Here's the latest in our Rewind series - this time we feature the long-lost Wimpy restaurant in our town.

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It may seem strange nowadays, but back in the 1970s and 1980s Wimpy restaurants were the go-to places to grab an 'American style' burger.

Prior to the arrival of fast food giants McDonald's, Burger King and KFC featuring the bearded poultry icon Colonel Sanders, Wimpy was the high street fast food colossus up and down the land, including Hitchin.

As you can see from our evocative picture, taken from the seminal book Hitchin Town Through Time, Wimpy was the fast-food pioneer that allowed many in our area their initial taste of America in deepest North Herts.

Hitchin's Wimpy restaurant in our picture was situated on Bancroft, in a 19th century building that Prezzo occupied before it closed down during the pandemic.

However, in fact, such was Hitchin's appetite for Wimpy, there were actually two restaurants in our town centre, with the other on Sun Street, where the Angel Vaults pub is now.

One look at the menu will confirm just why Wimpy's were so popular.

In an age of dull, insipid food, who recalls the excitement created simply by glancing at the exotic offerings from the US and their unfeasibly thrilling hamburger-based meals?

Who recalls the glory of a Knickerbocker Glory in a tall (plastic) glass - and its 25 pence price?

Or a Wimpy burger for 16 and a half pence? 35p would have bought you a slap-up Wimpy Brunch or Wimpy Grill, while 40p would have got you a Shanty Salad.

Or how about a Wimpy Special Grill for the princely sum of 42p no less? And don't forget 'Bender the meaty frankfurter' for 16 and a half pence?

Wimpy was formed across the Atlantic in 1932 in Bloomington, Indiana before arriving in the UK after the Second World War, with its succulent fayre first featuring in their UK flagship site at Lyons Corner House in London in 1954.

By 1970, the Wimpy brand had extended across the globe with more than 1,000 outlets in 23 countries worldwide.

Yet, in their heyday, it was Wimpy's very strengths that were soon to become archaic, as the powerhouses of McDonalds and Burger King arrived, to muscle out the quaint waitress style service and the plates packed with large portions, in favour of counter service and packaged fast food.

By the late 1980s, Wimpy was fading fast, seen as old-fashioned compared to the bright, brash upstarts as Ronald McDonald elbowed away the far more prosaic butter and a roll type offerings (4.5p).

Wimpy has managed to survive and now trades on nostalgia with a number of waitress-style restaurants still operating across the UK, even if the Golden Arches et al still dominate fast-food options.

But for those of us of a certain vintage, nothing will ever replace the thrill of a Knickerbocker Glory eagerly consumed in a town centre Wimpy such as Hitchin.

Do you remember Wimpy in Hitchin? Send us your memories

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