>

BURGERS

See Also: FISH & CHIPS; MEAT; OYSTERS & SEAFOOD; MENU

Burger King

In 2022 Burger King's Leicester Square branch tested out an all-vegan menu.

Location: 17-21 Leicester Square, WC2H 7LE (red, grey)

Website: www.burgerking.co.uk www.burgerking.co.uk/meat-free-restaurant

McDonalds

Britain s first McDonalds was opened in 1974 by Robert Rhea, an American. He went on to establish a further 250 outlets of the chain across the country.

In 2010 McDonalds was only using the forequarters and flanks of cattle in its beefburgers.

Location: 56-58 Powis Street, Woolwich, SE18 6LQ

See Also: ECONOMICS The Mars Bar Inflation Index

McLibel

David Morris and Helen Steel were environmental activists. In 1986 the pair distributed a pamphlet that was entitled McDonald s: Everything They Don t Want You To Know. The company took exception to the document s assertions. In 1990 it chose to sue the duo for libel.

The McLibel trial lasted 313 days. It became the longest suit in English legal history. In 1997 the case was concluded in the company's favour. Its victory was regarded by many as having been essentially Pyrrhic.

Upon appeal, the damages against Morris and Steel were reduced from 60,000 to 40,000. McDonald's legal bill was estimated to have been 10m.

In 2013 it was reported that one of the claims that The Guardian journalists Paul Lewis and Rob Evans had made in their book Undercover: The True Story of Britain's Secret Police was that one of the people who had participated in the authorship of the McLibel pamphlet had been Robert Lambert. He had been an undercover police officer who had posed as an environmental activist. At the time, of the volume's publication he was lecturing on terrorism studies at the University of St Andrews.

Location: The Royal Courts of Justice, Strand, WC2A 2LL (red, blue)

See Also: THE HAIRIES; VEGETARIANISM & VEGANISM

Website: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PSbg7ynGqM The rap group Public Enemy's visit to the Shepherds Bush branch. Ms Clarkson went on become a successful rapper in her own right and then a songwriter.

Location: 88-90 Uxbridge Road, W12 8LR

Wimpy Bars

Until the 1970s Wimpy Bars were how most Britons experienced eating burgers. Visiting Americans tended to be disparaging about both the business's name and the product it sold. However, these had been created in the United States. The Wimpy business had been founded in Chicago during the 1930s. The enterprise had taken its name from J. Wellington Wimpy, a character in the Popeye cartoon strip who loved eating hamburgers. Initially, Wimpy hamburgers appeared in Britain as a dish on the menu of Lyons Corner Houses. In 1954 Eddie Gold established the British Wimpy Bar in the Coventry Street J. Lyons Corner House. The following year the company opened the first standalone Wimpy Bar in London.

Location: 7-14 Coventry Street, W1D 7DH (blue, pink)

See Also: CAFES J. Lyons

Website: https://wimpy.uk.com

David Backhouse 2024