Reviewing a CHEAP vs EXPENSIVE HOTEL BUFFET BREAKFAST! 

Concise breakfast review gary. I went into Travelodge for breakfast and asked the guy behind the counter for two burnt sausages, one cold bacon. two burst eggs and lukewarm beans. The guy replied "I don't know if we can do that." I said, "Why not? You did it last time." 😂

Every Monday (except bank holidays) we do our business banking in town and adjacent to the bank is a Premier Inn. We have a full breakfast there on each occasion. There is a strategy to getting the best quality of food on offer - if a component looks dry or shrivelled (those heat lamps are powerful) we ask for fresh and are never refused. At £9.99 this has to be the very best value breakfast available, especially as you take as much, or as little, as you want. As for the £24.00 breakfast, they exist everywhere, including Harrods, Harvey Nicholls, Fortnum & Mason and many more but they aren't necessarily value for money.

I don't think I could ever justify spending £25 on a buffet breakfast or even a buffet lunch. But for £10 yes, every time 👍

Hash Browns are a cheap 'nasty breakfast filler. They're American derived and have no place in a proper British breakfast. You need some proper Black Pudding on that plate.

Gary is the kind of guy who will help a lorry reverse whilst his breakfast buffet is getting cold 😍

Hi Gary and Mr Cameraman. Well firstly Gary i personally like these comparison vlogs, it gives you a good incite into two places. Re these two, for me it was a no brainer the difference of over £14 makes the decision very simple, to which how odd both places made a slight bodge up on the same food groups. By the way Gary tell Mr Shy cameraman his photography is very good, i keep looking for that slip up where you get to see his reflection in the glass or a passing car, but he always manages to avoid being caught. Chris.

I used to work for the Premier Inn as a Chef and loved it. Been doing it prior to that in all sorts of kitchens but PI was my favourite. Would work 60 hour shifts a week often though. The buffet is great fun to do but behind the scenes, I would 95% of the time be by myself, making the hot food, washing up, deliveries, any inspections or audits, prepping for Dinner, some paperwork, date checking and a few other bits, all on my Todd. With the food on the buffet, bacon its pretty much cold as soon as its out. Doesn’t hold its temperature very well, and the hash browns are best stacked on their side to avoid getting soggy. Anyway, enjoyed this vid Gary and Camera Man. And glad you picked my old ghost 👻 😂

From experience, buffets only work if there is a constant flow of folks , this one seemed very quiet

Another great video. I like the way that always a the first spoonful enters your mouth (every video) you look straight ahead expressionless and really focus on the taste. It’s like watching a professional wine taster :)

An interesting comparison and both looked pretty good. I think bacon's a bit of a problem for buffets. It doesn't do at all well under heat lamps and I wonder if the Victorians didn't do it better with chafing dishes. Worth considering that we all tend to like the same foods in a 'full English' and there's only so much of anything we can eat at one sitting. So who wouldn't go for the cheapest version? Sometimes the ambience is worth paying for, and sometimes not and I agree, for breakfast who cares, really? Definitely it's the Premier Inn for me.

Nothing more manly than backing in a lorry...Well done Gary. nice review

Hi Gary, as always thank you for the review, excellent as always. What I love is that you are reviewing restaurants that us the ordinary folks are eating at. £24 for breakfast which is about €29 is just, "sweet Jesus !!!" . I've always found Premier Inns great value for rooms/food etc, £10 is great value which is about €12. Can't wait to see your reviews when you visit us here in Ireland ☘️☘️☘️

Gary I have to tell you two funny things. 1. When I am making dinner I watch your videos while cooking. Every time we watch them we then change our mind to what you’re eating! 2. My whole family watches your content. When we drop something on a plate or the table we now call it “ doing a Gary “ 😂😂😂 Thank you as always for the great reviews.

I believe it is very difficult to make a quality buffet of hot breakfast food. Scrambled eggs, bacon and hash browns or home fries, just do not lend themselves to being kept warm for any length of time. If these foods are not served quickly after they are cooked they just get soft rather than crispy, too dry or otherwise boring and unsatisfying.

There’s something really calming and comforting about your reviews mate. Keep it up!

