Located in Derby Square in Liverpool centre, just off Lord Street, close to stores such as Tesco…read moreExpress, Nationwide and Debenhams while opposite Lloyds and TSB bank, this branch of Pret is probably the larger and more relaxing branch the chain has in the city centre out of the three they do have, it is accessed through a step but a ramp is available if you can't use the step.
I called here to grab some soup to take back to my hotel room to have with a sandwich, later on, I called at around 2-3pm and the soup section was already depleted, having run out of most of the large soups other than the "Souper Tomato", both flavours of chicken were only available in a small, being upset with this I asked them if there was anything to do, the staff seemed really helpful and friendly and offered to phone the other branch in Liverpool to ask if they had one in stock and could put it aside for me, sadly they didn't answer - the friendly staff then offered to give me two of the small soups and combine them into a larger one for me, meaning I'd get the larger soup without having to pay for two small ones which would cost more.
My "No Cream of Chicken soup", which like all Pret stores was described on the label as "A naturally creamy soup made without cream by blending celeriac, fennel and cauliflower. Simmered with shredded British chicken, celery and flavoured with mixed herbs."
The soup was really good quality, it not only smelt and looked fresh but tasted it too, even a few hours after purchase, having to warm it up back at my hotel, the quality remained, to the point where it is probably one of my favourite soups at Pret now, alongside their Souper Tomato variety, the latter which they do every day compared to the No Cream on Chicken which is just a weekly special.
Considering the store shuts at 6pm, which is two hours earlier than the Pret branch on Paradise Street, they do really need to consider making more batches of soup in both sizes, as once they had made two smalls into a large soup, there was none left - I have never had this problem at a PRET store before, with my local branches at Manchester - Deansgate and Manchester - Piccadilly having a lot more soup in stock at that time.
The branch inside looked quite nice, it was one of the more relaxing coffee shops in the city centre of Liverpool, especially compared to many branches of Dunkin and Starbucks which seem to be either darker, smaller, busier or perhaps a combination of more than those factors, making this a great place to grab a relaxing drink and perhaps do some work in the city. Adding the fact the staff here were ace, despite some negatives such as the stock of soups (and even half the sandwiches were out of stock), this is a decent branch to warrant a four-star rating, I feel it has done enough to grab a four-star rating due to exceptional service in a good, central location while providing good quality food at competitive prices, although possibly having more ready-made food such as the soups and sandwiches is vital to improve.
