I currently live in London and eat Pret all the time.
I have easily found better sandwich shops than Pret in NYC, Boston, Chicago, LA, Berlin, Paris, SF... I could go on.
Specifically in NYC there are some amazing sandwich places all over Manhattan (though that's not to say the other boroughs don't have excellent shops as well). My favorites are generally the Italian-style sandwich shops which have great Italian cured meats.
In response to your last paragraph, I think that's part of what people are complaining about – there are precious few places in London where you can get a freshly made sandwich, and for being pre-made, Pret isn't much cheaper than a lot of the fresh-made sandwiches you can get in other countries.
Also I think fresh-made is maybe giving a bit too much credit to that idea, as Subway is freshly made but I'd much rather have a Pret.
I have easily found better sandwich shops than Pret in NYC, Boston, Chicago, LA, Berlin, Paris, SF... I could go on.
Specifically in NYC there are some amazing sandwich places all over Manhattan (though that's not to say the other boroughs don't have excellent shops as well). My favorites are generally the Italian-style sandwich shops which have great Italian cured meats.
In response to your last paragraph, I think that's part of what people are complaining about – there are precious few places in London where you can get a freshly made sandwich, and for being pre-made, Pret isn't much cheaper than a lot of the fresh-made sandwiches you can get in other countries.
Also I think fresh-made is maybe giving a bit too much credit to that idea, as Subway is freshly made but I'd much rather have a Pret.