Eating out: how can British pub/restaurants do it so cheaply?

Couldn't agree with that generalisation Purple. I've worked in England every second or third week for the past 4 years and I've eaten in a lot of pubs, restaurants etc. I've had some fabulous food over there and some food that was practically inedible (one of these meals was a £5 meal which included a pint in a pub in Bournemouth).

Similar to Ireland you get what you pay for in most cases although I have had some of the £5 pub meals which were acceptable (best one was the evening United beat Chelsea in the CL Final in a pub in Yeovil but that may not have had anything to do with the food!!).

Purple said:
The quality of food in England is, in my experience, far lower than here. Add lower rent, lower insurance, lower taxes and (the big one) much lower wages, and you have the answer.
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MandaC said:
I once ordered something from one of those Weatherspoon places in Scotland. It was inedible.......though I did once order a cheese and ham toasted sandwich in a pub in the west of ireland. When I got it, the bread had green mould on it. Bar man just scraped it off and went, its grand now. Funniest thing ever.
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That's so funny and reminds me of something that happened to me years ago. I was in a pub in Craughwell, Galway and asked the bar man for a baileys. He poured it and handed it over. I asked him if I could have it with crushed ice. He eyeballed me, took his cloth hanky out of his pocket, wrapped a couple of ice cubes in it and banged them on the bar. He opened it up then and dropped the bits (probably coated with snot) into my drink and said with a smile "Jaysus i'd never be up to you Dublin types".
I drank it, it was lovely.:)

A.
 
shammy feen said:
Just back from lunch there...

I had 5 courses

Pumpkin Soup with Garlic Bread
Cesar salad (starter)
Roast duck breast in apple sauce with sweet potato and eggplant (main)
Creme Brule
Americano coffee

Its was delicious top quality nosh....and all for the cost of 44 RMB or 4.43 euro

Its hard to beat living in China for value.
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It's a long commute though :D
 
Protocol said:
As I browsed the web tonight, I found Mitchells & Butlers, a UK quoted pub chain.

http://www.mbplc.com/index.asp

They operate several types of pubs / restaurants. See the list here:

http://www.mbplc.com/index.asp?pageid=589


One of their pub chains is called Crown Carveries:
http://www.crowncarveries.co.uk/

They sell a carvery meal all day every day for 3.50 stg. I simple can not understand how they can do it at this low price (approx. 4.00-4.50 euro)

I recently paid 12 euro in Malahide for a carvery. I know it may be available elsewhere at 9-10 euro.

My question: how can they sell these meals at a profit for 3.50stg, while we can't seem to be able to do it for double that?

The M&B group have another chain called Toby carvery, where the meal is priced at 5 stg, approx 6 euro
http://www.toby-carvery.co.uk/

See below:

Toby's Famous Mon*-Sat Lunch Carvery FROM £5~

A choice of beautifully cooked joints of meat – it’s what we’re famous for and why you keep coming back.
Choose from one or all of our three succulent roasts:
  • British or Irish Beef
  • Honey & Mustard Glazed Gammon
  • British Turkey
There's always a great choice of freshly steamed or roasted vegetables on offer. And they're constantly being replaced all day, so you can be sure that every time you go back for more, they'll have all their flavour. Everyone's favourite is Yorkshire pudding cooked to perfection in-house by our own chefs, plus our delicious sauces and gravies and our oven-baked stuffing. Go on, have as much as you like of these - we know you'll want to.
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I would suggest this is more a case of how can we do everything so expensively.
 
UFC said:
Thought I'd add my 2 cents.

I was recently in Westport and was shocked at how expensive the restaurants were. They were all at Dublin pre-recession fancy restaurant prices. To give a bit of context, in an average Italian restaurant (i.e. nothing special) a side order of garlic bread is €8. This is probably twice as much as you'd pay in Dublin.

It put me off the place really.
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Westport is massively expensive and other than one or two places very poor... We had the most disgusting meal ever in a pub deemed one of the best there it was awfull, Fish pie supposedly with a variety of freshly caught Atlantic produce, .....it was full of strips of processed pink crab sticks, the type you can buy in tesco for about ten cent.
Castlebar down the road has but one or two also, I would rather stay home and eat beans on toast than fork out the best part of a hundred euro to eat the muck dished out in some places.
I visit the UK often and if you know where to go the food is far superior to Ireland unless you live in Dublin.
Example : The Shepherd pub adult meals £3.50. Carvery meal, delicious and you pile your plate as high as you like, my kids love it there.
I wouldnt eat in a Witherspoons if they gave away a free pint with every meal.
 
Oh yeah.... and the pub landlady in Westport incredulously tried to tell us that that is what fresh crab looks like !!!!!

I was gobsmacked.
And NO I didnt pay for it.
 
Purple said:
I was not talking about high-end dining. My experience of that in England is very limited. I have eaten pub-grub style food in many places in England over the years and in my experience it's much cheaper but not as good as the same sort of thing in Ireland.
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Completely agree with this.
 
legs-akimbo said:
Oh yeah.... and the pub landlady in Westport incredulously tried to tell us that that is what fresh crab looks like !!!!!
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Cheeky wagon!

God that kind of brazenness really annoys me. They deserve to go out of business.
 
If you know Nottingham its over the lady Bay Bridge on the river Trent and onwards through West Bridgford and on the bend as you turn right towars Cotgrave.
 
Has anyone ever tried one of the UK eat all you like Chinese outlets, again incredible value, for £5. self service restaurants where the menu is as long as your arm, every conceivable meal that you could find in your local eatery,several variety of soups and loads of starters great fun to try all the many many offerings, fresh fruits, chocolate fountains, ice creams and deserts.
Brilliant for the family when being dragged around the city centre by the wife on a shopping frenzy.
 
legs-akimbo said:
Has anyone ever tried one of the UK eat all you like Chinese outlets, again incredible value, for £5. self service restaurants where the menu is as long as your arm, every conceivable meal that you could find in your local eatery,several variety of soups and loads of starters great fun to try all the many many offerings, fresh fruits, chocolate fountains, ice creams and deserts.
Brilliant for the family when being dragged around the city centre by the wife on a shopping frenzy.
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Theres a few similar places like that in Dublin already, Chinese food which is all you can eat at the Epicurean Foodhall, Baggot Street next to Burgerking and on the top floor of the Stephens Green Shopping Centre. I tried one of the above and while I'm a big guy I got full really fast. I cant remember seeing anything as healthy as fresh fruit or even ice cream on the menu though. It felt really unhealthy but wasnt too expensive.
 
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