Theme diners are fast squeezing out Britain's old-fashioned cafes.
We now have twice as many American-style eateries - around 500 - as we had five years ago, a new survey shows.
The ball was set rolling when the first Planet Hollywood was backed in the USA by movie giants Sly Stallone, Arnold Schwarze-negger and Bruce Willis,
Stars from other spheres jumped on the 'eatertainment' bandwagon.
Supermodels including Naomi Campbell, Elle Macpherson and Claudia Schiffer gave celebrity status to London's Fashion Cafe.
And sport-themed bars and food chains with specialised menus, featuring nosh such as TexMex, began to spring up.
Brits soon showed they like places where the waiting staff insist on telling the punters their first names.
Currently we splash out around pounds 240million a year in theme restaurants and cafes, say the analysts Marketpower.
Customers spend an average of pounds 10 each for lunch and pounds 30 for dinner.
About a third of all theme eateries are in the London area.
Among the biggest names in the capital are Planet Hollywood, the Fashion Cafe and Football Football.
But the greatest triumphs are notched up by chains such as TGI Friday and the Cheers-style Henry J Bean's.
The Fatty Arbuckle string of American diners is the biggest, with 42 outlets.
But TGI Friday is by far the most successful, with annual sales worth pounds 52million.
Marketpower's Peter Backman believes the explosion of themed eateries, whose keenest fans are the young, will eventually slow down because Britain's population is ageing.
But he said: 'They will gradually adapt and customers will continue to come. Britons are spending more and more of their income on eating out - at the moment 29 per cent of all expenditure on food.
'But within 20 years that will rise to around 44 per cent, like it is in America - where eatertainment is big, big business.'
A catering analyst said old-fashioned British outlets were the losers.
'What we know as the greasy spoon cafes are having to close because people are going to the far trendier theme restaurants,' he said.
'Young people, especially, want the glamour and sophistication of places like Planet Hollywood.
'There's also a massive market for all things American, which is filled by the `fame and fries' chains.
'Young people want to go and see pictures of Sylvester Stallone on cafe walls.
'They don't want fried egg and chips in cafes with tomato-shaped ketchup bottles on plastic tablecloths.'
TOP TEN THEME BARS
TGI Friday Exchanges
Chiquitos Old Orleans
Fatty Arbuckles Chicago Rock
Planet Hollywood Frankie & Bennys Henry J Beans
Hanrahans