I love a good cooked breakfast when I’m staying in a hotel. One thing I always pay attention to though is how clean the plates and cutlery are - you’d be surprised (or maybe you wouldn’t!) how many times this has been an issue.

The amount of times I have said "Let's give it a go" since finding your channel a month or two ago is unbelievable. Need some Gary Eats merch!

You need Alan Partridge's big plate

Been watching for a couple of months and must say, these are the most genuine reviews doone with no biasness and openminded must say thank you for the content and the entertainment

The Premier Inn was by far the best value, bacon is always slightly difficult on a buffet, if there is lid on the container the bacon ends up in a pool of condensation, I prefer it drier anyway!!! As ever with a buffet timing makes the difference as the various items get replenished.

You need to go full Partridge, Gary. take your own plate with you. 😅

Oh yes! Double breakfast. Steak earlier in the week and now breakfast. 😁 I have stayed at several Premier Inn and I think their breakfasts are excellent. Sausages could have definitely done with a bit longer. Bacon looked disappointing and the scrambled eggs looked superb. Can't comment on the hash Brown as they are awful even when done properly.😁 Beans are beans. I don't have tea bags at home. I only uses loose leaf in a pot as I like my tea lethally strong. £24 isn't too bad if you were starving you'd get your moneys worth. The Premier Inn breakfast looked pretty good. The sausages looked better cooked. Bacon does not seen to survive well under heat lamps. Eggs looked pretty good. At that price it's an absolute bargain. I Bearing in mind the prices, you have to give the edge to Premier Inn. Excellent comparative review and very fair.

£24 is well expensive for a buffet breakfast.

a cooked breakfast is one of my favourite meals, both of them looked fairly decent but Shakedown's price was way too much, regards Gav

Closing in on those 50K subs! By years end you will be getting that silver play button.

Seems an easy one this... As both virtually the same, going for the expensive one I'd feel like I was just robbing myself. Both looked good, and nowadays pretty standard for most hotels. That said, if marking I'd have to knock a few points off both for there being no black pud. No black pud, that's just unforgivable :)

Spot on Gary, with the Premier Inn breakfast choice, great value aswel. And for some reason it always seems to be a quiet atmosphere in there. Brilliant review as always. 👏

Thank you Gary, I love Worcestershire sauce on my beans. I preferred the 2nd breakfast overall. Greetings from Cyprus. 🤗🤗

Chances are, both kitchens cook up a big batch of bacon and a big batch of hash browns first thing, and dole them out during the morning. So the bacon dries out a bit and the hash browns get soggy. That's better than a diner that I visited in my travels that cooked a big pile of bacon the evening before and just threw a towel over it for the night.

Gary, Enjoyed the video. On the size of the plate with the buffet, our favorite breakfast buffet place, the owner told us that with a larger plate, people will put more on than they could eat, Too much wasted food he told us. Good afternoon from the U.S.A.

When our children were small, and we travelled to England, we often stayed at a Premier Inn, as children under 16 eat for free. That’s a big saving, if you’re four people, and the breakfast was always good. 🙂

Done quite a few courses during my career and always stayed at the premium inn and found them reasonable on all levels Love melon after a cooked breakfast to cleanse my palate Thank you Gary for another interesting comparison

I always feel so hungry when watching you eat!! I think the Premier Inn was the best for money the toast looked nicer, the sausages were cooked more plus all those tea's That is a good deal and the fried egg looked perfect. I'm interested to know the time the session finishes although don't think I am ever up in time to go out for breakfast. Thank you for sharing

Now you mention the hash brown controversy but I love a hash brown. Bread gives me heart burn so I swap it out for hash browns or potato cakes/farls which I can handle. One thing I love with a breakfast that you rarely see is bubble and squeak….but here’s the real controversy…I’ve never done it but I think Yorkshire puddings would be a cracking addition to a full English to help moo up the beans, scrambled eggs and tomatoes. I could see people layering them up with their favourite bits for an incredible “scuse the fingers” bite or too. I’ve seen breakfast wraps and pastries so why not! I challenge you to find somewhere that serves them with breakfast!! Loving the videos as always good sir 👍🏻 top man for helping that driver btw

I travel a lot down South and always use Premier Inn as I need a Wet Room and this chain has the best available and in most cases offer free parking for guests. Consequently we've had endless amounts of their breakfasts and truly never been disappointed for the price : fruit , cereal , toast , crumpets , etc,etc......only complaint and this seems to be an issue nationwide is they've replaced a traditional black pudding for a none traditional hash brown , it's an English breakfast I don't want an American item on my plate. Great review as always Gary and you'll be hitting that 50k before you know it 👍

The expensive breakfast does look good, sausages slightly anemic for my taste but did look good. £25 though, whew!! Also, imagine paying that then having granola and croissant 😂 I guess if money was no object, hey!

