Businesses that ought to fail.

Theres a Tesco’s opening up near us. Hmmmmm. Dilemma, I know when I’m merry I’ll stagger down there for more amber nectar 😐

Starbucks- why do people pay soooo much for hot buckets of milk?

Cos it’ not a hot bucket of milk, stop being facetious.

We pay £3 for a nice sit down and a relaxing drink.

You can reduce anything to those terms. Why would anyone pay £5 for a glass of poncy imported fermented barley? Why would anyone pay thousands for a bit of tubing and some bearings with a fancy paintjob? Etc etc.

I’d rather go to Costa where the coffee is much nicer.

See, I think the coffee in Costa is bitter burnt muck. Starbucks coffee is much smoother and easier to drink. I’ve taste tested espresso, americano, filter, latte, cappucino, crushed ice sweetie milkshake jobs, the lot. Only an espresso macchiato is nicer in costa.

Starbucks coffee is much smoother and easier to drink.

It’s easier to drink because it doesn’t taste of coffee?

I only support decent indie coffee shops. Coffee Evolution in Huddersfield knows how to make my Machiato.

… with ‘special sauce’?

jfletch

Did you see the “choose” word. I like choice not dictators, so shut it and agree with me

Indeed I did. I was simply pointing out that the licence fee pays for more than Eastenders.

But you are quite within your rights to choose to opt out of all of it. I’m told people find giving up the tele quite a liberating experience.

with ‘special sauce’?

Are you implying a burst in there with my sexual-AK47?

Stand back! This could go off any second!!!!!!

See, I think the coffee in Costa is bitter burnt muck. Starbucks coffee is much smoother and easier to drink

do you drink Mellow Birds too?

Starbucks- why do people pay soooo much for hot buckets of milk?

Don’t forget the free cup you get with every coffee, if they aren’t paying uk taxes I’m taking their cups every time I go there 🙂

No, I drink Starbucks Verona whole bean at home.

John **** Lewis are expanding ffs! What does it say about our times that such affluent middle class smugness is on the rise?

Don’t knock ‘affluent middle class smugness’. It’s great! 😀

BTW, all coffee is filth.

I only support decent indie coffee shops. Coffee Evolution in Huddersfield knows how to make my Machiato

Wasnt that quite literally turned into burnt muck a couple of years ago?

I normally hate coffee, but their ‘Monkey mocha’ is beyond delicious! Mmmmmmmm.

But I can’t choose can I, I have a telly I am forced to pay the BBC. They should make the BBC “pay as you go” or by public subscription only. If the public support and quality it there then they’ll not have a problem.

White Stuff, Fat Face, and anywhere else that sells “outdoorsy” clothing that’s mostly worn by twonks in ski chalets.

Harrods.

I would go to good indie coffee shops if there were any. I’ve only ever been to one good one, that was in Brussels.

Also, I shop at White Stuff and Fat Face 🙂 But only in the sales.

No, I drink Starbucks Verona whole bean at home.

when you have curry, do you have a korma?
do you use ‘sensitive’ moisturiser?
etc.

All coffee in this country is crap. So it’s pointless bickering about it.
FACT.

‘Independents’ of any flavour that think they’ve a god-given right to survive.

Most chains started out as independents that did things right- that’s why they were successful businesses that grew. Of course, some over reached themselves, but that’s a different story

I only support decent indie coffee shops

When one opens in Rochdale/Bury, please let me know.

Costa flat white FTW. I am not unaware that my fondness for Costa may be due to there being a 24h branch in the main entrance of a large central Leeds establishment in which I worked.

Andy

when you have curry, do you have a korma?
do you use ‘sensitive’ moisturiser?
etc.

No, and no. Wtf?

I don’t use moisturiser, and given the choice when I go for a curry I have Indian creative and/or home style food from the brilliant Mint and Mustard in Cardiff.

So there.

