Has lack of Premier Inn breakfast ruined the weekend?

[Liesmorelies]

I mean, it hasn't, not for me, but DH seems to feel otherwise and I don't know if I've been UR. We (us and two dc) were in London overnight to see a show. We would normally maximise our time in the city and leave maybe this sort of time on Sunday, but we've all been ill and still feel a bit tired and rundown and so agreed we'd leave after breakfast and maybe a walk/quick trip to a park or the river.

When I woke I realised our PI was about a 20 minute walk from Shoreditch market where I was sure there are loads of cafes and stalls. Although we normally have the PI breakfast I thought this would be a nice change and mean we would be doing what we had planned (quick trip to somewhere nice and a walk) and could then leave. Also looked up a particular cafe that looked nice. Everyone agreed - all fine.

When we arrived at the cafe there was a queue. DH immediately said in a moody way, 'That's that then,' and started huffing. I said let's walk up (we were at the end of the road) it might not be that bad, but he had walked off. We ended up wandering around the area with him getting increasingly grumpy. Sods law, we weren't really going past any suitable looking cafes, although I'm sure the area is full of them. We did see a Pret but I didn't want that.

We eventually saw a nice independent cafe where we were able to have porridge,pastries, toast and spreads, fresh juice and lovely coffee. We all ate but DH wouldn't stop going on about the bloody PI. Yes, I get that he would eat his body weight there and we ended up with a relatively small breakfast that probably cost more (though our kids are 16 and 18, so no more free PI breakfasts!) but what we had was lovely, the place was lovely, and a bit different, and, ffs, PI will still be there next time. I offered to look for another place or even a Greggs for him to 'top up,' but he went in full strop mode. DS1 loves a PI breakfast too and he didn't moan, and dd was wanting pancakes in the place with a queue but she didn't moan that she didn't end up getting them, it's just him acting like a child. He also moaned about the cost, saying PI breakfast would have done for lunch as well, but we were home in time for a late lunch and no one wanted food on the journey so it's like he's just looking for stuff to moan about.

We're home now but he has said he's sick of me making all the decisions, I'm fussy and nothing is good enough and I'm just hard work. He's gone for a run but it was an atmosphere all the way home. Did I do wrong - I get I could have looked at booking but to me it worked out fine in the end.

He’s a silly twat.

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 🤣

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.”

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!

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

"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.

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?

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 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.

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 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.

Hello OP's husband 👋

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.

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.

You had all agreed to leave after breakfast and maybe have a walk or take a quick trip to a park or the river. This sounds absolutely lovely! You changed the plans, because you wanted everyone to discover a café and discover the local area. Well did you discover the local area?
What your family actually ended up doing was walking around for at least 20 minutes looking for somewhere to eat, then eating some average food in a café. Wow that sounds memorable and very interesting.
Did your family enjoy being in that part of London or take in any of the local area? Doubt it. You were looking for a café and the one you eventually found could have been anywhere in London!
There are so many fantastic things to do in Shoreditch. It is an amazing part of London. Will your family remember anything about this morning? I doubt it.
Also If my family had not been very well recently and were still feeling tired and rundown, my first priority would be to make sure they were not only well rested but also well fed. Do you or your family normally leave the house in the morning without having had any breakfast, or at least a cup of coffee, especially if you don't know where you are going? Sounds very stressful. BTW my children have always enjoyed the breakfasts at Premier Inn.... especially the pancakes and chocolate spread.

A Premier Inn breakfast is fine. For £9.99 it is ok, it is not meant to be high cuisine! Everyone will find something to eat.... croissants, toast, cereal, pancakes, pain au chocolat, yoghurts, fruit, porridge ..... you do not need to eat the bacon or sausages if you think they are disgusting! In Shoreditch you would be lucky to get one pancake and one cup of tea or coffee for £9.99!

You have misread it. 'doesn’t love them as much' is not the same as 'doesn’t like them.' You have also missed that the DD wanted pancakes, which she also didn’t get. Once again, the only person who ended up with exactly what they wanted was the OP.

