As a non-UK person, I don't really have a "genetic" link to the firm or its culture.
But, as a result of these threads, I popped into one recently to have a look around.

Ye gods, what a dire place.
Crap food, and I mean *nothing* visible that a human would want. Crap ambiance. Cheapest possible fit-up. Staff as in a prison commissary. My wife complained (lightly) about having been dragged across the threshold. I guess you have to have grown up next to one in Tyneside to get it : )
I speak as someone who thinks UK pub food it generally underappreciated and unjustly criticized.

Sure, it's totally anecdotal, and I know there's a ton of money selling "food" of dubious distinction, but I'll sit this one out. Most concept chains, whether retail or food, expand till they go pop, and I don't currently see any compelling reason for this to be an exception. Maybe I'm passing up a great opportunity unlike those who looked more deeply, but I'm fine with that.

Jim