I know good coffee, and I know Starbucks coffee isn’t the best ever but it’s very drinkable and has its own character. I also know that there is a whole landscape of coffee from different parts of the world, and it’s all to be appreciated on its own merits, not relative to some ideal goal. Given the choice I drink single origin coffee, and I could tell the difference between South American, Indonesian and African coffee in a blind test.

So I PREFER the taste of Starbucks to Costa, I’m allowed to, and I don’t think there’s any absolute measure of quality that makes one dreadful and one great. So there.

These American Candy, American Sweet shops.

Cannot help throwing a glance at the Lucky Charm cereal or Apple flavoured Dr Pepper or whatever ceap they have in the shopfront for approaching a tenner.

Never see anybody in them yet they have about half a dozen workers in them usually.

So there.

man’s got a point.

so there.

hora
Are you implying a burst in there with my sexual-AK47?

binners
Stand back! This could go off any second!!!!!!

Officer I can explain, I was just cleaning it and it went off in my hand

Be careful where you point that thing

But I can’t choose can I, I have a telly I am forced to pay the BBC.

See, but the licence fee doesn’t just pay for programmes on the BBC does it. It also funds a large part of the infrastructure used to broadcast the tele and also subsidises some of Chanel 4 and ITV local news.

So without it there is no tele, this is a choice you already have.

They should make the BBC “pay as you go” or by public subscription only. If the public support and quality it there then they’ll not have a problem.

This is the worst idea ever. Force the BBC to make a profit and you get endless ITV drivel. We only get the quality of programming we do as the beeb doesn’t have to chase viewers.

I was just discussing this the other day with the Mrs. The BBC can put on controversial programmes and say things that commercial networks can’t because they would be worried about upsetting people – the BBC could be considered to have an obligation to actually do such things.

Also, even ‘reality TV’ stuff on the BBC actually has a well thought out point, usually, along with being car crash telly. Then again there’s stuff like East Enders with a sense of social responsibility to bring up difficult and controversial subjects.

If the BBC ever goes away it’ll be a bad bad day.

If McDonalds went I’m sure the countryside would soon be a bit tidier, until the goons that use them found someone else’s litter to chuck out of car windows.
Saw some of their crap in Swaledale a couple of weeks ago. God only knows where the nearest maccy sodding d’s is to Swaledale!

Starbucks, HOW MUCH FOR A CUP OF THAT CRAP! you mugs.

Etc etc etc.

I know good coffee, and I know Starbucks coffee isn’t the best ever but it’s very drinkable and has its own character. I also know that there is a whole landscape of coffee from different parts of the world, and it’s all to be appreciated on its own merits, not relative to some ideal goal. Given the choice I drink single origin coffee, and I could tell the difference between South American, Indonesian and African coffee in a blind test.

So I PREFER the taste of Starbucks to Costa, I’m allowed to, and I don’t think there’s any absolute measure of quality that makes one dreadful and one great. So there.

Sorry molgrips, I don’t want to have a go at you, but why does anyone feel the desperate need to have a cup of coffee in the middle of a town or city?

It’s a load of old bollocks! We are a very well developed nation, with oodles of history and tradition and drinking coffee while wandering about the place is not an important part of that culture. It’s bullshit, designed to take your money in return for a drink of something warm.

Stop it and they will go away; it adds nothing of any value at all to the country.

…and ‘barista’….

Jesus H Christ, you make coffee, it’s not a bloody career, it’s being a sodding waitress, whatever you call it..

The BBC can put on controversial programmes and say things that commercial networks can’t because they would be worried about upsetting people

Which is why ITV revealed the Savile story, and the BBC didn’t 😕

why does anyone feel the desperate need to have a cup of coffee in the middle of a town or city?

Why ever not?

We are a very well developed nation, with oodles of history and tradition and drinking coffee while wandering about the place is not an important part of that culture.

