Saturday 21 February 2009

Alice buys a burger

Yesterday, I couldn't post anything because I was schepping up the M1. It was a bad day, not least because of the horrendous traffic jams near Nottingham and Leeds. However, the low point of the day was reached when we pulled into a service station and I was persuaded, against my better judgement, to lunch on a Burgerking whopper.

I can't quite remember the last time I ate at Burgerking but it must have been at least seven or eight years ago. In this age of change, I can report that Burgerking remains a constant. Their burgers are as bad as I remember them.

However, the thing that really shocked me was the price; it was seven quid for their so called meal. When did fast food get so expensive? I was expecting to pay about £3 quid; imagine my surprise when the spotty northern youth behind the counter asked over £12 quid for two of their mangy dead flesh sandwiches.

It is times like this that remember just how much inflation we have suffered under our once independent central bank. The CPI data might have been telling us that we were a low inflation economy; but the menu at Burgerking speaks the truth.

21 comments:

Mitch said...

You would have been better off eating the money.

Anonymous said...

When was the last time you dined at KFC?

Anonymous said...

"It is times like this that remember just how much inflation we have suffered under our once independent central bank"

It ain't all the fault of the so called independent central bank.

I can remember buying:

a packet of crisps for 2 old pence. Similar packet today now 50 new pence or 10 -/-

a pint of Cider for 48 new pence. Today same brand 250 - 300 pence (outside london prices).

peterthepainter said...

ay lad...appen them were t'days...

a pint for 2/- (10p) an that were
t'posh stuff..

bag a chips for a tanner (2.5p) fish, chips an peas -
one and sixpence (7.5p)

a mini for £200 an a four bedroom detached house...£2000

pathetic...innit!

Sean said...

Well look on the brightside, how much more would you have paid if the Independent Bank of England as directed Crash Gordons Treasury had not passed our hidden inflation over the past 8 years over to China to reprocess?

Anonymous said...

The cost might have had something to do with being a motorway service area? Place I live in they're about £4-£5 ( I think).

Electro-Kevin said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Electro-Kevin said...

Motorway service prices.

I remember disputing the price of a manky pie with some geezer-bird with nasty man-tattoos up her arms and a ring through her eyebrow.

"Could I have some peas with that please ?"

"No. Ain't got no peas."

"Oh. I'll just have chips and gravy with it then."

"Ain't got no chips either."

"Ugh, Ok. I'll just have the pie with some gravy." despondently

"No gravy either."

"Right. I'd like to speak to the manager please."

Manager comes out.

"It's just gone lunchtime and you've got no peas, no gravy and no chips."

"Well actually, Sir, you'll find there's gravy in your pie."

"Look. At £5 for a pie I expect to find meat in it - not fucking gravy."

Anonymous said...

As others have said, Service Station prices...

In the UK never, ever, ever purchase food from a Motorway Service, Train Station or Airport, as they massively overcharge you, sometimes doubling the prices.

Jon said...

In 1968 I and three student friends went into the newly opened Wimpy Bar in Brighton, to see what this hamburger business was all about.

A few minutes after we had been served, the waitress returned to our table (you can tell how long ago this was) to ask whether everything was to our taste.

"That," said my pal Weares, pointing at his burger, reclining on its plate less a single bite, "is the most insulting thing anyone has ever expected me to eat."

Actually I subsequently had worse, in California, from a drive-in Jack-in-the-Box, served down a stainless steel chute straight into the car. Imagine lukewarm gutta-percha set between two wads of cotton wool.

Anonymous said...

Anon at 18:51. While I agree in principle with your comment, there is a good one at Westmorland on the M6 Northbound. The local Yokels run it, serve local food, and whilst its as expensive as the rest of them ( which I think is some tax con anyway? ), at least the food is edible.

Am I alone in ALWAYS getting indigestion from McDonalds Egg McMuffin Eggs?

Mark Wadsworth said...

1. Service stations are always very expensive, that's part of the fun.

2. When eating burgers, always discard the bread and just eat the middle bit.

3. Most fast food outlets are in fact franchises, and the quality varies from franchise to franchise. Some are brilliant, some are rubbish.

4. Don't forget to visit the loo before getting back in your car.

5. It's "schlepping", isn't it?

Anonymous said...

It was still probably better than the burger I got from a Wimpy off the M25 - I don't know what surprised me most, that there was a Wimpy left anywhere in the UK (they disappeared around Manchester in about 1989) or that they seemed to have boiled the burger!

Dick the Prick said...

After a torrid and drug fuelled Glastonbury in my youth (before either I got old or it got its act together) the first service station on the motorway home provided me with a life saving meal. Everyone went in muddy and zombified and strolled out slightly cleaner and smiling. They are to be used only in emergencies.

Anonymous said...

If you have to use fast food places, don't buy the headline 'deals', which are usually very expensive for what they are. If you look closely at the price list, which will be posted on the wall somewhere, you'll see (in small type) a range of cheap burgers you can order on their own. They are normally about 99p. OK you don't get all the green leaves & relish etc, but if you're hungry, a small plain cheeseburger, small fries and an icecream will set you back not much over £3, if that. I wouldn't want to eat it regularly, but if needs must, I will.

Anonymous said...

Shocked that you have not been keeping up with the real world Alice instead of being a whinging pig because you were unaware of prices.(Sorry)
This little piggie went to market, this little piggie stayed home this little piggie had ROAST BEEF and this little piggie had none.
So the last little piggie went print print print all the way home.

The Big Mac Index was introduced in The Economist in September 1986 by Pam Woodall as a semi-humorous illustration and has been published by that paper annually since then. The index also gave rise to the word burgernomics.[2]

The investment bank UBS AG has expanded the idea of the Big Mac Index to include the amount of time that an average worker in a given country must work to earn enough to buy a Big Mac. The working time-based Big Mac index might give a more realistic view of the purchasing power of the average worker, as it takes into account more factors, such as local wages. [3]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Mac_Index

Anonymous said...

Thank God you survived the experience, the last time I had a Burger King I was wretching before the evening was out (and I don't drink).

The British public will not get away with such a significant devaluation of its currency lightly, there is bound to be an inflationary (imports) price as well as a political price to pay.

Laban said...

As everyone says, motorway service prices rather than inflation (in this case). BK prices are otherwise compatible with McD. I had a cup of BK coffee at Abington services on the A74M yesterday (£1.79) and noticed the basically £7 meal. It would be about £4 off-motorway.

(motorway franchises are worth a post in themselves. At Abington you get BK/Primo Coffee, whoever they are/KFC/Eat In, their own-brand and expensive restaurant. Roadchef outlets are Wimpy/Pizza Hut/Costa, Moto are a BK/M&S combination. Whatever the franchise mix, the prices are set so that no franchise undecuts the others)

Anonymous said...

I did not need to buy an ham. from b.king to see the inflation! In fact I noticed it when I pay my council tax.. When I moved from Italy 12 years ago my first bill was 700 pounds today for the same house I'm paying 2200 pounds... so 300% in 12 years...unfortunaly my savings are not raised that much...

cambstreasurer said...

That makes the Cornish Pasty Company look pretty good (don't think they do service stations, though). £2.60 for a pasty with decent veg. and no food poisoning.

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