wimpy bar

Queens Road Hastings 1970’s painted by Derek Clemans

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painting by Derek Clemans

Derek Clemans… I came across an old grainy black and white photo of Queens Road from around the 1970s I am guessing and was inspired to paint it in full colour. It has been a labour of love… I would love to hear any stories that anyone might have if I have sparked a memory or two. Or did you work in any of these shops.

Nick Prince…  I remember it well. Great photo

Dizz Corinne Ryder… Great picture! Loved the Wimpy, had forgotten about Timothy Whites though!

Ian Mantel… 1979, BSM driving lessons with Johnny Stuart (local DJ) then a Wimpy for lunch, every Friday.

Leigh Wieland-Boys… Great picture…think I might be the girl in the red dress with the umbrella making my way to Wimpy’s

Pauline Richards… Oh I do miss Wimpy. We used to go after work on a Saturday. Sorry but can’t get used to McDonalds! Apart from the fact they never get my order right it just hasn’t got the taste.

Andy Qunta…  Love it!

Alan Esdaile… Excellent.

Peter Fairless… I remember that Wimpy, also that you could park right outside!

Martin Brown… blimey you might be correct that says Wimpy in Queens Road

Tim Moose Bruce…  Bit I remember about Queens Road in the 70s. My brother bought a B&O hifi system from a shop which is not shown in this picture but not far away, cant remember the name of the shop. It was the time of the miners and power workers strikes and all unnessesary lights etc had to be switched off to conserve power. This included any electrical goods powered up for advertising and demonstration. The shop owner demonstrated the hifi after shutting the shop, turning off all the front lights and pulling down the blinds, then playing the stereo full volume!

Mick May… was it Rumberlows

Leigh Wieland-Boys… My parents also bought a B& O system in the 70s, (it was from a shop in Queens Rd, could well have been Rumbelows), which I ended up with when I moved to London in the 80s, sold it on in 1986 for a tenner!

Tim Moose Bruce… Might have been. I remember it cost about 200 quid.

Anita Brett-eveerst… I had a Saturday job in the Wimpy

Dennis Torrance… Wimpy the best

Gavin Hide… On weekend leave I would have few drinks in Images then go to Wimpy for burger chips then home

Alan Pepper… Yes brings back happy memories from the early seventies . Lovely portrayal mate ! Those frankfurters in Wimpy were to die for . Would spend a lot of time and money in the Record shop (Disc Jockey) further on down just out of the picture. How about a stab at Trinity Street when we had busy days down by the old Observer Derek ?

Dave Nattress… Love the picture, fantastic old names!! A cross between Graham Clarke and L S Lowry. Leigh, could indeed be you or Jane D heading for Chelsea Girl, on the corner opposite side of the road nearer Havelock Road. I remember the Wimpy and one in Bexhill and Eastbourne and just about everywhere. Read an article very recently, there used to be 500 in the UK now there are 80. Also, I remember when you could park outside anywhere or everywhere, not 15 miles away and have to get the train or bus into town!

Pauline Thwaites… I loved the wimpy , I remember having a coconut milkshake in there every week along with a burger as well x

Cherry Longley… Worked in that branch of Boots as a Saturday girl last year of school and during my college year. Remember Trueform for shoes, Posners for trendy fashion and of course Chelsea Girl. My aunt worked in FADS where M&S is now.

David Kent… Someone I know had a hamster called Bollom.

Richard Samuel… Any chance of selling prints ?

Derek Clemans… Prints are always for sale most of my work has been professionally scanned by a local printer incuding this one.. The finished image is on a hard cardboard and is done to a high standard. I usualy stick to a 16″ by 20″ because it as a standard size frame in ESK or elsewhere.Any other size can be available. A 16″ x 20″ signed print comes out at £45.

Nigel Ford… Tim… Currys just out of frame to the left. I remember parents buying us the Dansette Tempo (cheap version, – still here in the loft) for us there mid 60’s. Nice memory Derek, thank you.

Derek Clemans… Richard is still interested in buying a print. I have sent you his email address.

Jeff McCall… would really like to see a picture of this facade before the extensions and shopfronts were added is anyone had one.

Wimpy Bar – Pelham Place Hastings

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supplied by Leigh Kennedy

Janette Marshall… Used to love a wimpy you couldn’t beat the knickerbocker glory

Gerry Fortsch… I remember the chocolate sundae.

