Recent controversies surrounding a Hooters restaurant and a Japanese 'maid café' pale when compared to one 1980s Manchester eatery.
In Salford Quays, the opening of a branch of Hooters – the bar and restaurant chain where scantily-clad young women serve customers – has been delayed amid 'complex negotiations'. It comes after several organisations slammed the chain as "sexist" and "regressive", with staff at the Nottingham branch saying they felt 'empowered' by the uniform in response.
Meanwhile, earlier this year, the Animaid Cafe in Affleck's Palace, where staff wear anime-style maid's uniforms, went viral after Labour councillor Joanne Harding criticised it in a tweet - one which the venue said had been posted 'with no grasp of what we actually are'.
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Back in the 1980s, another Greater Manchester venue sparked controversy with its theme. Opening in 1982, 'School Dinners', on Portland Street, employed waitresses dressed in St Trinian's-style uniforms serving "rude food" from a menu with suggestively titled dishes.
The Manchester Evening News reported in July of that year that customers could order a dish shaped like women's breasts with "strategically-placed cherries" called a Bust Wellington. Describing the restaurant, the MEN said: "The 'school dinner' lunchtime menu at the restaurant in city centre Portland Street will be displayed on a blackboard and set out in exercise books.
"But there is nothing spartan about the menu for Friday and Saturday evening, with its pictures of scantily clad girls displaying sexily-named dishes. Apart from Bust Wellington, they included Between The Sheets, Mister Universe, Boaster's Fresh Bit, and Little Hanky Panky."
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This was an era when one of the biggest draws on British television was The Benny Hill Show. But the schoolgirl-themed restaurant still managed to ruffle feathers.
The controversy was worsened by the fact that the name Manchester High School was originally proposed for the venue, infuriating governors of fee paying Manchester High School for Girls, who were said to be seeking legal advice before the the change was made.
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After that, the trail of School Dinners goes cold. Months after its official opening, the restaurant advertised its Christmas menu later in the MEN. After that, no more advertising for School Dinners can be found.
Do you remember School Dinners or any other 'controversial' venues and businesses? Let us know in the comments section below.
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