Icon
The Wimpy Bar
The burger that begat our culinary Americanisation, though not at the expense of plates and cutlery – we’re not savages!
Words by Delwyn Mallett
More than a decade after its first UK outlet opened on London’s Coventry Street, Wimpy’s branding was still playing second fiddle.
SHUTTERSTOCK
THIS YEAR MARKS
the 70th anniversary of the American-style hamburger making its debut on the British culinary stage, when the first Wimpy Bar opened in the Lyons Corner House on London’s Coventry Street.
Britain was still suffering the privations inflicted by World War Two: it was not until July 1954 that meat became the final item to come off rationing and it was goodbye to Spam fritters. Before the end of that year the directors of J Lyons & Co, the giant of high street catering since 1894, had decided on an experiment to attract younger customers and obtained a licence from Wimpy Grills of Chicago to use its name.