Easy Hours

I’ve never been in an off licence where the staff have been more drunk and outrageous than myself. Perhaps they weren’t actually drunk and instead just highly charged and excitable. Either way, they were extremely fun. Thrashing up and down the aisles, filling stock, price checking and all the while informing us of the best offers and personal recommendations. It’s a nice change to see people enjoying themselves at work, so many times has a grey depressed face handed me my change. Even if they weren’t if they weren’t enjoying work, at least they were enjoying each other.

This is the place to be at about 4 or 5 in the morning. They stock a wide range of ‘after-​party’ snack food fun, including frozen pizza, bagels, burgers, beers, cheap vodka, cigarettes, pom-​bears and other assorted food items. There’s a cash machine inside, though it does charge, so you can always withdraw some more money to spend here if you’re running low — though they do accept cards at the counter anyway -. Service is fast and professional, and there’s a very good selection of soft drinks.

You know the situaion: you need a loaf of bread and nothing else. Do you drive five minutes to the local supermarket or walk two minutes to the corner shop?
I have to admit that I normally go to the supermarket to do my shopping, because being a penny pincher I nearly always by own label cheap stuff. However I guessed that it would cost more in petrol than the extra I would pay in the local shop, so I walked.
My local corner store has recently changed hands and this was I good chance to have a good look round.
They have a good range of products fro fresh fruit & veg to alcohol and frozen food to toilet rolls. The only draw back is that there isn’t much of a choice within a group of products. The prices varied from a loaf of Kingsmill actually being cheaper than Asda to a tin of Ambrosia rice being nearly three times the price!
So if you only need one or two things, or you know that their cheaper, then it’s good place to go; if you need choice, a big weekly or minthly shop, or just the cheap own label products, then I’m afraid it’s Sainsburys or Asda.
I would love to be able to do all my shopping locally, but on the limited budget I have, I’m afraid the big supermarkets still get most of my money