Do you regularly use traditional High Street shops such as butcher's and bakeries ?

[IndigoSpritz]

I do. The bakery I go to most often is in the next town down the road and I always buy flatcakes and burger baps there. I occasionally buy extras such as chocolate cookies or scones. This particular bakery is somewhat stuck in a time warp judging by the display cases and fixtures, but they do well. All the cakes, tarts, cream buns and so on are fresh every morning and always seem to sell out.

I use a few different butchers for burgers, sausages, gammon, bacon and savouries like pork pies and pasties. They're all good and it's a privilege to have these shops to hand.

I know all these foods can be bought in the supermarkets but I prefer to pay more for higher quality. Of course, I appreciate not everyone can do do. I should add that I'm happy with a Hovis or supermarket granary loaf for toasting.

I use a local butchers. They rear their own cows/pigs. Animals are grass fed, out on pastures most of the time, high welfare, high quality. Chicken etc are local, free range, etc. They're fantastic, have been around for decades, well known in the local community and know most people by name. The quality of the meat is outstanding. We pay slightly more but it's definitely worth it. They're close to my work and I'm just about to start maternity leave next month. I'll still be making the 30 minute journey each way to get our meet from there.

I try to. Unfortunately only got a butcher in town, no greengrocers which is rubbish as I’d definitely use one.

I used to live near a fantastic Mediterranean shop with loads of fresh produce but we moved

Yeah I have a great butcher. He's no more expensive than the supermarket tho. It's a proper butcher not a new fangled artisan one! I bought a whole rabbit from him a few weeks ago.

Yes, all the time. I use the local butchers and greengrocers a lot, and they are only a few minutes' walk away, so I often go more than once a week to pick stuff up as fresh as possible. I eat low carb, but still use the bakers to buy bread for ds (I get it sliced then put in freezer and take out as needed). I can buy local eggs in both the butchers and greengrocers, and also local juices/preserves/pickles etc. There is also a fish man who deliver fresh fish once a week, which is lovely.

As well as the produce being very good quality (and not always as expensive as you'd think) I love the personal service you get in these shops. I know the shopkeepers well, and they are often really helpful, plus if you want (for example) one sausage or a single mushroom, you can buy it!

Our shops all open at 7 as well, so are useful for a lot of people who want to shop before work.

We go to 2 local farmshops regularly for meat / veg / fruit. We're 6 miles to our nearest proper sized supermarket (tesco), so it works out cheaper including mileage.

I’ve got an incredible, independent bakers in my village which we use a lot. I have a child with multiple food allergies, and it’s the only place I can buy soya-free bread without venturing 12 miles to the closest supermarket. They also sell the most amazing cakes with that sugary, synthetic cream oink oink

No. I don't get home until gone 7pm most days.
Asda click and collect is God sent.

Yes use the local butchers and bakers and the local farm shop (which has weekly fish van) for fruit and veg. We also have a great local hardware shop, cobblers, cafe, hairdressers, library, doctors and pharmacist on our village high street. We are basically sorted.

There's nothing really locally, at least not open at a time I can get to it.

I will go to the Butchers though if the opportunity strikes, and its the right time of month when the freezer is empty I haven't found one locally yet though (moved).

Bakers are hard to find, especially an independent one! The closest I get to "nice" bread is a co-op baguette or a Tesco uncut loaf!

Fishmongers, I'd love to find a good one tbh.

The real selling point for me to use them though would be a) opening hours and b) an "expert" opinion and cut.

For example. I wanted a kilo of lamb. Lambs expensive so I did shop around. I called the butchers, yes we do lamb it's £8 per kilo, not bad, cheaper than the Tesco website actually. Get there, it's all pre packaged into 1.3 kg ish packs, with the bones still in. So actually for the amount of meat I wanted, I was looking at £20, and having to debone it.

Went to Waitrose who had it on offer, at a lower pperkg and no bones...

I'd expect to be able to ask the butcher for an unusual cut or to prepare it in a certain way for me, but often it's just packaged up like Tesco at a premium price...

I do get a Riverford Veg Box delivered once a fortnight though. That comes from a local farm and it's good quality organic veg :)

We go to the butchers and bakers virtually every Saturday.
Our small local town has 3 butchers shops and 2 bakers (one artisan and one more usual type). Unfortunately there is no green grocers though - one did open but every time I tried to use it, it was closed. Don't think it's there any more - not surprisingly.

