I’ve eaten Subway for decades. Today’s offering is a joyless abomination of its former glory | David M Green

First the sandwich chain stopped offering hearty Italian bread, then cranberry sauce vanished. I was outraged

I’ve been eating Subway sandwiches for a quarter of a century. Mainly out of habit.

2001 Subway was something else: booth seating, ceiling fans with gold trim, leafy green house plants, faux brick and black-and-white New York cityscape wallpaper with a repeating Empire State Building frieze. Ahh.

My go-to back then was a foot-long turkey sub on “hearty Italian” bread, cheddar cheese (there was only cheddar), lettuce, tomato and cranberry sauce with a dusting of salt and pepper. To complete the meal, a choc-chip cookie and a small soft drink from the self-serve post-mix machine with two little stamps for my Sub Club card. Collect eight, you got a free sub.

If you’ve eaten at Subway lately you might be thinking I’m getting confused with some other sandwich place. Sadly no. 2025 Subway is a joyless abomination of its former glory.