Saw a lot of good comments here, and some unfair underlying generizations. Only been to the UK twice and I am in my early thirties so I can't speak to the 70s, 80s era. I have some outstanding food in London, but again that when I am going and paying for the pleasure of dining at a 2 Michelin star type restaurant and better have a great meal. As noted above, Indian food is great in England. I much prefer it to American and I live in Chicago with an awesome Indian area called Devon St. Curry...yum!
The bottom line is, most global cities have thier own traditional cuisine (maybe not Vegas!) but the influx of expats and immigrants brings with a style of fusion cuisine and straight up ethnic dining.
Being Irish-American I used to take a lot of grief about how our have horrid food. From fine dining and late night pub food in Dublin (some of the best meals I have had), to seafood in Limmerick or Galway I can assure you the Irish can cook.
Fresh, locally sourced ingredients and decades of perfecting the preparation makes it hard for any developed country to have food that is universally "bad."
This was a good read as I sit here for my lunch at one of the finest restaurants in all the land: Ruby Tuesdays in Iowa!