I love my village shops... I use the local grocer's most days. I use the hairdresser, the florist, the 2 bakeries too. Unfortunately the butcher's shop is waaay too expensive for my budget. In summer we have a fab local fruit and veg shop, mornings only which is great quality, but not cheap.

Last time I went to my butcher, for lamb neck, he asked what did I want it for and pointed me in the direction of a cheaper cut, which was absolutely delicious (apparently neck has long ceased to be a cheap cut). He has also done similar when we were buying steak once.

I like to think it’s because we are polite good customers. Possibly it’s because we look a bit impoverished

I use out local butchers for all my meat except chicken So go about 3 times a week. It isn’t in my opinion more expensive and tastes so much better and we don’t have a big food budget most things are from Aldi . Chicken however is too expensive from the butchers but I’m sure it would taste better.

I use the butchers, love it, he isn't any more expensive than a supermarket, but you can buy what you need. So in a funny way he is cheaper.
Also use the local bacon man for bacon eggs and cheese.
Don't have a local bakery, unless you count gregs.

I do use butchers and occasionally fishmonger. I find the quality of the fishmonger is way above supermarket and would use more but DH not do fussed about fish.

I buy whole chicken & eggs in butcher in the main. We have a Costco locally and their Angus beef is superb, so tending to buy that there. I’m a bit conflicted about that but the price and quality difference is pretty substantial.

No local greengrocers. I used to use them, but it’s not practical if you are shopping weekly unfortunately. Veg, staples and household stuff comes in the weekly delivery.

My local butchers can boast some longevity. One of them retired last year, having owned and run his shop with his wife for fifty years. The other one (still in business) is on its third proprietor since I moved to this area nearly nineteen years ago but none of the changes were down to poor business, rather retirement and non-renewal of lease. The current owners have some distant familial connection to the original owners going back decades.

The greengrocers closed the shop about twelve years ago but still operate a delivery service and the market stall greengrocers are in town twice a week. The bakery I used to frequent closed about five years ago but there is another, albeit with an artisan bias.

No. They don't open late enough round here.

Nope. Not open when I’m home.

Also the butchers still price in kilos. No idea how much a couple of chops will be ( well I do and it’s embarrassingly expensive and I’ll feel a right tit if I tell the nice person behind the counter to put them back). It’s less painful to shop online.
Although meat is sooo much nicer from there.

No. Nothing round here. I would love to return to classic trad High Street with fabulous shops to choose food from..

I might be stating the obvious, but the independent butchers really come into their own around Christmas time. My butchery requirements are single-person modest but I've been in several different shops close to or on Christmas Eve itself and witnessed folk collecting their pre-ordered goods. Joints of beef and gammon, geese, turkey crowns, stuffed chicken parcels, stand pies, pigs in blankets, sausages and so on. The bills frequently run into several hundred pounds. Impressive and heartening for the small businesses. If spring and summer are fair, there's barbecues and picnics to be supplied.

Most Saturdays, I walk into the centre of town, about 10 minutes. I visit the local butchers - basically a farm shop who moved in a couple of years ago, so most of the meat is bred and butchered locally. The weekly market sells good fish, cheese and bread, and also has a cheap veg stall, where they sell veg at £1 a bowl. The town also has a veg shop, a baker and a health food shop . I have to admit that I don't buy everything in town - I end up stocking up the remainder, especially groceries, cleaning products and additional veg at the supermarket!

A few years ago, the then manager of our High Street butcher very kindly took away some old carving knives I'd bought at the market and sharpened them on his oil stone. He also got me a professional sharpening steel from their equipment suppliers so I could keep a good edge on the knives. The steel was £15.00 but well worth it.

I'd be amazed to see that level of personal service at a supermarket butchery counter.

I really wish there were shops like that near me. My mums friend goes to the loveliest little high street with a butcher, greengrocer, cheesemonger, bakery etc. It's so quaint and the food she buys is the nicest I've ever eaten. They wrap things up in paper and string in an old fashioned way and I think it's great! Makes my Tesco delivery look a bit depressing. Sadly there's not much choice in the way of shops and deliveries in my area

i have recently discovered our local greengrocer,
it is marvellous, and the fruit and veg display beautiful.
i try to support them.
not the butcher due to cost nor the baker

I use butcher and grocer for probably about half of our meat and fresh produce but they're market stalls rather than a high street. I would also tend to get the meat from there if its a special occasion.