Premier Inn Breakfast Questions

Gail’s Bakery is a short walk from your hotel. You would get better quality and selection at a lower price than at the hotel.

Yes, you can just show up for breakfast and pay then. The price is the same.

However, if you don't pre-book, and its busy, you might have to wait.

I have stayed in numerous PI's and never prebook breakfast. Especially for a city like London. There are plenty of cafe's nearby serving breakfast if the PI is busy.

Yeah, you can buy it on the day.

It’s not the greatest quality food, but it’s plentiful. Depends whether you like to get breakfasted before doing anything, or you’d rather get out and about and find some nicer food en route.

If you have children with you then I doubt you’ll find a cheaper breakfast anywhere in London. For 2 adults and 2 kids it works out at just £7 per person. You’ll pay more than £3 just for one cup of coffee in Gail’s. Children love the PI buffet. Well, I think they just like buffets in general! I’m not sure I’d want to have it every day but it’s definitely a good safe option at a very good price.

We have used Premier Inn in London numerous times at other locations.

We never pre book and have never had a problem but we are early risers so usually beat the crowd. That gives flexibility if you wake up and decide you need a change of pace. That worked well when we had family including grandchild. It is decent ,not great but much better than US mid market chain hotels. But we do love Gail's too if we want just a pastry. We ended up alternating with the family trip. It's a good deal.

I'm with Helen on this one. Price wise it's a very good option especially for London and kids do prefer a buffet. I'm not particularly keen on PI breakfasts as the quality of the food isn't that good but I've experienced worse in hotels. It's a good choice for a filling breakfast to start your day even enough to skip lunch if you've got a packed day of sightseeing to fit in. I would probably pay in advance as it's one less thing to think about.

I'm also with Helen. If you have kids, the PI breakfast is the best bargain in town. And no, you do not have to pre-book; I never did. I stayed at the Premier Inn County Hall in March of this year for 5 nights and found the breakfast decent. I usually just got the continental version, which is a few pounds cheaper, but I did go for the cooked breakfast once and it was fine. As Helen said, the kids will love the buffet and it's really handy and convenient.

You could certainly visit Gails for a change but it will be more expensive as you will have to pay for all of you, and there is usually a line in the morning. I saved Gail's for when I wanted to eat a quick take-away dinner in my room, and it's great for that.

Another vote for PI Breakfast! We were there in July 2023 with kids ages 10 and 8. Is it gourmet food? No. But it's good. You can't really mess up toast :-). The mini-chocolate croissants were a big hit with the boys. Also, this will depend on how ethical you are - but once you are inside the breakfast room, there is no one checking if you bought the Continental or Full Breakfast. We got one of each (2 kids only eat free with the Full Breakfast), so it was actually less than what you are quoting. And no, I did not feel bad about eating a few slices on bacon in the morning. I don't know how old your kids are, but for us last year it was really nice to have a set place for breakfast instead of looking for something every morning (we did that in Chicago this summer and UGH never again; we mainly just went to various Dunkin' Donuts). We also liked being able to go back up to the room afterwards to brush teeth and use the bathroom one last time before heading out for the day.

Thank you, everyone, for sharing your suggestions and experiences with Premier Inn's breakfast and other options nearby! My son loves buffet breakfasts and is happy as long as there’s bacon. Though I’m not sure if bacon in London is more like the American or Italian style—he wasn’t a fan of the Italian version when we visited Rome.

I've decided not to prepay for PI's breakfast. But we’ll eat at the PI most of the time unless we tire of it after a few days. I also love the convenience of being able to return to the room to brush teeth—especially since my son just got a fixed retainer.

Thanks again!

Be careful for British bacon. It is what Americans call Canadian bacon. My dad and I still laugh about him going out for breakfast sandwiches and coming back with Canadian bacon instead of the American bacon sandwiches we are used to.

If you want American bacon in the UK, it is called rashers.

f you want American bacon in the UK, it is called rashers.

A rasher is simply the British name for one thin slice of bacon so you specifically need to look for streaky bacon - and preferably dry cure - if you want that crisp American style. But you won’t find that on a Premier Inn breakfast buffet.

I'm not sure I've ever seen crisp bacon in England. I specifically avoid selecting any dish with bacon because I hate the floppy stuff. I have no issue with their equivalent of Canadian bacon, though.

The back bacon that is most common in Britain isn’t meant to be served crispy. The fat along the edge might crisp up a bit but the meat won’t. This is the only type that’s served with a full English breakfast.

We call American style bacon streaky bacon. You will get it in places that do American style breakfasts or any supermarket. I cook it at home to serve with pancakes or french toast and also use it in cooking.

I agree with Golden Girl and Helen about the bacon. I thought all bacon was like Canadian bacon until I stayed with a friend in LIverpool and he made breakfast with some bacon he got at a local farmer's market. It was the best bacon I had ever had. He explained the difference (they're both Canadian but have lived in the UK for 30 years) and said that the "good" crisp bacon is called "streaky bacon."

Here's a link to a site that explains it in more detail if anyone is interested. And to the OP, I doubt that the Premier Inn offers streaky bacon as opposed to regular, but you can find it in restaurants. Just look for the words "streaky."

Basically, it’s all in the cut: —-American bacon is cut from the belly
of the pig. In the UK we call this “streaky” bacon. As you would
expect, this cut is very fatty. —-Canadian bacon is cut from the loin
of the pig, so this is thicker, meatier and very lean. —-British bacon
is cut from the loin with a little part of the belly attached. This
makes it much meatier than American bacon, but with the addition of
the belly it is less dry than the Canadian bacon.

you may call it Canadian, we call that (not exactly the same) Back Bacon from where it comes from on the critter

We stayed at several PI locations in Scotland and London, and we utilized their breakfast almost every morning, mainly because we were anxious to get out and explore the area. We found, at least in Scotland, that a lot of breakfast places didn't open until well after 8:00. In fact, on the Isle of Skye we ended up eating breakfast in a cafe in the back of a hardware store, as it was the only thing open that early!

The PI buffet food is decent, and you have the option of either the full buffet or the continental. My husband usually had the full (eggs, sausage, all the "full Scottish/English" selections), and I often just had the continental, since I'm not a huge breakfast eater. I did manage to eat two croissants with real Irish butter and Nutella every morning, because, well, real Irish butter! It also gave us a chance to sample some of the more questionable foods without committing to a full meal (i.e., black pudding, beans on toast, Marmite).

Thank you, everyone, for your input—I really appreciate it!

Thanks to Mardee's link, I think I’ve officially become the bacon expert in the family now. :)

Canadians call it "back bacon". It's not our style to name things after ourselves.

I'm vegetarian, have given up paying extra for buffet breakfasts and agree that crisp, streaky, bacon is seldom seen at said buffets.

It wasn't too long ago (definitely pre-Covid) that breakfast was included as a rule.