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Why do most of the pubs in London all have the same menu?

Was there recently and noticed this. Each claims to have award winning food, but the menu's are identical from one to the other. Is it all frozen food, or does it get delivered from the same place?

Posted by
16893 posts

Many pubs in the UK are owned by the breweries and it makes sense in a city like London for a chain to use a coordinated central kitchen. That might have been the case at Fuller's Admiralty on Trafalgar Square, for instance, where I enjoyed a pie last year. I would not assume that the award-winning ones are frozen. As well, some of Gordon Ramsey's London pubs do prep in a central kitchen.

Posted by
1542 posts

Yes, in London pubs all the food is delivered from three or four sources at the most. All the fish and chips, for example, are sent from Fat Fred's Fish and Chip shop in West Ham, that's why the batter may be a little soggy by the time it reaches your table in Wimbledon. Unfortunately, no mushy peas - you have to go further north for that particular delicacy.......there's a three star restaurant in Mansfield, I don't recall the name, but the mushy peas are to die for. Lots of salt. Northern cuisine, on the whole, is far superior to anything down south. Pork pies, Yorkshire Pudding, Lancashire Hot Pot.

But I digress. The best you can expect from 'chefs' in London pubs is if they steam their frozen peas, as opposed to boiling them for twenty minutes. They value the rubbery whelk as highly as a Tuscan chef prizes his or her white truffles. As for their claims of 'award winning food', every year close to my home town there is a ribfest with about forty or so vendors: they all claim to have award winning ribs.

Posted by
14799 posts

What a load of poppycock......

To say all fish and chips are delivered from a central location is ridiculous. I personally witnessed a chef in a local pub dip a fish fillet in batter and then fry it up. The chips were hand cut. And as for mushy peas.....I love them and can find them in most pubs in London.

The chains may use a central location to prep food but are not cooking it and freezing it so it can be heated later on.

The key, like anywhere, is to find a pub visited by locals. I would never eat in any of the "famous" ones found in guidebooks. They cater to the tourists. But go to a local off a main street and in a real residential area and you are more than likely getting real food. When a pub relies on locals they have to have good food and good beer to survive.

There are real pubs and there are tourist pubs. Sort of like there are real Italian restaurants and then there's the Olive Garden. They both claim to serve authentic Italian but only one does.

As to why pubs seem to have the same menu--it's called pub grub. Certain dishes like Fish & Chips, Bangers & Mash, Shepherd's Pie, and more are synonymous with pubs.

Posted by
7448 posts

I believe it to be a mix of things.

First, Pub Grub tends to be "pub grub", meaning the menu will be very similar among pubs (Fish and Chips, Meat Pies, Bangers and Mash...continue the list) so regardless of prep methods, it appears to be the same.

Second, while it was mentioned that many pubs are owned by breweries, that actually is much more rare now, There are Fullers Pubs and Sam Smith pubs, but I tend to find their menus much more independent than most pubs, and the Fuller's pubs a better quality of kitchen prepped items than other pubs. There are however several very prominent Pub Chains (Nicholson, JD Weatherspoons, Stonegate, and others) that do not name the pubs as such, and they may be very historical pubs, but serve basically the same menu. So while it might seem, and may be, a quaint pub, it could still be a chain.

Third, Much like many restaurants in the US and the world, many items are purchased rather than made in house. Meat pies would be a good example, very likely they will be purchased rather than made in-house, sometime from good local sources, sometime frozen, sometimes from a central chain kitchen. Lamb shanks and other long cooked braised items probably are similar, Desserts...very likely, Starters and snacks, all probably are not from scratch. Simpler, easier to prepare items (Fish and chips...well the fish, not the chips; Sides, burgers, other fresh meat and fish are probably fresh and prepared in house in better pubs.

Overall, I have had many very good meals in Pubs and I do not worry about it too much.

Posted by
1542 posts

Ah, but Frank, I’m talking about real mushy peas. The varieties of marrowfat peas used in London pubs to make their mushy peas compare unfavourably to ones found in the pubs and shops of the Midlands. And the bicarbonate of soda used for the soaking is of a coarser, lower quality. Some pubs in London don't even bother with the tricky art of mushy pea making anymore, preferring to use boxed brands: a few of the poncier establishments even serve mashed spring peas with fresh mint and butter, preening as though they have invented the wheel.

And who was it you witnessed making his own batter and hand cutting his own chips? - not that Ramsay chap, I hope. As soon as Fat Fred gets wind of it, I'm sure he'll be sending his minders on an errand.

Posted by
3551 posts

I was in London this summer and noticed the same. It turns out one co owns about 70 pubs in London alone hence the same menu. To me it was a gd thing as I found items on the menu that i really enjoyed so where ever i was i was able to order it. I guess family owned pubs of yesteryear is getting more rare.
Tough business and long hrs.

Posted by
2482 posts

Many pubs get their menu delivered by catering companies such as https://www.brake.co.uk/

Unless you know the pub you're dining at is making its own food, (i.e it has a reputation as a gastropub) chances are it's all bought in.

This is why pubs should be treated as drinking places first & foremost and not seen as restaurants.

Some have very good food - there are some "gastro pubs" outside of central London with excellent restaurant-style food - but I'm always surprised by the emphasis in this forum on eating in pubs.

Choose a pub for the ambiance and the quality of the beer. You may be lucky and get a decent meal. It will generally be fairly stodgy and unimaginative.

