficionado.

I've lived in or around London for 16 years from 1984 to 2000, and back in the 80s Wimpy was everywhere. They must have been in the high two figures in terms of number of stores in London.

In addition to the "standard" Wimpy "sit down, knife and fork" outlets, they had two really large "fast food" style branches, one at Piccadilly Circus, and one in Kingston. Both became Burger Kings towards the end of the 80s, and the site of the one in Kingston is now the HSBC Bank.

I don't eat burger & chips style often (maybe once every two weeks) but when i do, Wimpy was my favourite (when I was still in the UK). Quarter-pounder with cheese and chips - delicious!

Now living in Ireland, I usually visit London for some transport related spins and photography two or three times a year. When I do, I try to take in a Wimpy somewhere on one of my days wanderings.

And as the years pass, it's been getting harder to do that. Holborn, gone. Clapham Junction, gone. Walworth Road, gone, and many more.

I was in London for a week in February of this year, and sampled two of the remaining Wimpys at the eastern and western extremities.

I visited Upminster to travel on the Romford-Upminster "Ice Age" train as described by DG, and also to photograph the dwindling band of Stagecoach Scanias on the 248.

And Ruislip when I was spending some time photographing around Harrow, Pinner and nearby areas.

Both branches clean and welcoming, and the food as tasty as usual.

Ruislip store is more modern in construction, and the staff younger. Upminster more a classic store, and older employees, middle-aged blonde waitresses with Essex accents. I texted my wife that it was like a trip back in time to my years London in the mid 80s!

Another commenter here referenced the sudden arrival in, and departure from, Ireland in the early 00s. One isolated store remains carrying the Wimpy branding in Fermoy Co. Cork, but seems to be entirely independent, and not the real deal.

TLDR: ageing transport geek laments gradual loss of British icon, finds path back to his youth in an Essex suburb :-)

Steve Conway | 21.03.22 - 10:02 a.m. | #

1971, sixteen years old with a Saturday job.
My first girlfriend - and where do I take her on a first 'eating out' date - Wimpy in Lewisham High Street, of course.
I felt so sophisticated!

Dave | 21.03.22 - 11:53 a.m. | #

I'm amazed to hear the Wimpy in Fermoy is still going. I used to spend my holiday money in there every summer in the 1980s when visiting family who lived just outside the town.

THC | 21.03.22 - 12:25 p.m. | #

Hampshire currently has 5 Wimpys.

Andover in Hampshire had, for a few years from 2013, TWO branches of Wimpy within 900ft of each other - one the full sit-down experience, one just for takeway.

Odd that this little market town had, for a couple of years at least, more Wimpys than most London boroughs.

We still have the one Wimpy, and it's thriving!

Peter Moore | 22.03.22 - 11:41 a.m. | #











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