I went to Subway for the first time and I struggled to see why its sales are plummeting

I went to Subway for the first time.Grace Dean/Insider

• My friends were shocked I'd never been to Subway before, so I decided to try it out.
• Subway's sales are falling and it's been hit by a lawsuit over its tuna.

Subway has hit the headlines recently, from its menu revamp to a lawsuit over its controversial tuna.

A Subway tuna sandwich.      Jörg Carstensen/Getty Images

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Reports also say that its sales are slumping and that the chain is closing some stores, although Subway said that its menu refresh boosted sales this summer.

I went to Subway for the first time.      Grace Dean/Insider

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I'd never been before, much to the surprise of my colleagues and friends, so I decided to finally pay the sandwich chain a visit.

I went to Subway for the first time.      Grace Dean/Insider

I went to a city-centre branch in Newcastle, northern England.

Grace Dean/Insider

The center of Newcastle is brimming with Subway stores, but I'd never been to one before, even though there was one on my university campus. I always brought packed lunches, both as a student and when I had a job on campus.

Subway's website shows that Newcastle city center is brimming with its sandwich shops.      Grace Dean/Insider

Subway also faces competition in the UK from supermarket meal deals. Major supermarket chains like Tesco and Sainsbury's sell a sandwich, side, and drink for generally £3 or £3.50 ($4.10 to $4.80), and dedicate large areas of their smaller-format city-center stores to these.

British supermarket Sainsbury's sells a £3.50 ($4.80) meal deal.      Grace Dean/Insider

I went at around lunchtime on a Saturday, and though the company is popular with office workers and workers, it's evidently busy at weekends, too. There were only two members of staff in, and I had to wait a while to get served.

I went to Subway for the first time.      Grace Dean/Insider

This gave me plenty of time to look at Subway's hefty menu. There was a lot of choice, but I went for Subway's fake-chicken sandwich the TLC, which stands for Tastes Like Chicken.

Grace Dean/Insider

In the UK, Subway has six main types of bread - I hadn't expected there to be so much choice. I went for the nine-grain multi-seed bread - and of course, I had to get it as a footlong.

Grace Dean/Insider

There were lots of meats available, but I noticed that the UK didn't have the new ingredients recently added to Subway's US menus. These included deli-style sliced ham and turkey, smashed avocado, and fresh mozzarella.

Grace Dean/Insider

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The fake chicken was kept away from the meat, and it looked pretty good.

Grace Dean/Insider

There were plenty of salad fillings to choose from, too. I went for lettuce, tomatoes, and black olives, with vegan aioli drizzled on top.

Grace Dean/Insider

You could see a fridge full of peppers and cucumbers on display in the background, suggesting that Subway wanted to show off the freshness of its produce.

Grace Dean/Insider

It all looked pretty well stocked, though a small sign referred to supply-chain shortages and said that some items may be temporarily out of stock.

Grace Dean/Insider

It was fun watching the staff make my sandwich.

Grace Dean/Insider

I added a drink and one of Subway's famous cookies to my order to make it a meal. It came to £7.39 (around $10.20) - the same as it would have cost to get my sandwich with roast chicken instead.

Grace Dean/Insider

The sandwich looked really good.

Grace Dean/Insider

It was bursting with fillings - there were six slices of tomato and around 30 slices of olive. My friend said he didn't usually get such generous portions of fillings in his Subway sandwiches.

Grace Dean/Insider

I was surprised by how realistic the soy-based fake chicken looked. Subway seasons it to mimic its own roast chicken.

I went to Subway for the first time.      Grace Dean/Insider

Source: Vegan Food and Living

And it tasted really, really good. The fake chicken was perfectly moist and could have almost fooled me that it was real meat. It also really complimented the other fillings I chose.

I went to Subway for the first time.      Grace Dean/Insider

My main qualm was that I chose to have my baguette toasted, which seemed to loosen the seeds on top. This meant that a lot of them fell off before I had even started eating the sandwich.

I went to Subway for the first time.      Grace Dean/Insider

The sandwich really filled me up - a calculator on Subway's website showed that with the bread and fillings I chose, it came in at close to 1,000 calories - but I was still excited to dig into the cookies. My friend and I got a chocolate chunk cookie and a vegan double chocolate to share.

I went to Subway for the first time.      Grace Dean/Insider

I think I preferred the chocolate chunk, but they were both delicious. The double chocolate was very sweet, and I was impressed to taste such a great dairy-free white chocolate.

I went to Subway for the first time.      Grace Dean/Insider

Ultimately, I'm surprised that Subway's sales are falling. The chain is ubiquitous with college students and dominates many city centers.

I went to Subway for the first time.      Grace Dean/Insider

Sources: Insider, Restaurant Business

Most of the sandwiches were at least twice the price of the average supermarket meal deal, but this didn't seem to be deterring diners. The location I went to was busy, despite its proximity to loads of stores and other restaurants.

Subway tuna sandwich.      Photo Illustration by Justin Sullivan/Getty Image

Subway said that its revamped US menu boosted sales to an eight-year high, but the new ingredients and sandwiches weren't brought to the UK.

Subway has refreshed its US menu.      Mary Meisenzahl/Insider

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Despite this, there was still a lot of choice, and the ingredients looked much fresher than I'd expected, too.

I went to Subway for the first time.      Grace Dean/Insider

As for me, my sandwich was delicious and I can't stop thinking about just how good the soy-based chicken was, but I don't think I'll stop making packed lunches any time soon.

Grace Dean/Insider