If you want good food, go to a restaurant (or a gastro pub). If you want good fish & chips, go to a fish & chip shop. If you want good beer and a pub ambiance, go to a pub but expect the food to be - well, pub food.

Posted by
1067 posts

"Many pubs get their menu delivered by catering companies such as https://www.brake.co.uk/"

Ramblin on beat me to it, can't specifically speak for London but around where I live (East Hampshire) all of the brewery owned pubs use Brake Bros (Fullers included), you'll only find in house prepared food at gastro pubs, there's one about 3 miles from where I live so it's always the first choice when deciding where to eat. I belong to a walking group and often see the "Brake Brothers specials" being unloaded from vans into the kitchens as we pass the pubs.

Posted by
631 posts

It's not just London, it's every town in the UK and it's due to a few huge chains, Wetherspoons, Green King and ONeills to name but 3. Each chain will have exactly the same menu in each pub, prices will vary based on property costs but each chain will have 4-5 price bands for the whole UK. Each chain will have it's own suppliers but much of the food will be prepared in industrial kitchens and travel miles in chilled trucks. Only steaks and burgers can be relied on to be cooked from raw (or frozen). And as said, even an independent pub could be buying in from suppliers like Brakes.

Posted by
6113 posts

Pubs should be considered as great places for drinking, but not necessarily great places for eating, particularly in London, where most independent landlords can't afford the millions of pounds that a pub would cost, hence they are owned by the breweries.

In many instances, the brewery will insist that the food is supplied by their suppliers/caterers, just as the beer will have to be provided by the brewery, hence the lack of choice.

It isn't just pubs where this is an issue - many chain restaurants also get their food delivered that is partially prepared. For the uninitiated, it maybe a surprise to some to learn how many high street brands are owned by only a few owners.

Posted by
5239 posts

Locals don't always have great taste in food and are often just as likely to go to somewhere just OK but convenient. As an example the busiest pub in the town where I live is a Yate's. It's full of locals but I wouldnt wish it on my worst enemy

Couldn't have said it better Emma. I'm always bemused by the often advised "eat where the locals eat" as if that's a guaranteed way to ensure good food.

How do you establish that the occupants are locals? If I were in Italy and walked into a restaurant and all I could hear was Italian it doesn't mean that they're all locals, it could be full of Italian tourists who have no idea whether the restaurant was good or not. Even if they were locals it doesn't stand to reason that they all share my taste in food or what is considered good or not. There's a burger van on top of a spectacular viewpoint near me which is incredibly popular, the owner is now a millionaire, but he sells the cheapest, disgusting burgers imaginable. If I were to follow the advice of "go where the locals go" with respect to this I would be sorely disappointed.

Posted by
5835 posts

Ever wonder how a restaurant with small cooking facilities can offer a multiple page menu and the food comes out within minutes of ordering? And it's not Chinese wok cooking with permutations of meat, vegetables, and carbohydrates.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1171004/Theyre-freshly-prepared-Ramsay-defends-use-boil-bag-ready-meals-restaurants.html

They're 'freshly prepared': Ramsay defends use of 'boil in the bag'
ready meals at his restaurants By Daily Mail Reporter UPDATED: 09:49
EDT, 18 April 2009
It has been revealed that customers at four of the celebrity chef's restaurants are likely to be served pre-prepared meals produced
by a central supplier. The food arrives in transit vans, is reheated –
then sold for up to six times the cost price.

But a spokeswoman for the award-winning chef said although the meals
were prepared in one part of London and then distributed to one of
Ramsay's restaurants and three gastropubs, they were still considered
'freshly prepared'. Celebrity Chef Gordon Ramsey

'Gordon Ramsay Holdings operate a kitchen facility in Wandsworth
called GR Logistics,' she said. 'Here Gordon Ramsay chefs prepare
components of dishes devised and produced to the highest Gordon Ramsay
standards.

'These are supplied to those kitchens with limited cooking space such
as Foxtrot Oscar and Gordon Ramsay's highly-acclaimed pubs, including
the Narrow.

'These are sealed and transported daily in refrigerated vans and all
menu dishes are then cooked in the individual kitchens.'

Posted by
6113 posts

Most visitors to the UK using this forum stay in the Zone 1 travel area, which in the most part, your average London worker can't afford to live in, so the chance of meeting locals in a pub there is limited. You are more likely to come across office workers or fellow tourists in many of central London's pubs.

Posted by
3 posts

Thanks to Emma... the Brunning and Price pubs look charming. What a great business concept.

Posted by
4020 posts

Drinkers don't want to hear this: Food matters. In business, I mean. It's a rare pub-bar-watering hole that can get by on the revenues from booze, in the UK or elsewhere. The corporate connections to a food supply are more essential than to a brewery. Hence the dominance of chains. Not all bad: Competition is stiff and, for the price, decent values can be found. The Sunday joint, or for tourists "roast", served midday with Yorkshire pud etc. can be fun. My choice on the west side is the Hereford Arms, near the Gloucester Road tube station, a Fullers pub where on Sunday a fair amount of the pub will be speaking French since that ethnicity is such a large part of London commerce... for now. http://www.herefordarms.co.uk/

Posted by
5239 posts

The Sunday joint, or for tourists "roast",

Not just for tourists. It has always been referred to as the Sunday Roast in my family and for everyone else I know although I have only encountered one that was on a par with a home cooked one.

Posted by
32508 posts

Wouldn't the Sunday Joint be more likely to be found in Amsterdam?