Chain Restaurants/cafes/shops

lufties

Here in London, every high street is beginning to look identical..costa, subway, starbucks, pret, superdrug, macdonalds, whetherspoons etc etc..Personally I can't stand them..I think they are tacky and take the soul and character out of a place.

Mass boycott is the answer;)

FortuneChip

Terrible answer!
I stopped going to mass years ago; it didn't affect the growth of Starbucks one bit.

shruikan2553

The benefit is you arent looking at a bunch of different places and have no idea which is good and if they are worth the price. You can be hungry, see a burger king and know what to expect.

lufties

shruikan2553 wrote: »

The benefit is you arent looking at a bunch of different places and have no idea which is good and if they are worth the price. You can be hungry, see a burger king and know what to expect.

Google reviews are pretty reliable these days.

biko

I agree OP, chains are pushing out local businesses which doesn't have the same kind of backing. In US it's even worse with each mall having the same shops as the next.

lufties

biko wrote: »

I agree OP, chains are pushing out local businesses which doesn't have the same kind of backing. In US it's even worse with each mall having the same shops as the next.

I can imagine, I went to the westfield yesterday in shepards bush..nearly pulled my hair out, never again.

wendell borton

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxFQYw_MmAA

...and paulis feeling on the matter..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUKJWsnAAXs

AgileMyth

shruikan2553 wrote: »

You can be hungry, see a burger king and know what to expect.

You can expect to still be hungry.

DrumSteve

You better hurry up, this place is becoming a starbucks soon.

Hotfail.com

Subway is gorgeous, I don't get why people go to Costa and place though, it's the same as any other coffee shop..

Sir Arthur Daley

Hotfail.com wrote: »

I don't get why people go to Costa and place though, it's the same as any other coffee shop..

Nicer staff and toilets.

lufties

Hotfail.com wrote: »

Subway is gorgeous, I don't get why people go to Costa and place though, it's the same as any other coffee shop..

Aparrently the smell is artificial to attract custom.

Awful place.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

I never use McDonald's, Subway or Costa but obviously many people do or they wouldn't be there. Somebody must prefer these chains and fair enough. To each their own.

For Forks Sake

There are currently 27 Pret a Manger shops to every 1 person in central London.

Last_Minute

Pret is cheap fills you up. Its a good thing!

KungPao

As much as I dislike all the chains (can hardly tell the difference between a main st in Dublin, Belfast or Liverpool), Nero make a mean cheesecake. Good lord it's good.

Billy86

It's weird in a way that chains are so more dominant than they were 20 years ago around Dublin, but at the same time we have much more diversity of choice than we used to if we want to eat out, outside of the chains or in smaller 'chains' like Pablo Picante, some of the sushi places, etc.

So on the other hand 20 years ago we weren't being flooded by the likes of McDonald's, Starbucks, etc but on the other hand it was far harder to find non European food, with Chi see and Indian being two exceptions. Though a lot of people would just order 3 in 1s,chicken and chips etc from those places rather than the authentic stuff (and especially with Chinese places, even today if you go in and ask for the 'real' menu they will give you a whole different menu to what they advertise, with much better quality food than they serve the masses).

Still waiting for somewhere that does good last though, or Turkish bread sandwiches.

Buona Fortuna

biko wrote: »

I agree OP, chains are pushing out local businesses which doesn't have the same kind of backing. In US it's even worse with each mall having the same shops as the next.

When I used to travel around the UK, I found you almost had to remember where you were. All the high streets were near identical - Nottingham? Derby?

colossus-x

lufties wrote: »

Here in London, every high street is beginning to look identical..costa, subway, starbucks, pret, superdrug, macdonalds, whetherspoons etc etc..Personally I can't stand them..I think they are tacky and take the soul and character out of a place.

Mass boycott is the answer;)

Totally agree. Especially chain coffee shops. Horrible clinical places.