Very interesting! More was on offer at the Shakedown, of course, but the Premier Inn was truly value for money. Thank you for showing us.

Hi Gary, Me and my Girlfriend have been watching your videos for a few weeks now and we love watching them when deciding where is worth trying to eat. We were wondering if you would ever compare Tesco's and Sainsbury cafe food (from the little own-brand cafes that they have at the back of their big shops) as it is often a great value alternative to expensive meals? Thank you for the great reviews

Loving Gary moonlighting as a Parking Attendant - a man of many talents! Another great video and a fair assessment. In terms of the expensive breakfast buffet, I would point you to Ting Restaurant which is based in the Shangri La Hotel in the Shard...£45 per person! They have the breakfast items we know and love, as well as smoked salmon, bagels, chia seed yoghurts and also Ramen and Dim Sum. So the Dixon's breakfast buffet at an eye watering £24 makes me wonder how much can they reach for in London? If you can find the most expensive Gary, me and other viewers will fund it for you mate no problem... (it's gone all quiet in the back!😂)

Both breakfasts looked nice, l don't mind my bacon a bit dry to be honest but the value for money Premier Inn is hard to beat. l have stayed at a few Premier Inns and they have all been very good

I have never heard anyone complain about a Premier Inn Breakfast. Brilliant value for money

I think the big difference is the smoked salmon and the continental meats and cheese's from the other buffet. These alone could warrant the price if thats what you are in to. And the strawberry's, i could eat £10 worth of those 😂

Love your videos/reviews. The food in both would not tempt me, I'd rather go to my local cafe where you order your breakfast - you get less, but it is good quality, local butchers make the sausages and the eggs are free range AND you get fried bread. Tea is tea leaves in a pot!

Must say, whenever presented with a hotel buffet i tend to pig out on the continental as their fried is gash. Love that cold meat and cheese and pastry. Greasy spoon for the fryup.

For £24 I wouldn’t expect anything to be bad! Bacon definitely dried up, that’s one big problem with buffets isn’t it, stuff does dry up if left out for too long under the lamps, I suppose you just leave off the bacon and have more of other foods, I would ! We’ve had premier inn brekki’s before and for the price they are pretty good and you do get a good selection of other items, I love a danish then onto main event 😂. Totally agree with you on this one, such brilliant value for money 👍😀 thanks Gary 😊

Getting good bacon from a buffet style brekkie is a bit of a holy grail, i always seem to get it with really crispy hard or cold!

I enjoyed this new video, Gary. I thought thev first breakfast looked better all-round, but did it warrant such a steep price increase? I dont think so. The second , Premier Inn breakfast was a good, solid breakfast but also seemed very good value.

I’ve never been a fan of buffets of any kind but I don’t have a problem with it if I can get the eggs cooked fresh, and in high end establishments an option for eggs Benedict etc. My nightmares take me back to the buffets of the 3 star hotels in Spain in the 90s! Luckily things have moved forwards.

Buffet breakfasts are always a bit hit and miss in my experience. I much prefer a breakfast that is cooked to order so that everything is hot and fresh. The Dixon Hotel was right to offer fried eggs to order although you were lucky at the Premier Inn. Buffet fried eggs can be a bit rubbery and the bacon dried out sometimes. Both breakfasts looked pretty good though. The Dixon definitely had the ambience but regarding value for money, the Premier Inn was a great deal. What no black pudding at either?!

