In-n-Out Burger chain comes to London for a few short hours, sparking food frenzy and five-hour queue

Fiona Simpson|Jamie Bullen21 September 2016

Hundreds of hungry Londoners queued for hours to get their hands on an In-N-Out burger today.

The American chain which boasts a cult-like following hosted a four-hour pop-up at a Brazilian restaurant in Swiss Cottage this afternoon.

Queues of up to a mile lasting as long as five hours quickly formed despite news of the venture only being advertised through a small, black and white advert in a local paper.

The teaser read: “First come, first served. Limited quantities for sale.”

Burger fans took to Twitter to describe chaotic scenes surrounding the pop-up which opened between 11am and 3pm.

Happy customers: From left to right: Hannah White, Rosie Mitton, Zea Elmes and Amanda Grundy
Jamie Bullen

A queue began to form at around 8am today. One user estimated around 300 had queued up by 11.20am.

Recruitment consultant Dan Corbett, 26, said: "I had the day off today and I thought I wasn't ever going to get a chance to do this so I decided to come down.

"I wasn't shocked when I saw queues forming at 10.30am. It's a pretty popular place. I got my wristband that said I was going to be in between 1pm and 2pm.

"I'm pretty hungry so I'm hoping this burger will be worth it."

Ravenous punters were handed-out gold wristbands but shortly after 1pm rumours spread on social media that the wristbands had run out fuelling fears that the store had “run out of burgers”.

Georgie added: “Got to in n out burger pop up shop in London and they're all sold out :((( gonna have to go to California now.”

And, Daniel Lovell wrote: “Brexit, Bowie, Harambe and In-N-Out in London selling out. In that order. #InNOutBurger #soldout #2016sucks.”

The company last made a four-hour appearance in the UK in 2012, with hundreds of people queueing outside a nondescript cafe in Hendon, north London.

However, Roberto Trevisan, general manager of Estancia Brasil, who have rented their premises for the day, told the Camden New Journal he had not heard of the company.

He said: “I know it's an American company who are going to do some type of, well, American food. I have no idea which one.”

Mr Trevisan said than an events company, who hired the space, had told him to expect crowds.

He added: “They said they could get a lot of people in here. I know they'll be a lot of people around, that's what they told me. But they will do everything, security, the newspaper [advert], everything.”

The chain offers mountains of fast food including the 4x4 burger which features four beef patties and “Animal Style fries” - a sickly mound of French fries, burger sauce, cheese and onions.

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