Wimpy: How Britain’s Original Burger Chain Lost the Fast Food War скачать в хорошем качестве

Wimpy: How Britain’s Original Burger Chain Lost the Fast Food War

In 1954, Britain’s first hamburger was served on a china plate, with a knife and fork, by a waitress in uniform. It was polite. Respectable. Almost formal. Twenty years later, teenagers abandoned it overnight for somewhere faster, cheaper, and unapologetically American. This is the story of Wimpy — Britain’s original burger chain — and how it went from owning the high street to being almost erased from it. I didn’t realise how strange Wimpy’s story was until I started digging. A hamburger brand that arrived before McDonald’s. A fast-food chain that insisted on table service. A business that felt British enough to be defended in newspapers — despite being American in origin. In this video, I trace Wimpy’s rise from post-rationing Britain in the 1950s, through its absolute dominance in the 1960s and 70s, to the moment everything changed when McDonald’s arrived and rewrote the rules of eating out. You’ll see: How Wimpy introduced hamburgers to Britain in a way parents approved of Why table service made Wimpy feel respectable — and later made it vulnerable What British newspapers really thought about McDonald’s “invasion” How teenagers abandoning Wimpy sealed its fate The corporate betrayal that handed Wimpy’s best sites to Burger King Why Wimpy still exists today — but only just This isn’t just a fast-food story. It’s about class, taste, Americanisation, and how cultural habits change faster than businesses can adapt. Wimpy didn’t disappear because it was bad. It disappeared because the world stopped wanting to sit down, wait, and eat properly. If you remember Knickerbocker Glories, birthday parties in red leather booths, or being told you couldn’t eat with your hands — this one’s for you. And if you don’t remember Wimpy at all, this is the story of the burger chain Britain forgot.