The one thing I've found with buffet type breakfasts in hotels is the hot food is either undercooked when it first comes out (they seem to allow for some food laying there untouched for a while so it will still be "cooking") or it's overcooked (been sitting there for while still cooking as it wasn't being eaten). The cooked food is not often hot enough either. Not a fan of them myself for that reason. I prefer to find a nice cafe somewhere like E.Peliccis or Regent Cafe or Terry's Cafe for a cooked to order quality breakfast. Also, as I'm not a really big eater, all you can eat buffets don't work for me as the price of them generally outweighs how much I'm going to eat. As well as that, those snail paced toast contraptions that take 4 days to toast your bread drive me up the wall. Each to their own I guess. Enjoyed your video though Gary. Good comparison. Premier Inn wins for me - virtually same basic cooked menu for half the price !

Every once in a while, I like a fancy, unusual breakfast. But on average, it's the meal where I have my most established preferences, and what I'm looking for is a good version of that. Breakfast is, I think, the meal where most people go with a habit rather than exploring or trying exciting things. So it's the place I'd be least likely to go mad on the budget - if you KNOW you're likely to have toast and sausage and scrambled eggs and you can get a perfectly good rendition of that at 10 pounds, why spend twenty-four pounds for something that varies only marginally? Oh - and the small plates? Lots of buffets use those intentionally to reduce waste. People quite often take a lot on a buffet to get their money's worth, which is fine if you eat what you've taken. But many don't, and the waste increases the restaurant's cost dramatically. Small plates discourage the over-serving. And if you want more, you can always go back.

Not muchroom on the plate hey Gary! mushrooms a no no for us as well :) xx

Hi Gary, Thanks for another great review. About plate size and portion size. Down here in Australia I am finding some places are reducing the size of plates even coffee cups but charging more. I was in a bakery yesterdsy where I haven't been for over 12 months. There pie size has decreased but again price has gone up. Like you say, not a problem at all you can eat Interesting to see what others say about this. Gary, thanks again for your Channel. Regards Dave Australia

The first place the food did look great colour wise - very vibrant, maybe the lighting they use? But a Premier Inn is an ok venue usually, and you can't ignore the huge price difference. I would choose the Premier Inn and save the extra money for lunch or dinner.

I love a Premier Inn breakfast!

The high-end breakfast looked good 😊 though I like my toast wellll done so those toasters take forever to get it to where I like it. I just keep putting it through 😅what you had was warm bread 😂😊 that Premier Inn breakfast didn't look as bad as I expected it too 😊 much better toasted toast there too 😊 thank you for another great review ❤😊 just love watching your content 😊

Hi Gary, i agree value for your money on your 2nd breakfast visit 😊

My favourite hotel breakfast is where you have a hot a la carte menu combined with cold buffet items (juices/fruits/pastries). The Castle in Dartmouth and The Grasmere Hotel are top examples.

Gary, if you every come to Southern Ireland, try Barry's red label tea. It's malty like Yorkshire, but more blended, not as one dimensional. But it's from Cork, so I'm biased! 🤗 Great review, as always.✌

I always find the scrambled eggs to be the coldest component of any hotel breakfast, surprised both of yours were hot. I didn't realise you could pay as an outside guest for a Premier Inn breakfast.

This as usual was a great one. On prices alone the premier inn takes it for me. Less then a tenner. Standards in both places were similar but more then twice the price? I don’t think so. Well done. 👍

We stayed at the Premier Inn at Lewes in East Sussex around Christmas and I have to admit that it certainly rated as one of the better breakfasts I've had in a hotel. The hot food was taken to order and it was all really good. Well cooked and no limits to what you could have. Coffee, tea, toast, cereal and croissants were all buffet, but I really couldn't fault it. The previous evening we had dinner in a pub called the "rights of man" next to the courts, really good food with a combination of Tapas and classic English dishes, worth paying a visit.

Mediocre breakfast for £24 - the clue is in the name ShakeDown. OK its central london with extra overheads but thats not my problem. £10 in Kinsgton for mediocre breakfast - i will take that. I have been to many premier inns as we use that chain at work and you see the budget travellers loading up on the breakfast for the day - and good on them. Id say PI wins out here Gary.

Interesting comparison Gary - I would have thought the expensive option would have stood out but it obviously did not on the day. For a tenner the Premier Inn was a worthy winner and better VFM - either option I would have left with a full belly but with a healthier wallet from Premier Inn so have to agree with you too!

