Giggling Squid To Charge 1966 Prices
Giggling
Squid restaurant to charge 1966 prices found on menu under floorboards
The Giggling
Squid Thai restaurant chain is to charge the same prices as those found on a
1966 drinks menu by builders during recent renovations.
Back In 1966,
the year the England football team won the World Cup for the only time, when
its latest opening in Stratford on Avon was then The Old Tudor House, a
restaurant owned by one RS McColl.
Giggling
Squid has been able to date the menu which was found with a scrap of the Daily
Mirror newspaper of 29th March 1966 – two days before the general election of
that year. The paper cites the incumbent
Prime Minister Harold Wilson as 16 -1 on to be re elected, as he was with an
increased 96 majority. The losing Tory leader, Ted Heath, was quoted as saying
Britain’s future lay with Europe and warned, “If we are left outside. We shall
find ourselves a small power on the boundaries of a big one.”
On Monday
20th January, Giggling Squid will offer dinners accompanying drinks at 1966
prices at all its seven restaurants in Brighton, Hove, Crawley, Tunbridge
Wells, Reigate, Henley and Stratford. Spirits were ‘half a crown’, that is two
shillings and sixpence or 13 pence at today’s money. A glass of wine was three shillings (3/- or
15p). A bottle of lager was 2 shillings
(10p). Liqueurs were three and six
(18p). Mixers were a shilling (5p.) There was no mineral water on the menu.
The menu does
have a “Budget Surcharge” sticker however, adding a penny a pint on beer and
tu’pence to spirits.
Known for its
‘tapas’ style dining, Giggling Squid has never used offers for its marketing
before, preferring to focus on the value and quality of its “rustic” Thai
cuisine, with the emphasis on sea- and street-food.
“The Giggling
Squid group had a very good 2013 and we’ve never run a promotion, but as 2014
is another World Cup year, we thought it might be fun to do something special
as a one off, on a long dark day in January when every is feeling a bit down,”
said owner Andrew Laurillard.
“Looking at
the ’66 menu, it’s interesting to see familiar names – Gordon’s, Johnny Walker,
Remy Martin, Smirnoff, Harvey’s and the like – it shows products’ longevity
when owners continue to invest in their brands,” he said
Some other
brands have lost some of their popularity, however. Babycham and Cherry Heering sales volume have
declined since the ‘60s and Watney’s Red Barrel at 2/4 (12p) a pint – much
derided by ale drinkers in the 1970s, has since disappeared from our pubs.
Wine buffs
have admired the list and noted that most were also available in half
bottles. Glossing over the 1962 Blue Nun
Liebfraumilch at £2 six shillings a bottle, their attention was drawn to the
1961 Chablis and eighteen and six (under £1).
The reds feature a St Emilion at 13/- (65p), a Beaune for just over £1 and a Nuits St George
at 22/- (£1.10), qll 1959 vintages although no vineyards are mentioned. The sole Champagne on offer was a Moet &
Chandon at 42/6 (£2.23). A solitary Rosé is unspecified at 11/6 (58p).
The offer is
available to dinners ordering a 2-course meal for lunch and dinner on 20th January
and limited to one aperitif, a bottle of beer or glass or wine, and a liqueur
(three drinks).
@GigglingSquid
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