The Best Supermarket

The Best Supermarket is a 24 hour convenience store in Bristol. It stocks the usually range of food & drink that you would expect to find in a local corner shop. What makes this grocery shop extra special is not just that it opens 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, but also that it has a 24 hour alcohol licence, which means you can legally buy alcohol at any time of the night, which is pretty cool when you want to grab a few beers after hours. There are other 24 hour off licences in Bristol as can been seen on 24 Hour Alcohol Bristol (
) but they are few and far between. At first, I thought this shop was selling alcohol illegally at night and was surprised how open they were about it, but then I found out that it’s all above board as they are licensed to sell alcohol 24 hours a day by Bristol City Council. Why pay high prices the Bristol alcohol delivery services charge when you can nip out and pick up the booze yourself.
It may not be the best supermarket in Bristol, even if its name says it is, but it’s still a good shop to head to in the early hours of the morning when you want to pick up some booze before the night is out.

Let’s face it. Sometimes we make regrettable decisions.
Some people wire themselves to small rotary devices and snort their grandma’s ashes with a McDonald’s straw. Others hold ceremonial orgies in Hepatitis B clinics.
Some people go to the Best.
So you’ve sucked the life out of that warm Carling and it’s not going to refill itself with Vodkat anytime soon and now your best friends are engaged in displays of sexual gratification with your favourite horse. You fight the urge to scream. You pace the cell. You kiss the slightly soggy green carpet.
You do it.
You go to the Best and spend all those hard-​earned coppers on a vat of Country Choice that costs you £6.88 whilst you swear blind that it says 69p on it. The guy behind the counter stares at you with eyes life a kebab knife. We can’t always be kings. That’s life sonny.

The self-​acclaimed Best Supermarket offers a 24 hour service, and is exceptional for last minute grocery shopping and spontaneous booze hunting. There is a cash point inside, which does charge of course, but boosts its customer service dramatically for all those hesitant to spend on your card.
Although to state this is the «Best Supermarket» is slightly an exaggeration, it does have its perks and unique level of customer care, not to mention the admirable 24 hour customer service which is the unique selling point.
This Supermarket contains fresh produce, and is ideal for essential shopping, as well as stocking some unusual and unexpected treats as well. The owners themselves are friendly and welcoming, despite knowing that they must receive a certain level of hassle due to selling alcohol 24 hours. This supermarket is definitely worth a visit if you live local to Stokes Croft.

Yes it has all your desied goods!
Yes it is 24 hours!
And yes you can satisfy pretty much any food or drink craving at any time of the day by getting something from here.
But ‘the best supermarket’?, i’ll give them a little le-​way for artistic license but I think they should perhaps pre-​fix the name with ‘Arguabley’ then it will give them some margin for error!
But seriousley, this place is pretty good, great to have a place of convieniance and open all hours, reliable and plentiful, not bad…

To people not from these parts some place names are legendary about Bristol: The Tobacco Factory and the Docks for example. Once you live here there are others: The Bear Pit, Cribbs etc. Another place you don’t really know about until you live here is The Best.
The (self titled) Best Supermarket is legendary. The shop is open ²⁴⁄₇ every day of the year. Even in the harshest of blizzards I have never seen the door closed. They sell crisps, chocolate bars and various other things you would expect of such a convenience store.
It is after hours however when they really become something else. This is the only shop that will sell all types of alcohol at all hours. The staff are hardened as you’d expect; their clientele the late drinkers: poets after another bottle of inspiration, students after more beers and all the rest of it.
The Best Supermarket is, well, what it is.

You look round and suddenly realise that you’ve run out of alcohol and it’s past 11 o’clock at night. What can you do? The party you’re having has half the neighbourhood there, the music is pumping and there’s simply no way you can end it now. So, do you go to an expensive club and ruin the vibe? No, you simply head over to The Best Supermarket in Stokes Croft — well, at least I do, seeing as I live pretty much opposite it. All the local characters are there and the queue stretches round the tiny shop. They’re all there for one thing: booze. A sign says «No Self-​Service», so you wait patiently in line and ask the guy at the counter for whatever takes your fancy. He leans over a mere half meter (it would be easier to get it yourself) to get the goods and takes your money without a smile. I don’t know if this is some legal loophole they’ve found (or they don’t care about stupid things such as the law), but it’s the only place I know of in the area that serves after hours. I reckon that they must do half its business during the wee hours. Yes, it stocks basic food, soft drinks, cigarettes, newspapers and so on, but there are better places in the area for that. So, booze it is, then.