Premier Inn looked slightly better .... I usually don't eat breakfast buffets ... too heavy first thing in the morning ... A couple of Danish pastries with coffee and I'm good. But anyway, these buffets looked quite good 👍 .... Good review.

I agree with you Gary ... I would go for the Premier Inn. It's very good value for an English breakfast, especially considering it's a buffet. The 24 pound one ... not a chance. I would never pay that for a breakfast!!

Gary, done right it is the best meal of the day.My personal choice in eating order.Alpen( with very,very cold mill)Fry Up,Toast,marmalade. Each to their own 😊 Your breakfast plate.Sausages 'em could have had a touch more colour.Bacon is never going to be great,after a spell under the hot- lamps.Beans,well beans is beans. Hash Browns, nah not the best.My pet grips un cored tomato 😢Scrambled eggs won top marks from me😊😊.The warm bread( never could call that toast😢) £24 way over priced. Premier Inn,have to confess i use them quite a lot.Some good,not so good and some i passed on.Your sausages looked fabulous.Bacon,as said always a problem. But looked better this time.The eggs,tadge dry& solid Beans good looking consistency. And a Hash Brown😮 Gary i really think this one is down to price. Like the curate's egg,good in parts. In each case you could fill up on the good food,leave the not so good.So for me its Premier Inn. And as a plus I've yet to bump into Sie Lenny Henry 😂. All the best chaps,til we meet again Allan&Family

I still think the Travel Lodge at Euston provides one of the best for value and pretty good quality. I was there a few weeks ago and it was under £11 for an all you can eat and included hot and cold drinks. Absolutely loads of choice for hot or cold breakfast. I always have a full English when out and they served good Cumberland sausages (no herbs, fortunately), back bacon, hash browns etc. The scrambled egg was a good colour and firm and all told, I could not fault it. Had breakfast there two days running and it was well worth it.

I love Premiere Inn's buffets Gary.. Last time in London they cooked some of the breakfast specially when I asked so it was piping hot... The staff are always outstanding... an easy one to score for me. Your comparison reviews are my favourite .

Aside from the scrambled eggs looking better at Shakedown, that did not look like a £24 breakfast. In my opinion that was poor value for money. On the other hand, the Premier Inn breakfast looked only slightly lower quality, for example, the bacon looked very tatty on the tray but represented outstanding value for money. Well done Premier Inn & congratulations Gary on highlighting this difference. Great work. P.S. Where was the brown sauce? I didn't see it at either venue & I'm sorry but a fry-up isn't complete without Daddies sauce.😉

Premier Inn breakfasts are a good deal, especially at the busier hotels, but the quieter ones have a slower turn-around so food is left out longer. But even then, if you time it right they're very good for the money.

Another masterpiece of a review Gary. For £9.99 the breakfast was brilliant. I have had it before, you can even have fruit salad and all the drinks for an incredible price. I go with 2 of my nephews, and my nephews son eats free, so to me magnificent.

I prefer my bacon dry to be honest and much of the time its personal preference. My worse buffet breakfast of all time was the Travel Lodge in Nottingham where everything was enemic and looked as though it had been boiled in water, from the bacon, sausage and even the mushrooms. It was really bad and was very disappointed.

Thanks Gary good video again. As a retired chef who has cooked thousands of breakfasts, I always say the sausage is the main event on the breakfast plate. If the sausage is good it makes the whole breakfast. The sausages were better quality at the first place. Generally the whole buffet presentation was much better. Glad you enjoyed both.

From my German point of view I wouldn't pay £24 on an English Breakfast when I can have it for £10. So the second place easily wins in that race. But first place seemed to have a great selection of cold food that you totally ignored. If there was salmon and fancy cold cuts, nice cheeses and other things like that I would not bypass them. On the other hand in a place like the first one I would skip convenience food like these triangular röstis/hash browns any time (I really get annoyed when a restaurant has rösti on the menu and it turns out they give you that frozen stuff...). However that was another entertaining video that I enjoyed like all your others! Thanks for sharing and keep up the good work, Gary!

