Pret a Manger Abandons Plans to Expand into Israel
Proposed branch in Brentford had been subject to graffiti attacks
Grafitti on the front of the Pret store with obscenities blurred. Picture: Chris Longhurst
June 4, 2024
The proposed investment had led to the proposed site of its branch in the Brentford Project being daubed with graffiti on more than one occasion.
After the first attack the company removed its corporate branding from the unit and replaced it with plain pink hoardings, but that did not discourage a second round of vandalism in which obscene anti-Israeli abuse was sprayed on the boards. The graffiti made accusations of rape and murder with a reference to JAB Holdings, a German company which is the ultimate owner of Pret.
Pret had been proposing to enter joint-venture with Israeli fashion chain Fox-Wizel and restaurant group Yarzin Sella but a statement was issued to the Israeli Stock Exchange on 31 May announcing that the plans had been scrapped.
A spokesperson for Pret speaking to World Coffee Portal blamed travel restrictions for preventing the company carrying out the checks and training it needed to carry out before setting up in a new market. Originally it was envisaged that 40 franchises would be opened over the next decade.
The café chain has been the subject of targeted action by a UK-based pro-Palestinian group called Friends of Al-Aqsa (FOA) which had encouraged people to email Pret’s CEO asking that the deal be scrapped but it did not advocate direct action against stores and there is no suggestion that the group had any involvement in the attacks locally.
A lack of activity at the Brentford unit led to speculation that the planned opening had been abandoned but these were dismissed by Ballymore, the developer of the Brentford Project, which said that the delay was a result of a restructuring of Pret’s operations towards more franchise stores and that a lengthy short-listing process had to be gone through before opening. At that point, a late summer opening was given as the likely time for opening.
Pret a Manger did not respond to our request for confirmation that it still plans to open a store at the site.
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