Giggling Squid Thai restaurant has just opened in Stratford on Avon (pictured above and below) and is to charge the same prices as those found on a 1966 drinks menu by builders during renovations – not just in Stratford on Avon, but in all their restaurants on Monday 20 January.
Drinks at 1966 prices!
Back In 1966, the year the England football team won the World Cup for the only time, the high street building 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 29 March 1966 – two days before the general election of that year.
On Monday 20 January, Giggling Squid will offer dinners accompanying drinks at 1966 prices. 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.
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, but owner Andrew Laurillard decided on a change:
“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.
“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
Drinks brands – then and now
Some other brands have lost their popularity, however. Babycham and Cherry Heering sales volumes 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.
And 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
The offer is available to diners ordering a 2-course meal for lunch and dinner on 20 January 2014 and limited to one aperitif, a bottle of beer or glass of wine, and a liqueur (three drinks).
Giggling Squid expands
Stratford is Giggling Squid’s seventh location – its first in the Midlands – and marks the next step on its quest to become the first national Thai chain in the UK, with a portfolio of 80-strong properties with 7 years.
Further openings are planned for Marlow, Maidstone and Horsham, adding to existing sites in Brighton, Hove, Crawley, Tunbridge Wells, Reigate and Henley-on-Thames.
Giggling Squid, 23 High Street, Stratford, Warks CV37 6AU
For more information click here