Coffee Shops Via Natural Selection
Has natural selection prevailed in the distribution of London’s coffee chains?
I was in London recently which was, surprisingly, an overwhelmingly pleasant experience. This was primarily due to the excellent Factorio like integration of travel infrastructure and various related payment methods.
That is to say it appealed greatly to my inner extremely nerdy software engineer brain, as I pondered how all of the contactless ticketing held together and just seemed to work. Tap in, tap out, beep beep, etc.
Between the travelling though, regular infusions of coffee are most definitely required — and I do like a decent cup of coffee, maybe a fresly made sandwich too, or at the very least a bit of cake to keep me going.
What surprised me the most was that there are way more Pret a Manger than Starbucks, and when I say way more I mean way more.
You only have to walk 100m and turn a corner and there’s another Pret staring at you.
And they’re not like a McDonald’s at all, thankfully. Every one of those has the same faceless branding, lurid garish colour scheme, and an out-of-place brutalism. No offence intended, their coffee is surprisingly okay as are their milkshakes (when the machines are actually working).
