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.

I've just wasted 20 mins of my life before realising that this is the least interesting and most inconsequential thread I've ever read on mumsnet.

I think that you and your DP should split up and any kids you may have should divorce both of you

I'd like to also add that if you are a grown adult who knows they get unreasonable when hungry, carry some bloody snacks with you. The manchild is a walking snickers advert.

My work takes me to Shoreditch and the immediate vicinity now and again. No their breakfasts are not haute cuisine but I'd rather eat out of the Premier Inn bins than traipse around Shoreditch in the cold trying to decide where I'm going to get ripped off. Still, it does sound like your husband made rather a meal out of it.

Was timing an issue I wonder? I am grim when I'm over hungry. Lose my rag very easily and start swearing. But that usually subsides when I have eaten.

You are easily pleased if you think they are a highlight!

If I was a man I wouldn't be married to a woman shallow enough to turn their nose up at the value of a £9.99 substantial PI breakfast so we can traipse around London hungry and tired looking fora trendy micro breakfast.

You sound like a great judge of character...

You do realise have just wasted another minute of your life writing that inconsequential answer? Everyone else who is finding this thread interesting now has to waste their time reading it too😂

I agree. Why does the op get to make all the choices. I have never fancied a premier inn breakfast but some people love them

Iis everyone missing the point here?
Premier Inn breakfast is not included in the room rate!

98% of posters seem to be thinking OP threw away
what would be an additional extra pre-booked cost of upwards of £10.99 for four. Pre-paid!

OP @Liesmorelies did you pre-pay over £40 and decide not to have breakfast a la Premier Inn? And pay over £40 at the Spitalfields breakfast spot?

Honestly - maybe not in Shoreditch but elsewhere UK and Europe - wandering around looking for something to eat, with no proper destination in mind is pretty miserable with a family (IME) . I would always 1. book somewhere ( so did you research brunches? ) 2. make sure a market has proper street food , coffees etc or 3. let those who want breakfast in the hotel get up early and have it. For me ( and I do not have a sweet tooth - so put that in the mix ) pastries and porridge and jam would worse than useless, even with great coffee 😂I get you were trying to do something nice @Liesmorelies , I genuinely do , but I would say if you'd booked a brunch , that would have been a winner . If you were all tired and run down possibly setting off in hope to end up with pastries wasn't the beast idea.

But I doubt if it will have spoilt the w/e if the show was good , and good experience for planning for next time.

You are correct, it is not included but you can pay for Breakfast on the day at the restaurant.... £10.99 for the unlimited Full Premier Inn Breakfast and £8.99 for Continental, with up to two children under 16 eating free per paying adult. Pre-booking might sometimes offer slight discounts

Not everyone wants to gorge themselves at breakfast - I’d prefer to pay £7 for a nice pastry and coffee than upwards of £10 for food I’m not going to enjoy just because it’s unlimited.

How are you all going to some mythical PI that does high end hotel style breakfasts?

Every one I have been to is approximately of the standard of the Littlewoods cafe 5 items for 99p breakfasts we used to get in the 90s when I was a penniless student except with those awful powdered scrambled eggs.

They weren't bad for what they were and the target market, but literally any greasy spoon in London does a better breakfast.

Premier inn breakfast is very average and a nice Shoreditch cafe would win hands down in my book . Your husband is a miserable git

We are all making assumptions here, which is inevitable with a one-sided account. But it’s just as much an assumption to say the OP is someone who listens and doesn’t push their own agenda.

Plenty of people, including partners and kids, will go along with one parent / partner/ DC simply because the cost of pushing back is worth it. That doesn’t mean they were genuinely happy with the decision. It also explains why frustration sometimes comes out later, when someone finally loses their cool and ends up asking AIBU from the other side of the argument which you often seen here on MN.

In an ideal world we would hear the DH’s perspective. All we have OP's - they have already started rolling back parts of the story under the guise of 'clarifying'. For me that raises questions as to how this has been presented.

What a ridiculous reach! I said the dc were fine with it and you have to make out they were browbeaten or too sick to argue! Has to be a woman in the wrong for some people.

A nice pastry and a coffee for £7 in central London!😂

The last London PI I stayed in was awful. Even worse was the food served up in the restaurant which made me unwell. I think you dodged a bullet personally.

To be fair the last thing id want to do in the morning is walk out the door past a perfectly good breakfast to go on a treasure hunt for food.

Ok, £10 then. Still preferable to Premier Inn!

Actually, you can get a pain au chocolat and a coffee for about £7 in some places in central London.

Cheap, cheerful and plentiful. We normally keep a couple of pastries for a snacks later in the morning. We would also rather save the money or use if for activities or a nice lunch at a point in the day when everyone is fully awake/ alert.

I don't think they are high end breakfasts but they suit us very well for what we want

If we use a PI it's usually been because we've been to a gig in London and are staying over. That means a late night (their bars stay open too ime) and we usually want to get up, have breakfast and head for home

We've found them perfectly fine for that. Neither of us want to traipse round looking for somewhere else

Others will have different scenarios of course

Perhaps you were in the wrong OP?

You might not be, but then again you might

People are answering your question, which is were you unreasonable.

What is wrong with people on this thread!?

eating some average food in a café. I've said multiple times what we ate was lovely, and the coffee even admitted by dh to be great. Why are you ignoring that to paint a false picture?

You were looking for a café and the one you eventually found could have been anywhere in London! Again - wtf? Where did I say that? It was independent - probably there are similar elsewhere in London, but PI and Pret are the same in the entire UK so wtf are you on about?!

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.

Well, I've been ill too, but I suppose my needs are unimportant and it was on me to make sure everyone else had everything they needed regardless of my own needs. We'd all just had colds, that's all.

Will your family remember anything about this morning? I doubt it. Well how would you know? Maybe they'll remember their dad sulking, but if they do, it's all on me.

BTW my children have always enjoyed the breakfasts at Premier Inn.... especially the pancakes and chocolate spread. Good to know, thanks. My kids have had PI breakfasts multiple times per year for all of the 18 or so years they've been on the planet. Today I suggested something different and they were happy to go for it. It didn't work out perfectly but they coped. Their dad on the other hand...

ETA: In Shoreditch you would be lucky to get one pancake and one cup of tea or coffee for £9.99! Missed this, but I've already said that what we ate cost the same as we'd have paid in PI. It was less but we ate plenty - kids had porridge and pastry/toast, dh had 2 pastries, we all had juice dh and I had coffee as well. It was 2.30ish before I felt hungry and I am not someone to skip meals/claim to eat like a bird!

But seeing your username I'm hoping you're taking the piss, to be honest.
Edited

I think I’d just take him at his word that it ruined his day, to be honest. The mumsnet opinion on PI breakfasts doesn’t matter.

If I was hungry, I’d think it was awkward of DH to suggest we went out to eat to give the morning purpose, not having booked a cafe, and then reject Pret. If you didn’t want a purposeless walk, you could have headed straight home. If you wanted more time in London, it wasn’t purposeless. I know your family agreed, but it doesn’t sound like they really wanted to, or your DH at least.

It sounds like the breakfast you had was nice enough, at the very least, albeit not as filling, but the prelude ruined it for your DH.

Whether he should sulk all day is a different topic… does he do that often? Has he always?