I decided to have a sandwich in every Pret a Manger in London in one day. Here's what happened.

10am. Today I’m going to do something a little bit different, a little bit wacky and - hopefully - a little bit fun. I’m going to eat a sandwich in every Pret A Manger in London. My pub crawling days are over but I love a little adventure so why not this? It feels like it might be the sort of thing it would be smart to put together an itinerary for but, what can I say? I’m not really one of life’s planners. I’m just going to freewheel it. Let’s do it!

11am. Trafalgar Square: I’ve decided to start from what I see as the centre of London. First sandwich? Italian Prosciutto accompanied by a coffee and a bag of cheddar and red onion crisps. Yummy. 

11.10am. Right, I just crossed the road and walked into another Pret for my second Italian Prosciutto. Decided it was probably best to get an idea of what I’m aiming at and it says on the internet that there are 273 branches of Pret a Manger in London. I have wildly underestimated. I thought that there were, like, ten tops. Immediately regretted buying another bag of crisps but I’d already opened them so ate them as well. 

11.45am. I’ve eaten eleven sandwiches and I’ve hardly made a dent in the total. Only walked about 50 yards. Fair to say London has a lot of Prets. Looking around to see if anyone else is doing the same thing as me but feels like they’re all just going to one branch of Pret and having a coffee or something. Boring! Told one guy what I was doing and he said he didn’t have any change. Think he thought I was asking him for money. Nope. Just trying to make conversation mate. Onto the next one!

12.30am. In Soho now. Moved onto egg and cresses because they’re a little lighter. Can’t believe I didn’t think of that before. Doing some sums on my phone and, financially, this is looking like a seriously unwise endevour. Paying for my sandwiches on my credit card from now on. Not the only problem though. Issues are manifold. First off - time. I’ve had thirty sandwiches which leaves 243 more branches to visit. Some of them close at 4pm but I’m not sure which and my phone’s running out of batteries. That’s not the main stumbling block though. It’s becoming quite painful. I am absolutely determined to complete this because I never finish anything. I think it will be really good for my self esteem to look back at the end of the day and be able to say to myself “Fergus. You ate 273 sandwiches today. Well done.” Right now, that feels a long way off though. Eating my current sandwich whilst sat on a disabled toilet to save time.

1.10pm. Just texted my girlfriend to ask if we can cancel our dinner reservation tonight. She replied ‘Why?’ and I said ‘Because I’ve decided to eat a sandwich in every one of London’s 273 branches of Pret a Manger.” She hasn’t replied to that one yet. The reservation isn’t until 8pm so I might be hungry again by then anyway.

2.05pm. Three hours of continuous sandwich eating now. The only break is between Prets but there’s so many of them it only gives me a few seconds. Learning that a good technique is to throw up once every ten sandwiches or so. The whole thing is still very painful. Tried to convince myself that I didn’t have to eat the crusts but that would be cheating. If I’m going to do this I have to do it properly. 160 branches to go!

2.15pm. Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Massive error. Accidentally walked into a Costa and had a sandwich from there. Doesn’t even count towards the total. Think that all sandwiches are making me dizzy. Only silver lining was it was nice to have a little change from Pret sandwiches.

2.50pm. I’m sure I’ve been in this Pret already. Should have kept some sort of record.

3.05pm. Decided to cross the river to see if a change of scenery will help. Brief moment of sandwich free relief half way across Waterloo Bridge. Crouched down to see if that would aid digestion. Think it made it worse. Considered giving up. “You’ve had over 150 sandwiches Fergus. You’ve made your point.”. Somebody came up to me. I think they thought I was thinking about committing suicide. “You don’t have to do this.” they said. “Yes I do!” I said. ‘Yes. I. Do.” and then I stood up and said “Do you know where the nearest Pret is?”

3.30pm. I can see about six Prets in front of me. Everywhere I turn are Prets. The weird thing is I’ve had about 75,000 calories and yet I feel low on energy. Sugar. I need sugar. Having a Love Bar with my next sandwich.

3.35pm. Terrible idea. Should have had some grapes of something.

3.55pm. Came up with a great idea. Drink the sandwiches! Any enjoyment stopped a long time ago and the act of chewing is becoming agony. What if I get them to juice the sandwiches? Went into the Borough High Street branch, handed them a ham salad and said “Juice that for me would you love?”. She said they didn’t do that. Asked them if they wanted to lose a customer but she didn’t seem bothered. More chewing it is!

5.10pm. Woken up in an alleyway somewhere around London Bridge. Was dreaming I was dead and waiting for me at the gates were a row of Pret staff blocking me and asking me for my order. 

5.30pm. A lot of the Prets I approach are closed now. Have I set myself an impossible task? 

5.40pm. Taken a cab to Heathrow. Those Prets must count towards the 273 and they’re likely to be open. Feeling smart. Things could be looking up.

7pm. Arrived at Heathrow and realised that all the Prets are on the other side of security so bought a ticket for a flight to Hong Kong so I could get through. 1) Weird that I brought my passport with me today. It’s like I knew. 2) Kicking myself for getting a Hong Kong flight. Must have been lots of cheaper options. So delirious. I think I’ve just passed the point where I’m capable of making good decisions. 

7.20pm. Got through security quickly because I have no luggage. There’s two Prets here. Quickly had a sandwich in each. Realised that in order to complete Heathrow I’d have to buy a ticket departing from each terminal and my credit card limit just won’t allow for that. Something like 225 Prets in one day and yet, somehow, I feel like a failure. Spending the next two hours on a toilet. Terminal 5 so my cubicle has its own sink. Nice.

9.45pm. What’s the point of buying a flight to Hong Kong if you’re not going to use it? Strapping in now.

6pm next day (Hong Kong time). You’re not going to believe this but they have Pret here! Starting off with a hoisin duck wrap.