Root Beer in the UK

I saw an A&W restaurant (don't know if it really qualifies as a restaurant) in Glasgow, but it was shut.  I don't know if they sell it there or if it's just a fountain type thing. 

A&W Root Beer is big in Malaysia and Singapore, so in the UK it is often available at a relatively normal price in bigger shops and supermarkets aimed at the Chinese diaspora.  They certainly have it in the supermarket at Oriental City in north west London.

It has never really caught on in the UK with the general public.  McDonalds did try it in the 80s, and some of the supermarkets are trying again now.  As someone says above, most people here will say that it tastes like mouthwash or antiseptic.  There is some truth in this -- the rinse that most dentists use in the UK has the same flavour, so most Brits get one whiff and are blasted with unpleasant memories of the dentist's chair.

I do like a root beer now and again, and especially a float.  Floats here will normally be Coke.

There is a strange little UK Root Beer website here:
http://www.root-beer.co.uk/

To me Root Beer tastes a bit like black licorice if I have too much.   

They do have an A&W in Glasgow, I can't believe I forgot about that.  It is a regular A&W restuarant, not as much on offer as in the states, but they do have root beer floats and in the big icy mugs. 

It shocked me because I always considered A&W to be hick, sorry anyone who is offended, and because I am sure people in Glasgow get up to no good with the thick giant glass mugs.

They do have an A&W in Glasgow, I can't believe I forgot about that.  It is a regular A&W restuarant, not as much on offer as in the states, but they do have root beer floats and in the big icy mugs. 

No fair - I want A&W!!!  Do they have franchises anywhere else in the UK?

It is an A&W with something else, I think.  A KFC maybe, but I can't remember.  It is right near the Opera House.

But according to Wikipedia it is closed down closed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A&W_Restaurants#United_Kingdom

I saw an A&W restaurant (don't know if it really qualifies as a restaurant) in Glasgow, but it was shut.  I don't know if they sell it there or if it's just a fountain type thing. 

I can verify it's definitely away.

...but they do have root beer floats and in the big icy mugs. 

When I went to that one they gave me mine in a paper cup!! totally not the same experience! 

KFC did have an A&W root beer bit, complete with the big frosted mugs. Sadly no more...

yeh sadly the Glasgow A&W is no more, i think it shut before the summer, can't remember. I remember one week I had a nice rootbeer and two weeks later it had turned into a regular KFC and I was gutted...

So...does anyone know where else to find rootbeer in Glasgow??

I found that Lupe Pinto's on great western road but a can of rootbeer was £1.10 so I didn't get any I suppose that's not so bad because it was about that at A&W so i may go back...

That is so depressing.  I was out one night in March with my sisters in law and went past it and have been fantasizing about it ever since.  Guess I will have to shelve my dream of a float.

It's still hard to believe how hard rootbeer is to come by there.  I just drove by an
A & W/KFC a little while ago and saw signs for rootbeer floats at Wendy's and Jack-in-the-Box and I think even Wienerschnitzel has them.  They seem to be everywhere, I'll have one for all of you guys there. 

It's still hard to believe how hard rootbeer is to come by there.

No harder than coming by Tizer or Dandelion and Burdock there, lol.

Thanks to this thread, when I found myself in Chinatown this weekend, I bought 2 cans of A&W. 75p per can. Now to get the ice cream..... 

Have just found A&W Root Beer and Diet A&W in London, at a fantastic diner called JACKS in Clapham Junction, 2 mins walk from the train station, address is 252 Lavender Hill, SW11. Not only do they sell A&W, but also genuine American milkshakes, mozzarella sticks (I've never found these in London before), the BEST onion rings...shall I go on? Oh, yes, burgers! Try them! V cool atmostphere too...