Animal welfare charity Anima protests Pret A Manger’s choice of fast growing chicken.
11:31, 16 Jun 2026Updated 13:39, 16 Jun 2026
The chicken is the size of a car(Image: Tom Woollard/PA)
Animal welfare activists have placed an enormous metres-long fake dead chicken outside Oxford Circus ’ Pret A Manger to launch a major campaign. The gigantic ‘frankenchicken’ sculpture is a car-sized, mechanical Pret wrap with a whole “frankenchicken” stuffed inside, feathers and all.
The chicken is outside Pret A Manger in Oxford Circus today as animal welfare charity Anima protests the chain using the “exact same fast-growing chickens as KFC, Nando’s and Burger King”. This begins a week-long tour of 15 Pret cafés throughout the city.
Pret is being targeted with a £1m public campaign as a response to the high-end café chain breaking its commitment to stop selling fast-growing chickens by 2026.
The activists want Pret to change their choice of chicken(Image: Tom Woollard)
In 2018 Pret promised to stop selling fast-growing chickens by this year. It has now delayed that to 2032 and not switched a single bird to a slower growing breed. “Pret’s so-called commitment is simply a cover for its continued inaction” says Connor Jackson, Chief Executive of Anima.
“Contrary to customers’ expectations, Pret is selling the exact same fast-growing chickens as KFC, Nando’s and Burger King, and there’s no reason to believe this will change. In the 8 years since Pret committed to phasing out frankenchickens, it has not transitioned one single chicken to a higher welfare breed.”
“We’ve tried to solve this with Pret behind the scenes, but instead they have simply kicked the can down the road. So we’ve now taken it upon ourselves to inform Londoners on Pret’s behalf, with the launch of the FrankenwrapTM- a monstrous but honest edition of Pret’s iconic chicken sandwich.”
The ‘FrankenWrap’ is at the Oxford Circus Pret(Image: Tom Woollard)
From today, frankenchicken ads will also plaster the London Underground, and full page ads about Pret’s chickens will be placed in several newspapers throughout the week.
Anima is encouraging members of the public to pledge to take a break from Pret until the café chain starts phasing out fast-growing chickens.
Pret A Manger said: “We are disappointed that this campaign group has chosen to target one of the few businesses that remains signed up to the Better Chicken Commitment. We already meet 5 out of the 6 of those standards and have set a clear roadmap for the remaining one.
“It is unclear to us why activists are spending such significant funds targeting a business trying to do the right thing rather than focusing on those who have abandoned higher welfare reform entirely.
“While we respect the right to peaceful protest and the important issues this campaign seeks to raise, our priority is the wellbeing of our team members and customers. We have plans in place to support them and hope any demonstrations are conducted safely and with respect for the people who work in and visit our shops every day.”
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