Has lack of Premier Inn breakfast ruined the weekend?

I for one don’t want ‘pastries’ for breakfast, or croissants, come to that. I loke a savoury breakfast - if I’m having one at all, which TBH isn’t all that often.

Not what she said. Everyone agreed to the cafe and it is no-one’s fault there was a queue. Pret is minging for breakfast so I can see why that was vetoed. \What is wrong with wanting a nice breakfast when you are away for the weekend? I’m not a fan of PI particularly and will eat if that is the only option but it’s hardly making the most of being in another city.

Hello OP's husband 👋

I think they should have agreed - which they apparently did, but then DH seemed to be sulking.

I don’t think it’s selfish for OP to want to do something different. I don’t think it would have been selfish for her DH to make a counter-suggestion. I was responding to the PP who seemed to be saying that OP was selfish for not wanting the Premier Inn breakfast.

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

I would not have force-marched my convalescing DCs and DH away from a ready to eat breakfast. Ideally, they would have filled their boots there and then you'd have wandered to a market/café for a top-up. Teens need provisioning. If you were feeling the ick for PI breakfast, you could have just sipped a coffee whilst they were bulking up.

I feel your DH's pain: arriving at a promised café and then being made to march on is bad for morale. You are lucky your DCs were either too tired/sick/cowed to complain.

I think Pret has great food and OP's complaint about them seemed to be mainly that they're not independent.

Yes the hot croissants with cheese, ham and tomato and a coffee are bloody gorgeous. They also used to do an egg mayonnaise baguette with tomato or smoked salmon which was delicious but I haven’t seen them in a while.

But by the sane token two people in the group do like a PI breakfast, so by your reckoning the OP also put her preferences first and insisted on a walk and a hunt for a cafe. So why is it fine for her to do that?

I nearly always stay in a PI when I'm in London. There's no way I'd eat breakfast there because - why would you when there are so many other better breakfast places on your doorstep?

"Not fancying a Premier Inn breakfast or a Pret one isn't being fussy! They are both pretty poor quality and not something I'd see as part of an enjoyable weekend away"

I've stayed at Premier Inn many times, but never had their breakfast so I can't judge it. However, I think Pret has great food and OP's complaint about them seemed to be mainly that they're not independent.

Premier Inn breakfast is not grim at all! Highlight of any stay there

I’m with you, OP. Premier Inn breakfasts are far from impressive or good value. I’ll give them their due, they’re better than travelodge breakfasts. But only just!!

I’ve only ever had them when work is paying (and even then I’d rather grab my own thing but the expenses policy forces you to book with breakfast if it’s possible, even if that costs more 🙄)

If I stay at one with DP we don’t even consider having breakfast there. Much rather find something unique, and likely better quality and possibly even cheaper!

The OP starts with we’ve all been ill and still feel tired and rundown - which is exactly why changing a known, easy, much-loved plan at the last minute was a bad call.

The OP wakes up and decides to change plans because she realises the PI is a 20 minute walk from Shoreditch/Spitalfields and she fancies a change.

Although they normally have the PI breakfast, she reframes this as fitting the plan for a 'nice walk'.

DH and DCs agree to go to a specific café.

They arrive, there’s a queue. Now we have a tired, hungry husband faced with either waiting longer or changing venue again.

At this point the OP pushes on, rejecting perfectly acceptable options:
We did see a Pret but I didn’t want that.

They then wander around (later minimised to 10-15 minutes, which is still a long time when you’re ill, tired and hungry) before ending up in a café that is:

More expensive
Smaller portions - for a DH who can eat his body weight at PI
Not what DH or DS wanted
No pancakes for DD

In short: no PI breakfast for DH and DS, no pancakes for DD but a lovely outcome for the OP.

DH is still clearly hungry, at which point the OP generously offers to look for another place or even a Greggs for him to 'top up,'

How very accommodating, after everyone else has already compromised.

