Forgotten Fast Food Joints of the Last Half Century Extra #1: Huckleberry’s

Feast of the M60 looks at some more obscurities in the world of hamburger hawking

Several years ago, we did a Feast of the M60 Not So Perfect Ten on forgotten fast food joints. We included King John’s Restaurant in the now-missed Kings Hall shopping arcade in Oldham, and the Big Bite burger bar that was in the corner of Co-op’s Shopping Giant superstore.

Since 2012, the Great British Burger Market® has become a lot more competitive. Whereas McDonalds is top dog in the mainstream market, Five Guys and Gourmet Burger Kitchen have carved a niche at the premium end. In the middle ground, J.D Wetherspoon enjoys that position, once enjoyed by Wimpy. Where it trumps many of the burger giants is the fact it sells cask conditioned ales.

Alongside McDonalds and Wimpy, the close of the 1970s saw the rise of a third force in fast food in the South of England. It was Burger Queen’s first foray into the UK market. Enter Huckleberry’s.

When are the Last Trains to London?

Beat of the M60 finds an excuse to combine trains with music

“It was 9.29, 29… 9.29 back street, big city/The sun was going down, there was music all round, it felt so right.”

– Last Train to London, Electric Light Orchestra (1979)

Bus Boarding Beats: A Brief Look at Sounds In Motion

Do you remember when background music on buses was a thing?

In the last 40 years, bus operators across the UK have tried to find creative ways of making local bus routes pay. Route branding with dedicated liveries is one answer, positioning everyday bus routes as product lines in their own right. Another answer is advertising. Initially done by local contractors, most of today’s on-bus advertising space is managed by Global. Yes, the owners of countless commercial radio stations like LBC, as well as outdoor poster sites.

A Lost Train to London: The Highwayman

The cheap yet slow way of getting from Newcastle-upon-Tyne to London

Road and rail competition, whether private car versus train or scheduled coach versus train is far from new. The private car was, and remains, a threat to the viability of any communal transport options due to its convenience and perceived economy. The opening of the M1 and M6 motorways was also attractive for coach operators as well as motorists.

The Other UK Singles Chart: 2. The New Musical Express Singles Charts

A beginners’ guide to the NME Charts, the UK’s original Hit Parade

The UK’s first singles chart, like its American pioneer owes its existence to an iconic music magazine. On the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, it is the Billboard Singles Chart that was (and remains to this day) compiled by Billboard Magazine. In the United Kingdom, the New Musical Express magazine led the charge.

The Other UK Singles Chart: 1. Independent Local Radio Music Charts

A beginners’ guide to chart tracking on ILR stations from 1974 to 2008

If you mention the UK singles chart, the first thing that springs to mind in the Official Charts Company’s countdown. This goes out every Friday on BBC Radio One. Before then, it used to go out on Sunday afternoons and, prior to October 1987, Tuesday lunchtimes.

An Awesome Alliterative Album: Rebellious Mixtape #12

Can you create a good album with songs by alliterative artistes? Rebellious Mixtape will be your music and your friend

Before social media became a thing, we used to stand out from the competition by using catchy names and jingles. ‘Murray’ would always rhyme with ‘hurry’ among Baby Boomers because of a 1950s advertising jingle.

Bus Regulation The Musical: The Review

How Ellie Harrison’s show brought us fifty years of Greater Manchester transport history on wheels

Baroness Castle of Blackburn (played by Summer Dean, left of centre) with the eight skaters.

• Bus Regulation The Musical.
• Manchester Art Gallery, 28 September 2019 (2pm and 3pm).
• Produced by Ellie Harrison.

I could think of several ways of spending half an hour of my leisure time. One is listening to the entire ‘B’ side of Foxtrot, Genesis’ 1972 LP which includes the magnificent Supper’s Ready. Another is sitting on a 216 bus or tram bound for Manchester city centre. By opting for the latter, I unearthed a little gem in Ellie Harrison’s production, Bus Regulation The Musical.

Great Unrealised Mancunian Transport Plans: The Not So Perfect Ten

In 1984, we were promised jetpacks; we got Pacer units instead

We haven’t had a Not So Perfect Ten on here for a while. With urban public transport forever in the news agenda, our latest NSP10 reflects this. Given how Northern Powerhouse Rail and Manchester Piccadilly’s 15th and 16th platforms hang in the balance, we are going to take a look at ten unrealised transport projects.

Breakfast In America for Beginners: A Duffers’ Guide to Supertramp’s 1979 LP

(Almost) everything you need to know about Breakfast In America, Supertramp’s sixth album which is 40 years old this year

• Album: Breakfast In America;
• US Release Date: 29 March 1979 (#1);
• UK Release Date: 31 March 1979 (#3);
• US Chart Singles: The Logical Song (#6), Breakfast In America (#62), Goodbye Stranger (#15), Take The Long Way Home (#10);
• UK Chart Singles: The Logical Song (#7), Breakfast In America (#9), Goodbye Stranger (#57);
• Producers: Peter Henderson/Supertramp;
• Management: Dave Margerson, Mismanagement;
• Supertramp: Richard Davies (vocals, keyboard), Roger Hodgson (vocals, lead guitar), John Anthony Helliwell (saxophone, backing vocals), Dougie Thomson (bass guitar), Bob C Benburg (percussion).

As pivotal dates go, the 29th of March 1979 really pushed the envelope. Britain was in election mood as James Callaghan’s Labour Government lost a vote of no confidence by one vote. This would lead to a General Election on the 4th May and a Commons Majority of 40 for Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative party.

Over in Los Angeles, the 29th of March 1979 was a pivotal date for an Anglo-American rock group. One of the said group’s earlier albums may have inspired a front page headline in The Sun: Crisis? What Crisis? Which was supposedly said by the departing PM during the Winter of Discontent whilst on holiday.