Chris Packham ‘won’t set foot in Pret’ as chicken welfare row erupts

Naturalist Chris Packham has led a crowd of protesters in slamming Pret A Manger. He vowed never to set foot in one of the chain’s cafes until it fulfils a chicken welfare promise it made eight years ago and has since broken.

Packham said:

I am absolutely furious at Pret for breaking their promise to chickens. Factory farming has broken the chicken.

Bred to grow so fast that they can barely walk, scrabbling around in their own waste, broken bones and deformities… The life of a fast-growing chicken is hell.

It’s a horror story dressed up as a lunch menu. It’s absolutely unacceptable.

Pret committed in 2018 to stop using fast-growing ‘frankenchicken’ breeds by 2026. It recently faced fierce criticism from animal activist groups Anima and Project Slingshot for going back on its word and pushing the deadline to 2032.

This has sparked a £1m public campaign that has already gathered 40,000 signatures. Pret has hit back, claiming it remains one of the few businesses still committed to phasing out frankenchickens.

Packham dismissed Pret’s commitment as empty:

It was bad enough when KFC, Nando’s and Burger King withdrew their commitments to stop selling frankenchickens. But what Pret are doing is equally insidious. They’re pretending to be committed to ending their use of frankenchickens whilst doing nothing about it.

I’m not falling for it. When a company is committed to making a change for animals, they don’t wait 14 years to do it.

That’s why I’m joining the campaign to hold Pret to account. I’m taking a break from Pret, and I won’t be setting foot in their cafes until they produce a real, credible plan to stop selling frankenchickens, just like they promised to do eight years ago.

Packham was pictured with a bizarre, 4-metre animatronic ‘Frankenwrap’. The prop recently garnered over 10 million social media views after touring Pret cafes in London. Today’s protest is the latest in a series of major actions to hold the chain to account.

Featured image via Andrea Domeniconi / Anima