Chain reaction: the ups and downs of Britain’s high street stalwarts | Jay Rayner

It’s easy to sneer at our restaurant chains. Sometimes they deserve it, but sometimes they really hit the spot

I am old enough to remember the Wimpy chain in its 1970s table-service pomp: ketchup squirted from plastic tomatoes, with a red congealed scab around the nozzle to pick at when you were bored, and a menu item called a Bender Brunch, featuring two sausage rings and absolutely no awareness of current playground slang. There was also the Golden Egg, a mildly polished greasy spoon chain which colonised British high streets in the 1960s, with its egg-shaped menu of egg-heavy dishes.

As the world shook on its axis, I craved a Pizza Express American Hot with extra anchovies on a crisp Romana base