I tell you what IS a very important part of our culture though – letting people get on with whatever they choose to do. And also integrating bits of other cultures…

And so what if they use the word ‘barista’? Who the f cares? Are you going to complain about using the word ‘barman’ for someone in a pub? It’s the same thing.

There’s no difference between going to a coffee shop for a snack and going to anywhere else, pub, cafe, anything. Get over it.

PS I sit down and drink my coffee. Like people have been doing in this country (and others) since the 18th century.

I will fight you all the way on this 🙂

I will respectfully agree to disagree with you about this because I cannot see that this is anything other than a waste of money.

The same could be said of anything that one person likes and another doesn’t 🙂 Beer is a good example.

I believe Starbucks did have an enormous wobble in the last couple of years, as they worked out that a) the coffee wasn’t good enough, and b) the pervading smell in the shop wasn’t coffee anyway, but cheese from the toasties.

Supposedly they’ve got their act together; can’t say I’d noticed the difference, and as their contribution to the uk is minimal I’d rather go to Costa where the coffee is much nicer.
Their coffee is very ordinary, and their shop in Chippenham, which only opened a couple of years ago, is closing next month. Not sorry to see them go. We have several other coffee shops, and I’m with molgrips on this one; crikey, I don’t know what your problem is with people sitting in comfortable surroundings, enjoying a nice hot beverage, but a pub is out of the question for most people shopping in a town centre, and old-style cafes only gave you basic options when it came to hot drinks; coffee – black, white, with or without sugar, tea, with or without sugar.
I really enjoy sitting in a nice, soft, comfy sofa or chair in a Café Nero, using their free wifi, enjoying a really nice tasty, well prepared mug of quality coffee when I’m out doing some shopping in Bath, Bristol, Oxford or somewhere like that. At home there’s a great little shop I’ve been using for the last decade or so, I know the girls who work there really well, and it’s nice to just sit reading, using O2’s wifi from next door, or just people watching on a sunny afternoon.
It’s something many other countries enjoy, so why can’t we?

British Gas.
Apalling shower of sh!te, gave them two attempts at providing me with a service and both times they failed to turn up for their morning/afternoon appointments in the correct half of the day. Then when I phoned up to complain they asked if there was anything else the could ‘help’ me with. Yes, you can **** off and die you useless, pointless aholes.

At home there’s a great little shop I’ve been using for the last decade or so, I know the girls who work there really well, and it’s nice to just sit reading, using O2’s wifi from next door, or just people watching on a sunny afternoon.

There was/is a cracking coffee shop on Rose Lane in Liverpool I spent hours in when we lived there. I’d far rather support an independent.

As above, if anyone has any recommendations in Rochdale/Bury…

Andy

Weren’t coffee shops the original gathering points of radicals/revolutionaries many many moons ago, so if they provide a congenial space in which to further these aims then that can only be good. non ?

Andy, have you tried Coffee Cali top of Yorkshire street, or Macaroon on Bury Road, Bamford?

#Edit.. Oh, and the Norden Arms opens this month (used to be the Blue Ball Pub) and they are open from 9AM – I’m guessing they will be serving coffee!

Their coffee is very ordinary

To be honest, all the big chains are adequate in coffee terms rather than brilliant. It’s the other stuff in Starbucks that makes us go there. Their vanilla syrup for instance is nicer than Costa’s, and they do White Mochas and Chai Lattes that my wife likes. And the sandwiches really are good.

Currently drinking a Costa flat white – it’s bigger than a Starbucks one and has less coffee I think, so it’s more like a cappucino with whole milk. Ok, but I will get an extra shot next time.

The best thing for a coffee lover in Starbucks is the range of filter coffees. They have several regional coffees, some blends and the blonde roast too, usually two of them on the go at any one time. They really are full of complex flavours, well brewed and a pretty interesting drink.

I would rather support independents too, but I don’t want to support mediocrity, and there’s a hell of a lot of it around in coffee shops. If you think Starbucks is bad you should have tried Madison’s, the alternative in Cardiff before Starbucks moved in.