I guess what I think is interesting about the Pret approach is the way that they fully and publicly embrace a negative that at least some of the public will also agree is a negative.

To me, this is less of a negative and more of a business choice: while many fast food corporations choose to sell franchises, thereby sending their customers to a franchisee rather than dealing directly with them, Pret a Manger chooses to operate each outlet itself.

This may only be a negative for prospective franchisees, but definitely not for customers.

When I moved to the UK in the mid-nineties I was alarmed to discover those sandwiches in triangular plastic boxes bearing use-by dates – they just seemed like such a crime against food. It was surprisingly difficult to find decent espresso in London too and I gradually realised that this was part of a bigger picture: you could get brilliant food at expensive restaurants but the day-to-day experience was going to be a bit grim. “Make it grim; if possible, make it dire,” seemed to be the philosophy.

Luckily, the beer was good.

Sandwiches are a plentiful lunchtime option here too. They tend to come from characterful cafes and be made with fresh ingredients and bread from real bakeries. Yum. Plastic boxes have found their way here, but they’re restricted to places like petrol stations where expectations are low anyway.

Only a Brit would think it’s a bonus rather than a necessity for a sandwich to be less than a day old! Bless you Daniel.

We don’t have one where we live (as it is the countryside two hours from any major town or city!) so I really enjoyed it when I was there. It is a bit pricey, but I guess you get what you pay for.

Saying that, we have really good independent organic coffee shops were we live.