7 Darlington restaurants you've forgotten about including Wimpy's

To celebrate, Memories has been delving into a packet in The Northern Echo's photo-archive marked "Darlington Restaurants".

The pictures inside take us back to the 1970s and 1980s, when, in newspaper terms at least, the world was still a black-and-white place and starters and desserts cost no more than £1.95.

Indeed, the price list in the window of the Orient Chop Suey House in 1972 has all of its takeaway dishes, in free aluminium trays, at 40p with King Fried Prawns in Butter being an extravagant 45p.

Fried rice was 7p although egg fried rice was 10p. Very different times.

If you can tell us anything about any of the establishments featured – where was the first Wimpy? – please email chris.lloyd@nne.co.uk

These two pictures appear to feature the first Wimpy Bar that opened in Darlington in early May 1961 – but where was it? Wimpy Grills began in Indiana in the US in 1934, named after a minor but burly sailor, J Wellington Wimpy, in the Popeye cartoon. The first Wimpy opened in the UK in London in 1954 and, seven years later, this taste of American pop-culture reached Darlington. Food was served to the table within 10 minutes of ordering. There was no cutlery. Drinks came in a bottle with a straw, and any condiments came pre-packaged. The Darlington pictures show it served “Ice cold Sunfresh” lemonade, and that it had an upstairs which featured the “Brunchburger Grill”. Since 1989, Wimpys have been rebranded Burger King, but can you tell us anything about Darlington’s first taste of the hamburger?

The Greentree cafe on Green Tree Corner, where Skinnergate meets Blackwellgate, Grange Road and Coniscliffe Road, in August 1961. This cafe was in the former Green Tree pub, and for many years was a PizzaHut but has very recently reopened as Babul's Indian restaurant

A pair of pictures from the Taj Mahal Tandoori restaurant in Darlington in March 1982. It had been open for some time, judging by the missing second N in “Indian”, but these pictures were taken to promote the arrival of its new tandoori oven, a clay oven which seems to have required items placed in it to be fished out with long metal poles

Victor’s, in Victoria Road, was a remarkable dining experience, as it felt you were squeezed into the front room of someone’s terraced house. It was opened in 1984, when this picture was taken, by Peter and Jayne Robinson. Peter had been the catering manager at Shildon wagon works before its closure, and for 12 years, Victor’s featured in the Good Food Guide – it was one of the very best restaurants in Darlington. However, it only seated 20 people, and as the 1990s wore on, he supplemented his income working in the police canteen over the road. “During the week he served dishes like triple fish terrine, grouse braised in Lindisfarne mead and plaice in Pernod butter sauce, and at weekends, he switched his talents to fish and chips or lasagne and chilli to feed to famished bobbies,” said The Northern Echo. Victor’s closed in 1997, and the couple moved to Ripon, where Peter sadly died suddenly in 1998

The Orient Chop Suey House in the Mowden area of Darlington in August 1972. We love the sign at the bottom of the window: "All meals supplied in free aluminium trays". How were takeaways served before aluminium trays came along?

Waitress Joan Carney plays the pianola at the Doodles restaurant in October 1980. An unfortunately placed rubber plant makes it look as if she is wearing rabbit ears

Ristorante Pulcinella in Northgate must have been a very classy establishment, judging by this picture taken in October 1972

This picture in The Northern Echo's "Darlington Restaurants" packet is uncaptioned, so we don't know where this rather stylish venue, with a tiled floor and attractive ceiling, was. Can you tell us? And is that a member of the Osmonds on the right?

"Cathy on the menu", said the little headline above this picture on July 18, 1984, as the Tyne Tees TV presenter Cathy Secker opened Kristoffer's restaurant in Wellington Court Mews, off Grange Road. Cathy with a C was the Tyne Tees continuity announcer and newsreader from 1976 to 1984, but when she returned to the station in 1990, she’d become Kathy with a K. From Northumberland, she was a well known TV personality in the region, and was photographed “being served”, according to the paper, by Kristoffer’s owner Chris Rowlands, who also seems to have happily mixed up his Cs and his Ks