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Farewell, Fat Charlie: you are no longer a man for our times Farewell, Fat Charlie: you are no longer a man for our times
(4 months later)
Is nostalgia tasteful? I ask because the lost bright lights of our lives that we tend to hanker for and mourn do seem, on the whole, to be a touch, well, naff (a word that is itself now lost and naff). According to choice and age, Spangles, steam trains, Kenneth Wolstenholme, hipster trousers (male, with that wide belt), jelly, cassettes, Swap Shop, Pokémon, Ronnie Barker, Saturday morning cinema, The White Heather Club, Warhammer, the Hillman Imp, Buddy Holly, the Ewbank, Ceefax, Peter Wyngarde as Jason King, tinned mandarin oranges, Madonna: we don't talk of anything Brian Sewell is going to much miss here, do we?Is nostalgia tasteful? I ask because the lost bright lights of our lives that we tend to hanker for and mourn do seem, on the whole, to be a touch, well, naff (a word that is itself now lost and naff). According to choice and age, Spangles, steam trains, Kenneth Wolstenholme, hipster trousers (male, with that wide belt), jelly, cassettes, Swap Shop, Pokémon, Ronnie Barker, Saturday morning cinema, The White Heather Club, Warhammer, the Hillman Imp, Buddy Holly, the Ewbank, Ceefax, Peter Wyngarde as Jason King, tinned mandarin oranges, Madonna: we don't talk of anything Brian Sewell is going to much miss here, do we?
I also ask, particularly, because our beloved Little Chefs are once again under threat. Takeovers, departures, competition – Happy Eater: boo! – sneers, disdain, the LCs have seen it all, including the almost ultimate indignity, in 2004, when there was a proposal to do something unmentionable to the famous logo, Fat Charlie: they wanted him to slim down, become more healthy, more relevant. Well. No fewer than 15,000 customers complained, and the Mean Lean Charlie scheme was dropped (a matter of personal pleasure to your unmean unlean writer, who felt keen kinship and likes chips).I also ask, particularly, because our beloved Little Chefs are once again under threat. Takeovers, departures, competition – Happy Eater: boo! – sneers, disdain, the LCs have seen it all, including the almost ultimate indignity, in 2004, when there was a proposal to do something unmentionable to the famous logo, Fat Charlie: they wanted him to slim down, become more healthy, more relevant. Well. No fewer than 15,000 customers complained, and the Mean Lean Charlie scheme was dropped (a matter of personal pleasure to your unmean unlean writer, who felt keen kinship and likes chips).
But it was a straw in the wind from a goldenly arched polystyrene cup, a sign that the mochas were about to be put on these funny little old familiar places as fast and slick, more coffee than cafe, won the fight between affection and convenience. A slightly more tactful makeover for Fat Charlie (they took his tray away, allegedly for health and safety reasons); even Heston Blumenthal: not enough. Now, Little Chef is to be sold again, and it seems that the name and logo are likely to go, up to that ace caff in the sky, to join all the other echoes and prompts: Lyons, Kardomah, the ABCs and, of course, the Happy Eater (RIP, 1997), sworn rival of Fat Charlie, whose establishments were not to be stopped at by Little Chef fans, however desperate the circumstances and despite being owned by the same company after 1986. (Some also jeered at the HE logo, which, to be fair, was a little ambiguous.)But it was a straw in the wind from a goldenly arched polystyrene cup, a sign that the mochas were about to be put on these funny little old familiar places as fast and slick, more coffee than cafe, won the fight between affection and convenience. A slightly more tactful makeover for Fat Charlie (they took his tray away, allegedly for health and safety reasons); even Heston Blumenthal: not enough. Now, Little Chef is to be sold again, and it seems that the name and logo are likely to go, up to that ace caff in the sky, to join all the other echoes and prompts: Lyons, Kardomah, the ABCs and, of course, the Happy Eater (RIP, 1997), sworn rival of Fat Charlie, whose establishments were not to be stopped at by Little Chef fans, however desperate the circumstances and despite being owned by the same company after 1986. (Some also jeered at the HE logo, which, to be fair, was a little ambiguous.)
It's odd, isn't it, how much more tribal we were, back then? Oh, yes, I know about football teams, and north and south, and, possibly, coffee shops that pay tax and those that don't; but then it was everywhere, crucial choices had to be made on cereals, eight-track or cassette, Blue Peter or Magpie, Mod or Rocker, Bunty or Mandy, Labour or Tory, Beatles or Stones, M&S or Woolies, BBC or ITV, The Beezer or Victor, AA or RAC, Heinz or HP beans, left or right parting, real ale or Red Barrel, Brylcreem or Vitalis or nothing, and, dare I say, Protestant or Catholic.It's odd, isn't it, how much more tribal we were, back then? Oh, yes, I know about football teams, and north and south, and, possibly, coffee shops that pay tax and those that don't; but then it was everywhere, crucial choices had to be made on cereals, eight-track or cassette, Blue Peter or Magpie, Mod or Rocker, Bunty or Mandy, Labour or Tory, Beatles or Stones, M&S or Woolies, BBC or ITV, The Beezer or Victor, AA or RAC, Heinz or HP beans, left or right parting, real ale or Red Barrel, Brylcreem or Vitalis or nothing, and, dare I say, Protestant or Catholic.
Might it be possible, do you think, that we are actually achieving more sophistication, that wider influences and incomings are making us less interested in this sort of thing, quite a lot of it shot through with class? Certainly, the recent re-examination of Thatcherism and its divisions seemed like a visit to a strange and ancient time, which, whisper it again, even provoked a batsqueak of affection for the coalition. But, please, let's not get too grown-up: apart from the fun of looking back in affection and innocence, I would hate to be robbed of the strong feelings that grip whenever St Helens take on Wigan (very lucky recently) at Rugby League. And I will miss you, Fat Charlie.Might it be possible, do you think, that we are actually achieving more sophistication, that wider influences and incomings are making us less interested in this sort of thing, quite a lot of it shot through with class? Certainly, the recent re-examination of Thatcherism and its divisions seemed like a visit to a strange and ancient time, which, whisper it again, even provoked a batsqueak of affection for the coalition. But, please, let's not get too grown-up: apart from the fun of looking back in affection and innocence, I would hate to be robbed of the strong feelings that grip whenever St Helens take on Wigan (very lucky recently) at Rugby League. And I will miss you, Fat Charlie.
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