Pret A Manger is celebrating Christmas in the height of summer with wreaths, Slade and its festive sandwich.

Clapham Nub News is flummoxed to report that Pret has kickstarted Christmas in Clapham Junction.

In fairness to our local Pret and its hard-working staff, the decision to decorate the St John's Road doorway with red and gold baubles less than two weeks after the Summer Solstice - before we've had champions crowned at Wimbledon - was not made in Clapham Junction, nor is it unique to our branch.

The food chain, whose profits dipped dramatically when commuters evaporated into lockdown, rolled out Christmas to many of its London branches on Tuesday (July 6), saying it wanted to "spread joy", having been inundated with customers requesting its Christmas sandwich.

Reactions to the marketing campaign have been mixed.

One Twitter user wrote: "Why have @Pret got Christmas decorations out?? Have I just woken up from a coma?"

Another lamented there was not enough Christmas: "Genuinely gutted that Pret's early Christmas doesn't include the vegan Christmas sandwich."

Fans of Pret's Christmas sandwich are no doubt happy to swallow a jingle bells July with their cranberry-slathered sarnie.

For everyone else still hoping for a sun-drenched summer, should you happen to find yourself on St John's Road anytime soon, perhaps avert your eyes.

What has Pret said about its July Christmas

Clare Clough, UK managing director of Pret A Manger said: "Every year customers ask us for the Christmas sandwich to return earlier and earlier, and after many customers missed out on having one last year we've decided to stand by our mission of spreading joy through our food and coffee, and bring our iconic Christmas sandwich back early for a limited time this summer."

She told The Independent: "While we can't change the weather or the football scores this summer, we can help people celebrate and recreate some festive joy by reuniting them with their favourite Christmas sandwich."

On Twitter, the brand shared its promotion video, starring Slade frontman Noddy Holder, with a customer and said: "We've put out Heart and soul into giving people the Pret Christmas they missed last year, launching our famous Christmas sandwich this July with the help of a fellow festive legend, Noddy Holder Help us get him back in the charts and spread the Christmas joy."

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