Daryl Perkins… Coke float!!

Pauline Richards… Used to go there after work on a Saturday for burger. Their French mustard too. It was the best. Never enjoyed a burger since.

Lloyd Johnson… In 1963/64 I worked in this one so does that qualify me as a Chef?

Perri Anne Haste… I went here a few times, I used to love their burgers & brown Derby dessert of doughnut with ice cream, chocolate sauce & chopped nut sprinkles

Lynne Smith… Went here on the way to the Aquarius every Thursday night

John Beeching… Worked there when I was 15

Stephen Moran… I had very happy time working there from 1969-71 while I was still at school. Nelson and Napoleon De Souza were great to work for and always treated me well.

Nicola Dobson… I had a friend who worked there Kim..do you remember her had aubyn hair?

Stephen Moran… hi Nicola I remember Paula who worked there but I’m not sure I recall Kim. I think because we worked different shifts we didn’t always get to meet each other.

Pete Houghton… Great photo!!

Mark Randall… I had an office to the right of St Mary’s, top floor

Ian Johnson… Egg n chips

Judith Monk… I worked there during my college years! The days of Brown Bettys..

Jacquie Hinves… Went there when I was a student nurse!

Tracy Birrell… Brown Derby…..

Paul Slidel… Wimpy Special Grill with a choc milk shake – kids heaven!

Wimpy Bar memories and new one coming to Hastings?

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The old Wimpy in Queens Road, Hastings. supplied by Nick Prince 1066 and all that Facebook page

 

Wimpy Pelham Place

Nick Prince… As Hastings looks set to get a Wimpy Bar again, its a great opportunity for some retro talk about some retro cuisine. What was your favourite? A bender in a bun? a double decker? A banana longboat? Mine was the Wimpy Brunch and a Knickerbocker Glory… So…. Is it true that Wimpy are returning to Hastings after two decades? The area covered by “1066 and all That” has had five Wimpy Bars dating back to the early 1960’s – Three in Hastings and Two in Bexhill. The Hastings ones were at Pelham Place (now an amusement arcade), Queens Road (now a travel agent) and George Street (now Whites Seafood and Steak Restaurant), while the Bexhill ones were situated in Devonshire Road (now Little Maroubu) and Western Road (now Bentley’s Steak House). Eventually becoming a British firm, Wimpy started off life in the US in Indiana back in 1934 and Lyons introduced the brand to the UK at their Lyons Corner House in Coventry Street twenty years later. Lyons went on to form Wimpy UK, which was totally independent to the USA version which has since disappeared. Wimpy were established in both countries before the world had been introduced to both McDonald’s and Burger King. At their UK peak, which didn’t actually come until the early 1980’s, there were 500 operating with many towns and cities having several, Brighton at one time had eight open at the same time and now the nearest one to that city it at Peacehaven. Half of the Wimpys became Burger King’s in a merger in the late 1980’s before a management buy out saved the name, which derives from the burger chomping J Wellington Wimpy from Popeye. At the beginning of 2016 just 86 survived and this has dwindled to 80 today. Two new ones have opened in Oxford and Surrey. However, Eastbourne lost their very busy one this May when its lease ran out and the site being used as part of the Arndale redevelopment. The chain will be reopening in Eastbourne. The one in Streatham has seen off the McDonald’s.  Where in Hastings is it going? A lot of empty shops in Castle Street!  What do Wimpy themselves say about returning to Hastings? They say; “Watch this space!” .

Ernest Ballard… Brilliant

Ian Mantel… 1979, Friday mornings- HCFE, lunch at Wimpy, Queen’s Road before BSM driving lesson with Hastings DJ, Johnnie Stuart (?) in his Triumph Dolomite Sprint .

Jan Warren… I’m sure they used to do some sort of “doughnut dessert”, was it called a “brown derby” (or something) …… maybe that was in the 60s??!!

Chris Meachen… Used to like a brown derby, ring donut covered in soft ice cream, drizzled in chocolate sauce with a sprinkle of chopped nuts… The wimpy by the deluxe used to be our biker’s base in the 70’s, we’d all meet up in there before going out for a ride somewhere.. The Mandovi brothers were always very welcoming, & traffic was so light in those days, we could line our bikes up outside.. I always liked the quarter-pounder burger, brown derby, & proper milkshakes..

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