Two writers on The Nottingham Evening Post, (as I still call it), Erik Peterson and Oonagh Robinson, have started a hashtag on Twitter dedicated to saving the Wimpy in Broadmarsh Shopping Centre. For readers outside Nottingham, if your town has two shopping centres, one higher end and one full of pound shops and stalls selling fake canvas paintings, the latter is your equivalent to Broadmarsh. Broadmarsh is emptying due to refurbishment, which will be believed when seen, and Westfield recently sold the place so the future is unknown.

People from outside Nottingham, Wimpy was a 1980s burger place. Actually, it had been around since the 1950s, but to my generation it was as much a symbol of our childhood as The A-Team. We still have one and apparently so do other places around the UK. I was amazed when I first saw it.

The article below the lines is my two penneth worth, which was turned down for possibly being libellous toward Wimpy. That wasn't my intention as I'm always careful never to write anything untrue, and I'm sure the MD of Wimpy sometimes wonders if it is still the 1980s?

NB- If you read the blog linked above, then I will save you the bother of accusing me of copying it. I wrote it to start with, and used it to write the article. This is why I do a regular blog, as it gives me ideas. Sometimes the lines between my personal blog and articles do cross each other. 

If you follow The Post's Erik Peterson and Oonagh Robinson on twitter, then you will be up to speed with their campaign/obsession regarding the branch of Wimpy in Broadmarsh Shopping Centre. While I applaud their public spirited pride in Nottingham, I cannot help but feel as if they have gone about it the wrong way.

I will not upset anybody by pointing out that Broadmarsh, and Collin Street in general is not a particularly attractive part of this wonderful city. Yes, it needs working on, if it was up to me it would be knocked down and replaced with the houses that were sacrificed for it, but I cannot see that happening. Now, shops are moving away from Broadmarsh in droves, (and weren't we all relieved to see the shoe shop monkey in a new home?) which is where Oonagh and Erik's crusade comes in. The Wimpy in Broadmarsh might close down.

There has not been an official statement from Wimpy management, so the campaign is based on fear. The fear that we might lose such an establishment, and with it would go part of a Bygone age.

I moved back home to Nottingham in 2007 and could not quite believe what I was seeing when I realised that our city still has such a place. Had I walked through a hole in time like Gary Sparrow in Goodnight Sweetheart? Surely, Wimpy vanished in the late 1980s, possibly early 1990s under a tidal wave of McDonalds and Burger King. We live in an environmentally friendly age these days, which is where Wimpy should perhaps jump in. With their plates, cutlery, glasses and cups, they have the 'green' whip hand over the big players that make you eat from paper bags. I will write your advertising campaign Wimpy!

Back to why I feel Erik and Oonagh have the right sentiment, but the wrong business plan. Wimpy can be the flagship eating establishment in my idea to revitalise Broadmarsh: A 1980s themed shopping centre. Nostalgia, despite not being what they used to be, is still big business. I will keep Wimpy upstairs, and downstairs you can eat at Spud-U-Like,, just don't go spilling 'special sauce' over your brand new C&A suit. After you have eaten, you can go record-shopping at Our Price, do your supermarket shopping at Gateway, and instead of Heron we will bring back Bejams. A nice bag of Woolworths Pick 'n' Mix will go down a treat on the bus home too.

The 1980s shopping centre, I am planning to get that Dale Winton chap from Radio Trent to open it.