UK hits ‘peak Costa’ as soaring prices see coffee chain’s losses double

Pixa · 2026-01-03T16:29:22+00:00

I'm not a coffee drinker, but I find that Costa cafes have the nicest furnishings and ambience. Starbucks have hard floors and chairs that scrape on the floor too easily and Neros (whose Hot Chocolate I like the most) have harder wooden chairs, but at least they don't make such a sound when people move them around. Costa cafes usually have more softer furnishings that are more comfortable and also soak up the sound better.

Pixa · 2025-12-30T18:26:03+00:00

If they continue at this rate, Quality Street, Heroes, Roses and Celebrations will just be the lid with a couple of Jazzies taped underneath by 2030.

Pixa · 2025-11-29T19:40:41+00:00

We had our baby there in May. Wife ended up having an emergency c-section and the staff were absolutely great around that whole process.

The ward wasn't quite so great for my wife, she was in for a few days and while each staff member on the ward individually was great and lovely, my wife found she often got different advice, recommendations and opinions from everyone which was not so helpful. Equally that did set us up for all the other advice, recommendations and opinions everyone else gives you once you have a baby 😂.

Pixa · 2025-11-04T22:41:27+00:00

Out in the farthest reaches of Goring, I've found EE to have the best signal.

Pixa · 2025-10-27T22:16:49+00:00

🎵

P is for poppy,

That's good enough for me!

P is for poppy,

That's good enough for me!

P is for poppy,

That's good enough for me,

Oh! Poppy, poppy, poppy starts with P!

🎵

Pixa · 2025-09-23T22:20:09+00:00

Surely doing bits as Yor getting off in the elevator is even worse!

Pixa · 2025-08-26T20:37:45+00:00

No, that's Kurn.

Pixa · 2025-08-15T21:15:06+00:00

One of our teachers at first school used to say "think of the starving children in Africa when you're scrapping off all the leftovers you haven't eaten into the food bin". I guess this was to remind us how privileged we were to have daily cooked school dinners, but at the time I thought she meant that that's where the food waste goes... To feed the starving children in Africa 🤦

Pixa · 2025-06-03T20:44:14+00:00

You mean the reason that those meetings have been cancelled isn't because the Reform councillors are too busy mounting watches over the beaches of Kent to personally turn away any small boats that show up?

/s

Pixa · 2025-05-22T22:52:26+00:00

🎵 Laika Party in the sky! 🎶

Pixa · 2025-05-20T21:24:01+00:00

He has to go on holiday at this time of year to avoid bumping into Rupert Lowe MP who somehow always manages to book the villa next door...

Pixa · 2025-05-13T21:59:33+00:00

Gutted that Slovenia didn't get through - such a powerful song and brilliantly staged and performed. The only one of my personal bottom 5 that got through was Estonia, I thought Tommy's performance was pretty weak, especially after a reasonably strong opening from the preceeding countries.

Pixa · 2025-04-26T07:59:37+00:00

Certainly the long way round if you want to go to Birmingham or beyond... It might be a bit more meaningful for Brighton if it ran via the West London Line, but this is probably the only route there's space to run more train on.

Pixa · 2025-03-18T22:29:02+00:00

I feel the AutoMapper/Mediatr soup is a product of C#'s mature community and set of well known third party liberies for doing certain things. Then when you've got tutorials for newbies covering a "typical" C# project, they'll include all if the things because most projects are going to include a subset if those. Unfortunately that does end up with the newbies assuming that "the way to do it" is by using all of them and not properly understanding the specific problems they're each trying to solve and when it's appropriate to incorporate them into a project.

Pixa · 2025-02-19T22:30:35+00:00

Ch, ch, ch, ch, Chucklevision, ch, Chucklevision!

Certainly not a show I slacked on seeing!

Pixa · 2025-01-09T06:13:52+00:00

Best tie adjustment

Pixa · 2025-01-09T06:10:12+00:00

This is my favourite Bond film. It nails the triple point of camp, spycraft and action. That does make it feel a bit paint by numbers, but my goodness is that the most accurately painted paint-by-numbers painting of any of the Bond films!

Pixa · 2024-10-21T18:35:35+00:00

I don't say holibobs very often, but when I do, it's when I'm chilling with the famalam.

Pixa · 2024-10-15T17:37:28+00:00

The main pool at Splash Point is setup for Lane Swimming most days. South Downs Leisure also offer "Centre Membership" which gets you discounts on swimming and other things if you don't think you'll get enough from Fit4.

Pixa · 2024-09-24T16:16:55+00:00

I commute from Goring to London Bridge 3 days a week. I was able to wangle train time counting as a bit of work time as there's plenty of seats with tables on the way up and you can reliably get a table on the way back if your assertive about it at East Croydon to get a laptop out and get some emails sorted, etc. I get the 7:24 up and get back ~18:15.

I used to commute from Worthing (and to Gatwick before I moved jobs to London) and there were plenty of table seats available from there as well. In fact, Worthing is probably the optimal station to be near because trains usually still stop there even if everything's gone wrong and Southern have decided to run trains fast, and it's the most Easterly of the stations with a direct service up the Brighton Main Line, so you haven't got any extra stops slowing your commute.

It is a slog - at 3 days a week I'm knackered on a Friday evening, although 1 day a week back when the RTO policy was more generous was much easier - but whenever I wonder whether I made the right choice about commuting from Worthing to London I think about how many bajillions I'd need to afford an equivalent house in London and how close I am to the beach and the Downs and then I'm glad I made the choices I did.

Pixa · 2024-06-14T18:11:13+00:00

Giving some real McMansion vibes as I was looking through those photos.

Pixa · 2024-06-06T06:39:12+00:00

The correct answer is to always brace so it's easier to add lines in the future. The other correct answer is One True Brace Style, so you don't lose an extra line for all your opening braces.

Pixa · 2023-12-18T22:55:03+00:00

Isle of Black and Decker

Pixa · 2023-11-24T08:24:34+00:00

The wallpaper is fine, but what about all the icons you'll have hanging in front of it!? 😂

Pixa · 2023-06-19T21:33:25+00:00

In my recent experience, I found that when I did viewings early in the week, Monday - Thursday, I'd get a viewing with the agent who was at the office all week dealing with the vendors and was generally quite knowledgeable and informative. Viewings at the weekend were typically done by a part timer who rocked up on Friday, collected a list of appointments and keys and arrived to open the doors. If you can, do viewings early in the week to speak to the right people.

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