Stayed at premier inn Birmingham just before Christmas. The breakfast £9.99 and was totally spot on. 10 outta 10. Bacon looked a lot better than you had i gotta say. Cooked perfect with griddle marks. No complaints... certainly for the price. Thanks Gary

Still catching up love. Gazza it looked good both places but disappointed about the bacon at second place and no crispy hash browns at either places. Xx Tracey 🇦🇺❤️🥂😘

I was actually surprised at how good value for money it was in the Premier Inn. Think I would have a hearty breakfast, but also get enough sausages to make myself a sausage sandwich for later on.

I would be deeply unimpressed with 25 pounds for breakfast at a hotel. If you're a couple that's 50 pounds down and we haven't even left the hotel door yet! When my wife and I travel around Asia for example Holiday Inn Express in Bangkok and Singapore our fantastic and more comparable with your premier in breakfast. Nothing fancy but perfectly acceptable and if it's included in the price how can you complain when you can have more and more and more.....

Great review Gary. Yes I would go for Premier inn any day . I can’t imagine my wife and me paying nearly £50 -00 for two breakfasts. Cafe prices have shot up in the last couple of years but premier inn are still good value . 👍

That premier Inn gets the thumbs up from me, all looked good quality, choice of food and freshly made - a make or break with that type of buffet breakfast. Great value all you can eat too has to be a major bonus :) Personally i'd never spend £25 on a buffet breakfast and would expect perfection for that price.

Thanks Gary, terrific video as always. For me, the best thing about the Premier Inn breakfast is the two kids eat for free with an adult deal. Compared to your usual motorway services prices, we pay 20 quid for my wife, 3 kids and myself when we go. Tremendous value and a great stopover on UK holidays.

The problem with buffets/carvery’s (and someone who has worked both) is the only way to keep the food hot is, amazingly, to blast it with heat. Unfortunately, this results in food drying out if it’s sat there even for a few minutes. Or going soggy as with the hash browns. You need a really constant flow of customers to be a great buffet. The fact they both managed nice scrambled eggs is a proper feat! As someone else has mentioned, bacon is a real problem. It’s why I don’t like buffet style food anymore - I’d rather wait (or take longer cooking the food for customers) for quality. I appreciate you can go back as much as you like compared to a ‘plated’ breakfast, and for some, that’s what’s important, but if I’m going to pay for breakfast, I want great food

Looks nice breakfast at Premier Inn. Good to know as staying at one soon, thanks Gary 😊

As breakfast goes I would probably just have a large full English so Premier would be better for me. Fair review as always 👍👍👍

What a difference in price. It seemed neither worked very well as a buffet style breakfast. I would like to have seen a chef in view of customers cooking to order. I am dissapointed with both, but that's me. Thanks for taking us along. Appreciated.

I have a few times treated myself to a four or vie star hotel, but if so stay overnight, or go away, it is usually to a Premier Inn level hotel, and often the Premier Inn. Like you, I have found little to no difference in the buffet breakfasts. Decent enough. But not worth what many hotels charge. Premier In charge a fair price. I always go for poached eggs though, as they cook them to order.

The 1st breakfast looked ok, but the hottest item seemed to be the cup of tea! There didn’t seem to be much difference in both breakfasts. Well, apart from the prices

Interesting video's, to me personally 24 quid too expensive you've got to have a bit of colour with well cooked sausage, so for me the Premier Inn wins it, got to be honest with you and having been in the hospitality business for over 50 years (like yourself) bacon us notoriously hard to keep hot without it drying out better to eat it fresh from grilled, also the Shakedown uses chaffing dishes which keeps the food hot by the bain marie system (boiling water) with flammable jelly alight to keep it boiling ive used them hundreds of tmes but I've never been happy with that heating method and to keep the food temperature above the legal limit (63c) is virtual impossible electric hotplates all the time for me you can't beat a fry up,table served freshly cooked in a good cafe great video Gary as normal, cheers mate.

