If you live overseas, which British shops do you miss the most?

[Fairyicecream]

If you live overseas, which shops do you miss the most? What items do you wish you could buy?

I was just thinking about this today, with not being able to travel, all the shops I miss going to.

Big supermarkets - here (Asia) space is at a premium so shops are physically much smaller than the UK and they always feel crowded, when I go to Tesco’s I’m amazed that I can turn my trolley round in the aisle haha!

Shops like B&M and Poundland where you can get basics cheap and in one place

Also, not a shop but pubs!

M&S and Accessorize

All the food shops really! North America is so limited in everything. So hard to find good quality baby clothes here too - it’s all cheap and scratchy - whereas in the UK even Morrisons have nice stuff.

Booths
(I'm from Lancashire)

Every supermarket. Range in australia is crap. As is clothes. Miss fat face, m&s- food and underwear, crew clothing, next, basically everything

@LilyTheSavage

I miss Waitrose, John Lewis, M&S and a good bookshop.

Exactly the same! Plus Sainsburys. Every time I'm in England I go to the supermarket for a wander and am clearly the happiest person in there by a mile

M&S, John Lewis, Boots/Superdrug and the huge range of supermarkets with their massive choice of goods. Also miss browsing in good bookshops.

John Lewis mostly.

Also cafes that do proper cake.

John Lewis, Aldi, Sainsbury's, Costa, Dunelm, The Range, I miss being able to buy really decent ready meals from Waitrose or M&S. Really difficult to find those here or they are v limited in choice. Also Flat Whites and Cortados from Costa, even though I live in a city renowned for its good coffee !

And yes to missing cafes with proper cake!

Also one supermarket where you can get everything at once
Charity shops

You can get plenty of British produce here but it’s $$$$$

Actually I REALLY miss places like pret and eat, there isn’t an equivalent at all

And beer gardens

Waitrose
M&S and the Food Hall
Next
Waterstones
Blackwell's
John Lewis
Selfridges

I forgot to add

Garden centres like Bent's in Glazebury, Warrington

Pubs with a beer garden

I miss Sainsburys most.
The mixture of UK food and cheap and decent homeware and clothes in one place.

I love visiting when I'm back in the UK.

I also miss decent ready meals.

The supermarkets with their pork and wine aisles - pork pies in particular
Pub gardens
Book shops

@elp30

I forgot to add

Garden centres like Bent's in Glazebury, Warrington

Pubs with a beer garden

Yes, here in Singapore I definitely miss garden centres (something I never thought I would)! We have some large plant nurseries but they are not the same.

Thankfully we can get a small selection of Waitrose products (including now Christmas items such as mincemeat, biscuits, crisps etc) in our local supermarkets, but I do miss the variety.

I miss clothes stores stocking items in my size (I am sadly much larger and taller than the typical Singaporean woman!)

Also miss browsing around nice homeware and furniture shops (eg Neptune, Oka).

I miss the prices of Sainsburys and Aldi. I also walk around pointing at things and exclaiming how cheap they are like a madwoman.

We have a lot of British stores, and have Daiso as a version of Poundland — but I’d like Wilko to fully engage in the Middle East. We can sometimes get a small range in Ace Hardware but that’s it. Hobbycraft style stores, but they’d be so expensive here.

Waitrose
Being able to get my food shopping delivered
Marks and spencer pants
Waterstones for books (we live in a non English speaking country so I miss a good bookshop!)
Boots and / or Superdrug. Here there’s a limited range of toiletries and medicines available in a supermarket - for most things you need a trip to the pharmacy which is tiny and stocks a limited range. And the pharmacist in our local one is a bit scary.
I haven’t been able to get home in over a year but when I do go back to the uk, those are the places I look forward to going! And John Lewis, although I don’t tend to buy so much as browse

M&S (food)
Boots (mainly for the meal deals there's no such thing here)
Cheap shops like Primark

One thing I've realised since moving is how good UK supermarkets are in terms of prices and variety. Everything here feels so expensive in comparison.

I’ve not been to the uk in over 2 years so I’m really missing it. I just want to wander the aisles at Tesco or even Asda & just pick up random stuff that I can never get here. Snacky Indian food, pork pies, cakes, potato scones... the list is endless. Think I’ll go crazy when I’m finally there (hopefully in 2021)

Also Waitrose and M &S Food hall. I also miss the weekend papers, as they are rubbish here, and reading online isn't the same. Apart from that, I only miss my mum.

M and s food, and Waitrose.

Proper department stores, although I suspect they are on the way out in the UK too.

Oh and being able to get everything I want from the same supermarket. I can get everything, but if I want slimline tonic, I need to go to one place which doesn’t have pork, if I want frozen Greggs pasties, that’s another shop. If I want frozen Cheesecake Factory cheesecakes, that’s another shop. And then booze is in a separate shop too.