Then the OP comes here asking if she’s being unreasonable because DH snapped and is in a strop. It's hardly surprising that in the short term it would colour the DH's opinion of the weekend.

YMMV. HTH.

This is AIBU, not “Only Answer If You Agree With Me.”

No that is shitty behaviour, but if its because op can be overbearing about suggestions that arent really suggestions (i have no idea, only she knows!) then I can see why it gets a bit weary. But only because I know how that feels.

And tbh im normally of the view that generally, its likely the man will be in the wrong 🤣

He’s a silly twat.

If he agreed without offering his opinion or suggesting an alternative or having to be persuaded then he is being unreasonable. Having a strop for hours because you ate breakfast at one place over another, and had to wait an extra 15 min than anticipated is childish and pathetic. Not offering an opinion and then banging on and on about something afterwards is also childish and pathetic. If he doesn't make a decision, someone has to, and it's not fair to say that you make all the decisions - how many suggestions did he make about what you did at the weekend.

^ This. My DH and DD are terrible at deciding things to do/places to eat and accuse me of being like my parents and dithering. I don't and actually these days I ask if anyone has any ideas, if they don't I come up with an idea and that's what we do. If they actually criticised it I'd be telling them to come up with their own bloody idea next time.

Your H needs to get a sodding grip and grow up.

God knows how this thread descended into the discussions of the merits or otherwise of a PI breakfast.🙄

What an utterly bizarre comment. Your kids aren't OP's kids, are they?

I could as easily say "my kids love going out to a nice independent cafe and wandering around new places and would be gutted to skip that and eat a mass produced stodge fest then go straight home," and it would be as relevant (not at all) to what's actually being asked.

It doesn't even make sense because you can go to a PI for breakfast any weekend if you wanted - they're literally everywhere. Whereas OP's family could only wander round London and eat somewhere different the one weekend they were actually in London!

Is everyone here missing the point?
None of this is really about whether they are at PI or somewhere else? This is about a man who was still sulking hours later about not getting his way. Deeply unattractive behaviour. And I bet this is not the only thing he sulks about.

Best PI for breakfast is Nottingham South. Old PI but someone on duty to cook what you want, also Aldi or Lidl nearby for continental goods, or next door to the pub. What's not to love?

Kefalonia in June on a balmy evening after a day at the beach, absolutely!

Shoreditch in January in freezing fog when you’re run down and hungry, no it’s like 28 days later with more pavement puke!

OP I do get that you suggested this with the best of intentions but I think you might have to bear a little bit of responsibility for suggesting a plan which was at best a gamble and at worst just a crap idea in the circumstances. Always book if you can, especially in London. Your DP should have been more understanding though.

I think at the time I would be annoyed in his place too. Plans changing and getting delayed several times is infuriating when you’re already hungry. And toast and pastries are lovely but it is a total let down when you’ve been looking forward to a cooked breakfast.

Still carrying the moaning on and being in a huff all day is totally out of order.

Unless we are near relatives we normally take a small bag of meusli each and get some milk from reception or bring it in ourselves.

The breakfast is just one of those crappy glitches that happen through mismatched moods and poor communication. But unless he's the kind of person who throws out mean "you always/you never" accusations whenever he's piqued (which would be a bigger problem), the more general things he said sound as if they need talking over, so maybe try and have a proper calm conversation about what he meant by them.

You saved yourself a stomach ache trust me!! More than once!! Vile greasy place

YANBU OP. I love independent cafes, especially the ones that make good coffee. A morning walk around Shoreditch sounds good too, before heading home.

Sulky adults are insufferable, sorry you have one of those for a DH.

I get this. My best friend works every weekend, her kids are at school all week. So going to a cafe can only happen in school holidays when she has AL.

However, I think your husband’s complaint was not about missing the PI breakfast, so you shouldn’t be making the whole thing about this one moment.

If it is totally untrue that you “lead”/railroad your family in general, then he is BU, but you have sort of admitted you do this a bit so maybe just have a talk about how you can both communicate better.