Death of the Sunday roast fears repudiated by PMA readers
A massive 85% of almost 100 readers asked in an online poll if they believed the Sunday roast would be popular in pubs in 10 years’ time said yes.
Just 8% of those asked said the Great British classic wouldn’t be popular in pubs by 2026, while 7% didn’t know whether it would or wouldn’t be on pub menus in a decade.
JDW shocked customers last month when it announced the end of its Sunday Roast Club.
A spokesman told the PMA: “The decision was made because Wetherspoon wanted to concentrate on its core menu. A Sunday brunch is not a direct replacement for the Sunday roast, but will be on offer. Other food clubs continue as normal.”
Devastated customer starts a petition
Yet, one devastated customer started a petition to get the decision reversed. He said: “Tim Martin’s spokespeople seem to suggest that this is a commercial decision. But how?
“It’s popular, it’s perfect the way it is. Yes, you could put the prices up a tiny bit if that’s really necessary, but keep our Sunday roasts!”
Customer:
Keep our roast:
"It’s popular, it’s perfect the way it is. Yes, you could put the prices up a tiny bit if that’s really necessary, but keep our Sunday roasts!"
- Source: Twitter
The petition, however, has been signed by just 65 people.
The 950-strong managed pub giant announced it would raise the prices of dishes on its Breakfast Club menu a day after the last Sunday roasts were served on Mother’s Day.
More customers took to Twitter to complain about the hike in prices, one of whom said: “The price of everything in Spoons [sic] has just gone up today and I feel betrayed and sickened.”
Emotional tributes
Other customers tweeted pictures of their last Spoons' roast, while some paid emotional tributes via the social media channel.
Meanwhile, trade experts told the PMA in an exclusive news analysis that the Sunday roast would continue to thrive as Brits couldn’t get enough of the dish.
Unilever’s channel trade marketing manager Chris Brown pointed to research carried out by the firm that showed 40% of 2,000 consumers asked wanted to see roast dinners on pub menus all week. It was the number one meal, the same research showed.
“UK consumers eat their way through a whopping 1.2bn roasts every year and top the lists of things consumers love about Britain [T mobile research],” said Brown.
“Britain’s passion for roast dinners is stronger than ever, especially in pubs. Las year’s British Roast Dinner Week competition [which is sponsored by Unilever] saw a record number of entries.”
Here are some of the top tweets following JDW's announcement to ditch the Sunday roast
