Pret cuts free coffee from loyalty scheme as furious customers threaten boycott

A major chain has cut free coffee from its loyalty scheme, leaving customers threatening to cancel their subscriptions.

Pret a Manger’s subscription service Club Pret costs £30 a month, or £360 a year, and members can get five free hot or iced barista-made drinks each day. The scheme also offers 20 percent off the rest of the food and drink menu.

But in September, subscribers will instead get 50 percent off five barista-made drinks a day and no discount on food and drink.

The scheme will drop to £10 a month – with a reduced rate of £5 a month available until the end of March 2025.

This has enraged customers, with many taking to X (formerly Twitter) to slam Pret’s choice.

One subscriber said: "Have a word I will be cancelling as I think many others will be!!! Shame on you."

Another added: "Pret changing their subscription to 50% off five drinks instead of it being free five drinks…. that just ruined my day." A third cried: "It’s a very sad day for coffee lovers." 

And a fourth fumed: "You are making a huge mistake. There is time to rectify it. Otherwise, I am cancelling my subscription, and will never step foot into any of your stores."

Pret has said that given that the majority of its customers were not Club Pret subscribers, its priority now was to "focus on better value for everyone".

In a letter sent to customers on Thursday, Pret’s managing director Clare Clough said: "We know this is a change.

"But with Club Pret subscription, our coffees, teas, coolers and iced drinks will continue to be the best offer on the high street, and at a much more accessible price than the £360 a year people have to pay for the current scheme."

This follows Pret’s crackdown in March on subscribers sharing their free drinks and discounts with other people.

But to soften the blow, Pret has lowered some prices, with a filter coffee going from £1.80 to 99p and all-butter croissant dropping to £1.99.