Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Tag: Pret

  • London – Pret Perks

    London – Pret Perks

    This is another one of my irrelevant posts, one in a long series. If I’m being honest with myself, the audience for this sort of post is low, even by my standards. Anyway, I won’t let that stop me. Pret have introduced a new loyalty scheme, which replaces their long-standing one where staff give free things to whoever they think looks attractive. I wanted to see what ‘Perks’ I could get, and I did Google it, but no-one seemed to know and a few people were asking. So, with the aiming of getting another two views, here’s one of the answers.

    It’s a choice of snack…. Or at least, the first one for me was, I’m sure that they vary.

    The list of possible options that I could have had.

    And what I went for, as I really quite like these. I know they’re fruit, but they’re dried them out and so that counts a little less as fruit in my eyes. The staff in the busy London Pret said that they hadn’t anyone claim one of these perks to their knowledge, so they weren’t entirely sure how it worked, but it simply involves scanning a QR code and that worked fine.

    Anyway, irrelevant post aside, I’ll get back to writing about pubs and history now.

  • London – Westminster (Borough of) – Plaque to Pret

    London – Westminster (Borough of) – Plaque to Pret

    I learn something every day (well, most days and a lot of what I learn is broadly irrelevant), and I’ve discovered that the existing Pret shop at 93-95 Victoria Street is just a stone’s throw from where it all began for the company in 1986, at 75B Victoria Street. There was actually a shop in Hampstead but that went bust and Sinclair Beecham and Julian Metcalfe purchased the name and imagery, and they opened at 75B. There are now 500 Prets around the world, with plans to open many more.

    Pret renamed their Head Office, which is nearby above Platform 1 at Victoria railway station, 75B in honour of their first shop. Incidentally, their designers have put up photos of the interior of their head office, very decadent….. I wonder if Greggs has a plaque anywhere.

  • Random Posts – Pret Hot Shot Drink

    Random Posts – Pret Hot Shot Drink

    Although anyone sensible would likely have a blog that concentrates on just one thing, it’s quite handy to be able to write about any drivel. On that vein I’ll shift over to food & drink issues, and this is a rather lovely little product from Pret. It contains orange, but to that is added turmeric, ginger and cayenne. It does give quite a kick, it’s an inventive product from Pret…..

  • London – Kensington and Chelsea (Borough of) – Earl’s Court Pret Update

    London – Kensington and Chelsea (Borough of) – Earl’s Court Pret Update

    As an update to the situation at Pret Earl’s Court….. There’s now a gap in the display above the counter where the pumpkin spiced latte poster was, it has been removed. I was humoured though that the two people in front of me in the queue still tried to order the drink.

    This is about the most excitement that I get at the moment given the Government’s announcement….

  • London – Kensington and Chelsea (Borough of) – Earl’s Court Pret

    London – Kensington and Chelsea (Borough of) – Earl’s Court Pret

    I was slightly humoured (it doesn’t take much if I’m being honest) when popping into this Pret this morning, next to Earl’s Court underground. I ordered a spiced pumpkin latte and with some noticeable annoyance, the staff member said they don’t sell that. I ordered something else, but then the next person ordered the same, then the next one and then the next one. One staff member was politely explaining the options, whilst the staff member who served me was busying herself being grumpy at customers.

    The staff member snarled, so customers could hear, at a colleague “I don’t know why people think we sell this”. She seemed to have forgotten that the external poster board and the menu board poster above the counter are both advertising the Pumpkin Spiced Latte. It is the only drink that this Pret store is promoting.

    OK, this isn’t as fascinating as Alan’s Funny Stories (from Alan Partridge, although I diminish that by having to mention that) but I suspect that the staff are fed up with this Pret subscription as the customers ordering from it seem endless. It’ll be interesting to see how Pret proceed with this coffee subscription, their stores (or the ones that I’ve seen) are clearly under some considerable stress from it at the moment. The staff used to be excellent at engaging with customers, but from my experience this week, they just don’t have the time with the size of the queues forming.

  • London – Camden (Borough of) – Euston Road Pret

    London – Camden (Borough of) – Euston Road Pret

    Pret have kindly appeased my random mutterings and whingeings of yesterday, so all is well with the world again. And, I wasn’t going to write about these Pret visits, but this one did a kind thing today and that’s nice….