After spending about 20 years of my working life with 3 nights in hotels most weeks, from 5 star luxury to the stuff of nightmares B&B's I always stood by this simple system. If the Breakfast Room was 25% full or less then you where in for a top Brekki, if it was up to half full then it should be OK, up to 75% then you where on dodgy ground and if it was full and chaotic, then get out quick, save your money and have a Sausage & Egg McMuffin Meal with Orange Juice and Coffee at the Golden Arches around the corner!!! Also cost is no measure of what you are going to get. I have plenty of £5 all you can eat that knock the socks off a £25 all you don't want to eat!

I've had some awful buffet breakfasts, and some great ones too. THe worst was the Britannia chain. If there are no coach parties in, it is awful. The Premoer one was above average. However I much prefer the days of ordering breakfast and it is cooked to your specifications, this was the Swan hotel chain a good number of years ago. As for what you selected the Premier wins for value for money. It is interesting that they let non residents to eat theh buffet breakfast, Something which I will consider going forward.

Good review, but I have to be a other to mention the lingonberry sace. Whist I appreciate your usual thoroughness in your food reviews, you could have familiarised yourself with the items on offer, you usually do. Have to agree with your assessment of the fish, though. I haven't been for a while, and there are two we have been to near us. On the occasions when someone has ordered fish, it has never really had a good review. Keep up the good work.🙂

Having travelled extensively across the UK on business I have stayed at and eaten more than my fair share of Premier Inn breakfasts - I hate to say it but more often than not they are pretty dire - occasionally tho, as perhaps here, there is a diamond in the rough and they reach the dizzying heights of decently average. To be fair It probably didn't help that for the most part I was usually pretty hung over as entertaining clients was very much my remit in these days.........Cant argue with the Premier value tho.

Another great review. You, just about, described every buffet breakfast I've ever had 😀 I dislike the 'toast it yourself option. Inexperienced diners play with the controls, and then take the toast you've loaded 😀

On dear Oh dear Oh dear ! You know I like your video reviews but I was close to unsubscribing ! It was so blatant and so unashamed I was shocked ! You had a pot of tea and a cup and saucer and no warning and no shame you put the tea in the cup before the milk. Do you not realise an entire empire was built on cups of tea and the worst the absolutely worse thing you can ever do as an Englishman is to put the tea in the cup before the milk. Why would you do it man ? And film it. I am totally devastated of course . Otherwise great video 😇

Gary, An interesting comparison. I have been to a number of Premier Inns and have had their breakfast buffet up and down the country. Some, at best, have been OK and in one case it was diabolic, Manchester, it was so bad a complaint got me a refund. I find even buffets at more prestigious and boutique hotels are much of a muchness. You so rightly mention two things which is almost a given, the hash browns are always soggy and the bacon turns to leather. In this review, I would have gone for the cheaper option as no buffet that I have ever had at a more expensive price has mostly been any better than a cheaper Premier Inn breakfast. I am not a fan of buffet breakfasts as such a high percentage of them disappoint in one way or another.

Thanks Gary, great review. I’m showing my age by saying both places looked characterless modern plastic eateries. Your experience proved one of my favourite soap boxes 😂 and that is the English breakfast is not a meal that can or should be mass produced and just left under lamps, so I avoid them like the plague. A good English breakfast has to be freshly cooked and served on a HOT dinner plate. There is nothing worse in food than a cold breakfast ! No black pudding? Sacrilege, even if some don’t like it. Hash browns are an American influence crap food, if it’s an English breakfast it has to be fried bread! 👍

Not that I'm a fan of buffet breakfast, but where that is the only option I insist on them making eggs fresh and hot for me. As a restaurant owner, I recognize that individual portion jam, butter and other condiments is very expensive. Much better to loose some product and supplying a dish for the condiments from a bowl or jar. They taste better also.

2 great reviews Gary. The bacon situation at both is very common probably because bacon is thinly sliced meat which naturally will dry out under heat lamps set on the same temp for all the other cooked food. I loathe those rotating Toast machines as you have to put the bread through at least twice. Scrambled eggs can be hit or miss depending how long they've been sitting there for. I think Shakedown certainly lived up to their name & gave your wallet a good old shakedown lol. As for cheese/cold meats/salmon for breakfast? ....yeah Nah. Agree with your summation...breakfasts very similar but "bang for buck" the Premier Inn won easily. I'm bloody hungry now lol. Cheers

So sweet helping the guy reverse and the first breakfast, what a rip off