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It has been a few months since the great Pret reckoning of 2024 – when the billion-pound coffee chain, born out of a humble Hampstead shop inspired by the traiteurs of France, binned the arguable steal of the century.
For four years, Pret a Manger had been enticing people back after lockdown with what is now known as Club Pret, a lucrative coffee subscription that gave latte lovers (practically) limitless coffee for £1 a day.
It was a savvy marketing move hailed by its own bosses as ‘too good to be true’ – and eventually, it was. In July this year, Pret announced the end of the plan that had given caffeine fiends five coffees a day for £30 a month.
City slickers and Gen Z-ers alike went into a tailspin as the change loomed in September – at which point the subscription dropped to £5 a month and …