News / gloucester road
Shock as Pret prepares to open in former pub
The news might have been first revealed by Bristol24/7 back in June, but it is only with the arrival of signage that people now truly believe that a Pret A Manger is actually opening on Gloucester Road.
Even with clear evidence, there are still some who think that the new façade of the former Queen Victoria pub has been Photoshopped.
But this is no prank. A London-centric chain synonymous with busy office workers on their lunchbreaks is opening soon on a road that was once claimed to be the longest stretch of independent shops in the UK.
is needed now More than ever
Pret a Manger is opening in the former Queen Victoria pub on Gloucester Road – photo: Martin Booth
The Queen Vic used to be a popular watering hole for Bristol Rovers fans before and after a game at the nearby Memorial Stadium.
“Can’t wait to be stood outside, having a good singsong with an almond latte and a bagel,” tweeted Darren Gould, with his tongue firmly in his cheek.
“The Queen Vic becoming a Pret is modern Bristol as fuck, fair play. Awful,” tweeted fellow Rovers fan Ledbury Dan.
“I didn’t go in there that much but it was a proper boozer with proper characters. It was obviously gone anyway but this is shit.”
The former Queen Victoria pub was a popular watering hole for Bristol Rovers fans – photo: Google
“Gentrification doesn’t willingly accept a Wetherspoons but a Pret is absolutely fine for the non Bristolians,” tweeted @Alfiebiggs.
After years of trying, Wetherspoons was finally granted permission to open a pub on Gloucester Road in 2021 despite almost 250 objections to the plans.
“Been thinking about this new Pret since I first saw the coming soon sign weeks ago,” tweeted @afashionoddity
“It’s already a pretty gentrified end of Gloucester Road with Burra and Pinkmans. No-one, not even ‘the Londoners who moved in’ needs a Pret?”
The original plans for the Pret show the red brickwork unpainted – image: Pret A Manger
Bishopston & Ashley Down councillor Emma Edwards said that she was “expecting so many emails about this after Wetherspoons, but not a sausage”.
Is Pret seen as acceptable change by the burghers of Bishopston?
Edwards replied: “Must be, though more likely they are not concerned that on cricket and football match days, overexcited supporters are going to go to Pret and gorge themselves on avocado salads and oat milk lattes and get really lairy.”
Main photo: Martin Booth
Read next:
- Capturing life on Gloucester Road through the decades
- Burra open second Bristol cafe
- Wetherspoons granted permission to open pub on proudly independent street
- These are the Bristol winners in the Observer Food Monthly Awards 2022
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