'Hanger' doesn’t magically disappear with age. Adults still get irritable when they’re tired, ill and hungry, especially when expectations are set and then repeatedly shifted. Some people even acknowledge they can't talk before they have had their morning coffee. Are they immature too? or just human?

As for the strop - if this were genuinely a one-off, it might be a problem. But if this is just the latest incident in a wider pattern of the OP changing plans/ pushing through her preferences, and then minimising everyone else’s frustration, it’s hardly surprising the DH is struggling to let it go.

The bigger issue isn’t the breakfast. It’s the OP trying to normalise her behaviour while dismissing her DH’s reaction. Taking himself off for a run actually sounds like a healthy way of dealing with that frustration now he is not trapped in London or the car.

PI breakfast is mediocre at best. Saying that unless you have a foolproof plan as an alternative, I would have stuck with PI. Wandering and queuing is not a great idea

Its a standard holiday argument scenario, looking for food and not finding it. IT sends some people into the red zone because hunger is at play. If he really really wanted the hotel breakfast he should have spoken up. Fair enough having a strop when he was hungry for breakfast, but he didn't need to carry it on all day. It's on him for not speaking up and just reacting and going in a mood.

You ended up somewhere nice so that's when he should have cheered up. What ruined the morning was his mood completely. A situation can be turned around with a good attitude. Next time you will know that the hotel breakfast means a lot to him. So next time you could split up and leave him to it, or settle for PI.

it sounds like he was hangry!!

we like a PI breakfast - 2 younger kids and it’s just easy! Never had a bad one and there’s a decent choice.

I think my lot would have been annoyed to walk around. We’re a hangry family though and I would struggle to get up and go walking without something to eat.

But equally he definitely shouldn’t have acted how he did and dragged it out. Like others have said, if he wanted it then he should lot have agreed to the plan.

Always do the hotel breakfast! Anywhere else will be more expensive, you won't get as much and there will be a queue, and it's always stressful finding somewhere to go if there's more than just you 🤣

How bad was the queue? If he hadn't got grumpy about it and huffed off, could he have ended up getting his breakfast quicker?

Moans that you make all the decisions but makes bugger all effort himself?

That's an easy rope to drop.

When we arrived at the cafe there was a queue. DH immediately said in a moody way, 'That's that then,' and started huffing. I said let's walk up (we were at the end of the road) it might not be that bad, but he had walked off. We ended up wandering around the area with him getting increasingly grumpy. Sods law, we weren't really going past any suitable looking cafes, although I'm sure the area is full of them. We did see a Pret but I didn't want that.
We eventually saw a nice independent cafe

I'm not convinced all this could have happened in 15min, therefore I question OP's assertion that her DP's breakfast was only delayed 15 min, and suspect other aspects of the story may have been tweaked to her benefit.

It was her DH and one DC who like PI breakfasts. The other DC could take or leave it. They usually get PI breakfasts. Why do the menfolk get their way the whole time for all stays away, and not the women just somebloodytimes?

One person suggested they do something different AND THEY ALL AGREED. FFS. The DC are 17 and 18, all three of them were perfectly capable of saying "No thanks, we would like to stick with the PI breakfast". They chose not to.

GOD FORBID you come across a queue in London.

It wasn't a micro breakfast. It was a very normal sounding size of breakfast with opportunities to add more or order less to suit their individual appetites.

The manchildstropper vetoed the place with the queue, not her. She vetoed one chain place, and they got the food at the third. There were zero strops required.

She tried to solve HIS manchild complaint that he was still hungry by offering to be the one who solved it by locating and purchasing him more food that she knew he liked. She absolutely didn't need to do that for a grown man. Grown men are capable of working out that they are still hungry and locating their own additional food. He maintained his strop regardless of her efforts.

Never make a family march on empty stomachs.

I'm with you OP, a PI breakfast is not my idea of a good time but sometimes it's just easier to go with it and then seek out a lovely coffee after the others have filled up on tepid bacon and soggy toast.