Pret A Manger outlet at Warwick Southbound, located left of the main entrance and concourse, in the food court area, between the hybrid unit & KFC. Pret opened here in June 2023, so it’s exactly one year old now. Decorated with coloured balloons and bunting, Pret replaced a Good Breakfast unit and the adjacent Chopstix unit was refurbished into a hybrid unit, providing Good Breakfast in the mornings & Chopstix in the afternoon, so no brands were lost. This is a good space-saving idea of Welcome Break’s as it means they can provide more brands with less empty units. Welcome Break were the first operator to introduce Pret to the network, opening at South Mimms in 2016. For seven years, this was the only Pret Welcome Break had. In 2023, Welcome Break opened 4 more following Moto’s success of rolling out the brand across their sites. Pret provides the food court of Warwick South a healthy food option, opposing from their existing brands, KFC and Burger King in particular. As Pret doesn’t require much kitchen space to operate, more space has been created, enabling customers to walk inside the unit. The previous Good Breakfast was a smaller takeaway. Pret only obtains a small amount of seating (around 4 stools), so customers will likely have to use the communal seating area opposite. It’s possible that Pret opening will create competition with Starbucks, as the two have a similar product range & both specialise in coffee. Pret is only open from 7am-7pm daily. You would’ve thought the new Pret at Warwick South would have replaced the Starbucks kiosk opposite, as there isn’t much need for two Starbucks outlets. Furthermore, my visit was during the day and the Starbucks kiosk was closed, meaning it’s likely rarely open nowadays. Pret also tend to inflate their motorway prices due to higher demand, but because their pricing structures are already quite high, customers may not notice the inflation. Pret was rather busy during my visit as a few coaches had stopped when I arrived to Warwick South (typical). Pret is now signposted from the M40 Southbound so customers know to expect it here. Pret is also advertised from the exterior of the amenity building, as well as at various points around the site.

Photo taken on 24/06/2024 by Tom Moon.

Assigned to galleries: Warwick, Welcome Break, M40, Pret A Manger