[mjal]

I'm concerned with the continual buyout of large established UK companies by US ones. It's happened a lot in the past ~10 years, most notably Cadbury's, and not only are there tax implications, but the standard of product seems to drop to the lowest acceptable while attempting to keep the same prices. There's also the issue with business ethics of the parent company, which tend to be rather different than the UK.

[dazc]

Fair point on Cadbury but to make Costa's coffee any worse is going to be a bit of a challenge.

[00deadbeef]

Starbucks is far worse. Everything they sell tastes burned. Coca-Costa could just follow their example.

[ollie87]

I'd say Costa is worse than Starbucks.

Nero being the best of the UK chain coffee places.

[Nursie]

Costa's coffee is not brilliant, but it doesn't taste like someone cooked up the tar left at the bottom of the roaster.

[keiferski]

Costa is still dramatically better than Dunkin Donuts, for example.

[jameskegel]

I’d be curious to see the data upon which you base this false assertion.

[keiferski]

Of course it’s ultimately my opinion, but Dunkin Donuts has awful coffee and always has. Anyone with an appreciation for coffee would likely agree.

[lghh]

I think that anyone with appreciate for coffee would understand certain coffee has a time and a place, even coffee from big chain coffee places or restaurants.

[snarf21]

DD is coffee for people who don't like coffee. Almost everyone gets some kind of heavy sugar and dairy mixed drink. Basically candy coffee.

[krn]

I wouldn't expect Dunkin Donuts to be any better at coffee than McCafe.

[_b8r0]

It's not just US companies, although US companies are picking up more household names.

For the best part of the past decade, UK firms have largely underperformed compared to their US counterparts. The pound is depressed due to the way Brexit has gone to date and is likely to fall further still, making British companies undervalued on average.

A lot of British companies (like Whitbread, who own Costa) gain substantial revenues from abroad but are exposed to currency risks through the pound and anaemic economic growth at home.

[JustSomeNobody]

I'm concerned with the continual buyout of large established companies by other large companies.