What shops or brands did you think were posh, but now doubt yourself

[DashingWhiteSergeant]

For me it is Habitat. As a teen I thought it was the epitome of home styling the shops looks so expensive. I only had a paper round for income then so it WAS expensive!

but now it is just a brand you buy in Sainburys. They make my big standard - but very much liked - tea lights.

Check out Cirencester Waitrose any Saturday morning.

Thorntons and Hotel Chocolate are poor, give me a bar of Galaxy any day.

I used to think Kane Norman was quite posh when I was a kid.

I like Hotel Chocolat but not sure it’s posh. Just expensive.

Hotel Chocolate are especially horrible and we have been gifted their stuff so many times, it's all disgusting...such a waste of money.

I don't know. I come from Manchester so we don't have much in the way of really exclusive shops so everything is all different levels of expensive without being actually "posh".

I don’t get the fuss about Booths I have only been to the one though. Just an expensive supermarket but wouldn’t say it was posh in any way.

I'll give Waitrose the "still posh" - the dry ageing meat cabinets are amazing and their cheese selection is great.

@IbizaToTheNorfolkBroads agree regarding Next! When it first arrived the quality was excellent and the shops had that minimalist feel to them. It always felt like a treat to go in, never mind buy anything. A million miles from its current guise.

Agree - Habitat was posh in the earlier days. I loved that shop. I still have my little glass spice jars that I bought in the early 80's. We were young and newly married, and the spice jars were about the only thing in the shop we could afford! I used to buy them 2 at a time.

Lulu Guiness. The day I say a Lulu Guiness Argos toaster was the day I stopped buying the stuff.

Really? Oh god no I don’t see it as daily mail at all.

If it helps, Waitrose take their brand as being ethical very seriously. Every single item they sell has to pass a certain ethics test. In terms of which ones are ‘posh’ it definitely depends which one you go to. Some have barely anything and others have very specific items.

Red trousered?

@pinneddownbytabbies oh that is so sweet, lovely that you still have them, we used to have a big habitat in Bournemouth it was a purpose built store for them I used to love it too, was laid out really well, I love these jars £40 I wonder what they cost when they were new

Plenty of Daily Mail readers - very apparent when they used to give away a free newspaper.

Habitat was definitely higher end good quality back in day. I don't really know what brands are posh these days, I think people with money buy quality but those brands are also bought by people who save up or just buy one item.

Once brands get a social media following then they are accessible to everyone.

BHS.
Woolworths was like a posher Wilkinson.
Boots was a posher Superdrug which is a posher Savers.
Thornton chocolate shop.
Debenhams.
Monsoon.
Pret.

All of these places became mundane once I actually spent money in them and stopped teenage window shopping.

@Tilllly
lots of 'gents' in Winchester wear the red trousers too, worn by the 'braying' types

Not 'posh' as such, but I swear Zara used to be aimed at late 30s people with a bit of money, now it seems to be full of teenagers and cheap tat. I'm not sure what happened or whether I just got it wrong from the beginning.

I really miss old Habitat. It had beautiful things. It's not the same company now, Sainsbury’s bought the name and that's that.

@Tilllly, landed gentleman weekend/farmers, weekday stockbrokers, who have a fondness for brightly coloured corduroy trousers and Barbour jackets for weekend wear at their place in the country. Often to be found in market towns within 2 hours' drive of London.

When Next first launched back in the early 80s their clothes were lovely, I don't think I thought they were posh but just found them very affordable particularly for a working wardrobe. Now their clothes just look like a load of old cheap tat.

@IbizaToTheNorfolkBroads
nailed it ! 😂

Red trousers? Like Santa ? Can't picture this.

It's not 'part of' sports direct. It's owned by the same parent company, Frasers Group. They also own Flannels where you can buy £2k Balenciaga jackets. They are completely separate entities