Fatty Arbuckle's

Fatty Arbuckle’s American Diners was an American themed restaurant chain in the United Kingdom. The business, based in Manchester, was founded by Pete Shotton, an associate of The Beatles, in 1983. It focused on large portions, at cheap prices. The name refers to director of Hollywood, and the star of silent movies, Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle.

Fatty Arbuckle’s
IndustryRestaurant
Founded1983 (established)
1991 (first franchise opened)
FounderPete Shotton
DefunctSold In The Early 2000s
Headquarters
Manchester
,
England

Growth and demise

The chain, which saw two thirds of all restaurants operated by franchisees, had grown to more than thirty outlets by September 1996, after its first franchise opened in 1991.[1]

Its flagship diner was in London's West End, with other outlets at Tottenham, Harrow, and Islington, in North London, Feltham in West London, Glasgow, Birmingham, Cardiff, Canterbury, Chester, Oxford, Rhyl, Manchester, Warrington, Salford Quays, Liverpool, Bradford, Bedford, Milton Keynes, Belfast, Winchester, Wigan, Stoke-on-Trent, Poole, Southampton, Dundee, Shrewsbury, Southsea, Teesside Bristol, Ipswich, Newport, Morecambe, and Grimsby. By the beginning of the 2000s, founder Shotton sold the chain for an undisclosed sum.[2]

“Fatty” was removed from the name, and the restaurants were rebranded "Arbuckle's". The branch in Warrington opened in 1997, on the Riverside Retail Park.[3]

The last remaining Arbuckle's was closed, by 2006. The name was bought out, and a new restaurant bearing the same name opened in the town of Norfolk's Downham Market in 2008.[4][5] A new store was opened in Ely in March 2017, on the leisure park, which includes Cineworld.[6] The business became owned by an employee ownership trust in December 2018, meaning it is now owned by its employees.

References
  1. Trapp, Roger (29 September 1996). "This idea is a fat lot of good". The Independent. Retrieved 8 December 2018.
  2. "10 Places We All Went For Food Back In The Day!". totgu.com. 26 November 2017. Retrieved 30 November 2020.
  3. "When popular burger chain ruled". warringtonguardian.co.uk. 4 January 2020. Retrieved 30 November 2020.
  4. Farrell, Thomas (24 December 2013). "The Fatty Arbuckle's restaurant chain". Let's Look Again. Retrieved 24 March 2017.
  5. "About". Arbuckles. 24 March 2017. Retrieved 24 March 2017.
  6. "Yeehaw! Popular American diner Arbuckles is coming to Ely!". spottedinely.com. 16 August 2016. Retrieved 7 October 2020.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.