Pret A Manger has been revealed as the high street coffee chain with the biggest price hikes on their drinks in the past half decade, with their most popular drinks options up by £1.24 since January 2019.
Whilst Pret has put back down the price of their filter coffee to 99p, most of their menu has seen significant price increases in the past five years with no sign of this slowing down.
In fact, research conducted on behalf of AltIndex shows the chain has increased the price of all its seven most popular drinks by at least £0.90 in the last five years.
After examining the prices of seven popular drinks at five of the biggest UK coffee chains, in a bid to see just how much the price has changed since January 2019, the results showed some hefty increases at nearly all of the brands.
The research explored the cost of a regular cup of tea, americano, cappuccino, flat white, latte, single espresso and hot chocolate now compared to five years ago at Starbucks, Pret A Manger, Costa Coffee, Caffe Nero and Greggs.
Pret A Manger’s drinks have seen the highest rise, with their americano increasing in price by £1.41 in the last five years.
Caffe Nero comes in as the second most expensive chain according to price rises, with drinks up by an average of £0.94, equating to 39%, while Costa’s drinks are up by an average of £0.91 – an almost identical percentage rise of 38%.
Perhaps surprisingly, Starbucks is the second cheapest coffee chain when it comes to its basic drinks, with prices up by an average of 25% in the last five years (£0.57).
Elsewhere, Greggs reported this week that they’ve had to lift prices on some food items in its 3,000 stores, with Chief executive Roisin Currie saying some items were up 5p and 10p – including on its beloved sausage rolls.
But it remains the cheapest place by far to grab your favourite coffee on the go with an average price increase of just 7% in the last five years.
Meanwhile, a hot chocolate is the priciest drink at all the chains examined, with an average current cost of £3.38 based on data available from July 2024.
