[Growster...]

Mrs Growster and I were discussing how many times we used to go out and eat in restaurants when we were young....

It turned out that we rarely went out as a family, as my - and her - mums and dads just didn't really do that sort of thing; it was not much of an affair really, we always liked home cooking and never bothered about places to go for lunch or dinner!

When I first went to live in a flat in London, we often went to big pubs as my flatmate was a manager for Schooner Inns, and it was on expenses, but when Mrs Growster and I got together, we hardly ever went out to eat anywhere!

I guess it's the influx of KFC and Macdonalds etc., which has changed all that, and we still like the occasional takeaway from our local pub, but really don't feel like going to any other place nowadays!

Does the team agree/disagree that this is probably what they do these days?

[GraciesGran]

We went out as a family once or twice a year.  My mum loved having people round to eat.  We have the odd takeaway but I have to admit eating out does not really hold much appeal.  I prefer long lazy lunches with the family at home. 

[mumofstig]

As a child in an ordinary East End working class family after the war, there just wasn't the money for eating out, the nearest we got to it was Friday night's regular fish and chip takeaway  
Or, occasionally, if Mum was very busy we had pie, mash & liquor for Saturday lunch, in Kelly's Eel & Pie shop, all tiled walls and marble table tops  Nothing posh for us!
By the time I got married we needed every penny to pay the mortgage and gradually buy furniture, no easy HP in those days! - so no restaurant meals for us then, either.

[snowdrops]

I don’t recall ever going to a restaurant as a child except on holiday when we had fish & chips to eat in. The other exception was a bag of chips sometimes on a Saturday from Rothwells in Doncaster whilst out doing the shopping with my mother or grandmother. We didn’t have takeaways apart from that.

[Growster...]

I'd forgotten the  odd 'fish tea' in Plummers, (Debenhams) in Hastings! Shopping with my mum sometimes finished there!

Half-decent pub lunches started - for me - around 1966, when I went to work in Ashford, so the trend was a couple of halves of beer, a ploughmans and/or a pasty, and then back to work by 2.00pm!

Luckily, the day job much later entailed a lot of business entertaining, so a wine bar like Davey's or Balls Bros was a good place for such events, but up to then, as a family I can only remember one dinner we went to (except weddings, etc.,) and that was because the owners were something to do with dad's work...

I guess having mums who were pretty good at cooking meant more than spending hard-earned cash in a restaurant - and wine was hardly ever mentioned as well!

[Goosegirl]

As a child, my parents weren't well off so we never eat out except when mum took me to Crewe swimming baths where the water was freezing so I always had a hot drink and a Wagon Wheel. My next memory of eating out was when I went on the bus to Morecambe and treat myself to plaice and chips from the local restaurant. When I started work I used to get fish and chips on my way home from college in Preston, and one time I went to a Chinese restaurant there for lunch and felt quite posh.

[Growster...]

I still can't really get around Chinese food, or curry shops these days, as first, I never mastered chopsticks, and second, Mrs Growster's curries beat all, so there's not much point really! I did pop into M and S for some 'English' Chinese ready meals as Mrs Growster still likes them but I really can take or leave them...

Our local pub has won a national prize for the best roasts in the UK, but we've yet to try them as he does a special small takeaway for us (small appetites these days), and they're fabulous fish and chips!

And that's about it!

[GraciesGran]

And the fightback begins!!!

Granddaughter has been staying with us for a few days and it's been picnic time.  Visit to the allotment, the park, we even had to take a flask when we went shopping.  She's 10 and it's fun to stop when you want for a drink and a snack. 

[mrs bouquet]

My Dad used to drive us to Bognor Regis.  The cars back doors opened with the hinges at the back, so when front and back doors were opened Dad used to throw a tarpaulin right over and make a little awning.  He then lit a primus and boiled the kettle for a cuppa.   I cannot really remember the food, probably just sandwiches.
Lovely  -  in the pouring rain and gales !  Imagine taking that stuff in the old Austin 10.      Dad used to go off and get a plate of sea-food for him and Mum  -  Urgh.    We did get an icecream though.   Mrs Bouquet

[MrsPea]

As children we used to go camping that was our treat, we had grandparents living with us for about 15yrs so now takeaways like you say they weren't around in our time, everything was cooked from scratch unlike today. I shouldn't think the youngster know how to cook, i was brought up with it at a very early age both my parents were working. 

[Growster...]

Aaaah a Primus stove!

Little white pellets of 'dry' paraffin, and that funny wheezy sound they made, all became part of the fun!

I once nearly blew the house up when I put a gas-version on the cooker during a power cut, and forgot that the ring was still on when the electricity came back on...

Had to grasp the thing and take it outside while it was getting hot beginning to make a peculiar noise...

[JayG]

As a yoof in Hastings I had a group of pals, all with motor scooters (ok, one had a BSA 125cc Bantam.)

We used to go for weekend 'burn-ups', as often as not finishing up at one of the very few eateries actually open in East Sussex on Sundays.

If I told you that was the Wimpy bar in Bexhill you'd probably think I'm telling porkies, but I assure you it's true (the burgers were pathetically tiny - not everything was better in the good old days!)

[Growster...]

Jay, you might remember the chip shop behind Woolworths?

The buses would assemble in Wellington Square, and it took a couple of minutes to get there and back with a bag of chips to make the bus pong for the next twenty minutes...

The 'Fiesta' in Claremont was the 'in place', and quite posh too! I could never afford it though, so we went to the Chinese restaurant next door after a 'session' in The Pump House!

[Hampshire Hog]

Eating out consisted of an annual fish and chip supper outside Dover on the way back from the family camping holiday in France. That was it till the following year!