    As an aside, I’ve become a fan of pumpkin spiced lattes. I probably need to get out more to be honest, but there we are.

    Anyway, my riveting story, which I feel I’m over-selling as it is. There was an elderly lady, and I need to use those words to paint at least something of a picture, who came in and looked as if she needed help choosing what to get for her breakfast. A staff member noticed, went over and spent a few minutes with her explaining the options. She then came over to the table, offered help and went through the food options again. The customer seemed rather pleased, with the staff member then coming over with the hot food she ordered and her coffee. As a gesture of goodwill, which Pret staff can do, the lady was given her coffee free of charge. A lovely gesture and it’s reassured me once again about Pret….

  • Pret – Coffee Subscription (unimpressed….)

    Pret – Coffee Subscription (unimpressed….)

    I cancelled my Pret coffee subscription after one month, which was the one that they gave me. Anyway, since I’m in London and they have lots of branches here, I thought that I’d resubscribe. The account process is terrible, it’s fiddly to log-in and I know other people are just making up new e-mail addresses to get free coffee, so they probably haven’t had vast amounts of people manually resubscribing.

    Anyway, with code in hand, the store at Moorgate refused the transaction suggesting that my payment hadn’t gone through. My payment had gone through, but these things happen. I heard the store manager say “nothing we’re prepared to do about it”. I contacted Pret and the problem, which was theirs, was immediately fixed. It might have been easier for them to just give me the coffee they’d poured and ask if I could resolve it with Pret customer service, but it’s possible they get too many people trying it on. As it wasn’t busy, a “do you need any help, or a contact phone number for Pret?” might have been really useful though.

    I was more annoyed by having to go back ten minutes later and then I ordered again and they forgot to pour that one entirely (I don’t think it was because they were annoyed at me, they forget an order from another customer as well). The service was polite and the coffee was fine and these things do happen, but it’s the “nothing we’re prepared to do about it” means I’m not prepared to renew….. Disappointing, as I very much like Pret.

    NB, and as an addendum written the next day, things improved  🙂

  • Pret – Coffee Subscription

    Pret – Coffee Subscription

    Since I signed up earlier today to Pret’s new coffee subscription, I thought I should pop down to their now only outlet in Norwich. I was the only one paying using this method when I was there, although they have apparently had a few people use it so far today. It’s nice and easy, scan the QR code sent by e-mail onto their card reader and the coffee is presented free of charge. It can be used inside or outside, with a variety of drinks included as part of the deal.

    There’s a free one month’s trial and you’re allowed up to five coffees per day (spaced at least thirty minutes apart) for the £20 per month. I await to see what some of their rivals do…. But, all logical and efficient so far.

  • Pret – £20 Monthly Coffee Subscription

    Pret – £20 Monthly Coffee Subscription

    For years, I’ve wondered why Pret have such an appalling loyalty system. By appalling, I mean they didn’t have one, they simply allowed staff to give stuff to people they liked. So, the ‘beautiful people’ got stuff and others didn’t. Although I did once see a young French boy (well, he spoke French, so I made an assumption) at Heathrow T5 proudly giving the staff member a 2p coin for a bottle of water, not realising that it wasn’t the £2 coin that he needed. The boy looked crestfallen, but the staff member then told him that he could have it for free. It was all rather lovely and helped Anglo-French relations no end.

    Anyway, I digress. Pret have now launched an all you can drink coffee option, although smoothies, hot chocolate and tea are also included. It costs £20 and it allows you up to 5 coffees per day in, I think, any of their shops (bar a motorway service station outlet). This now makes them cheaper than JD Wetherspoon, who have unlimited hot drinks for between 99p and something like £1.89, depending where you go. You have to wait 30 minutes between drinks, to stop you getting rounds in for friends.

    It’s a ferociously competitive offer and I hope that other locations do something similar. I’ve signed up, primarily because the first month is free. I’m not in the UK for two of those first four weeks, but, since it’s free, I’ll go with it. From then on, the £20 per month seems very reasonable. I’ll report back about how well it actually works….