Rate the shops: posh or not

[Codswallop20]

I will start you off.

Level 1

Lidl, farmfoods

Level 2

Aldi, Iceland,

Level 3

Asda, Tesco

Level 4

Morrison's, Sainsbury's

Level 5

M&S

Level 6

Waitrose, Booths

Level 7

Harrods

Level 8

Fortnum and Mason

Discuss.

(Entirely light-hearted and for entertainment purposes only, couldn't actually care less and have no aspirations of posh!)

Inspired by the other posh thread, and FYI ferrero rocher are still posh enough to make me feel somewhat inadequate.

@JaninaDuszejko

What southerns fail to understand is that before the industrial revolution York was the second most important city in England after London and Yorkshire was very rich in the middle ages because of wool. The north was then the engine of the industrial revolution. Old money in the north is very old and very rich. Yorkshire has some of the best stately homes in the country. The seat of the Duke of Devonshire, Chatsworth is in Derbyshire. Posh Northerns are proper posh old money in the way that the nouvelle riche of London in their £1M two up, 2 down can only dream of. They have to pretend we're all flat cap and whippet because if they were to acknowledge how naice places like Harrogate were they'd have to question their own working-all-hours to barely afford sufficient living space while paying a premium for the buzz of culture they have neither the time nor the money to see (and that was toured round the north with cheaper ticket prices before it went to London anyway). And admitting Booths is a real supermarket for real northerns will blow their mind because lets all pretend living in a 4 bed detached in the north that costs less than a 1 bed flat in London doesn't result in you having a large disposable income to spend in a naice supermarket.

Not at all from my perspective. My late father-in-law grew up at Harewood. My point was that regional shops are not the same thing as national chains. Locally we have a hardware chain called Bunces, it’s good, but can’t reasonably be compared to Homebase. Similarly Betty’s is good but can’t be in the same list as Asda. You’re not comparing like with like.

Hear hear Janina

For those who think the north can't possibly be posh or naice, I saw this earlier and thought of how Mumsnet loves a bit of property porn.

£1.3M in an ultra desirable village on the outskirts of Wakefield, for the price of something not very exciting in an unfashionable area of London.

And I admit to having a bit of a fantasy about living on my own in 1 bed flat

I married a northerner. His north in Yorkshire was gray, drab and poor. My southern home counties was green, bucolic, utter fun and very comfortable

But not all of the north is drab, grey and poor, just like all the south is not 'green, bucolic, utter fun and comfortable'. Surely you realise this?

Plus when you're spending less of your money on housing, you have more money left to enjoy life. And you're possibly going to be living in a larger property too because you've had to compromise less.

You can probably rate supermarkets by their scan rates. When M&S introduced 'scan school' and target rates for its staff around 2010, it set the rate as slower than Sainsbury's to make the experience feel more premium. Aldi/Lidl had the fastest staff target rates, followed by Asda/Tesco/Morrisons, followed by Sainsbury's, so I'd definitely say Sainsbury's is more premium than Tesco. (And in fact am quite baffled anyone would think otherwise! They are so much more expensive so why on earth would you shop there if not for the slightly more pleasant shopping experience? I don't bother using them for online shopping as it's expensive compared to Tesco for none of the benefit of avoiding the experience of having to go into a Tesco).

Daylesford organic is the ultimate

John Lewis and Peter jones too

@Subordinateclause

You can probably rate supermarkets by their scan rates. When M&S introduced 'scan school' and target rates for its staff around 2010, it set the rate as slower than Sainsbury's to make the experience feel more premium. Aldi/Lidl had the fastest staff target rates, followed by Asda/Tesco/Morrisons, followed by Sainsbury's, so I'd definitely say Sainsbury's is more premium than Tesco. (And in fact am quite baffled anyone would think otherwise! They are so much more expensive so why on earth would you shop there if not for the slightly more pleasant shopping experience? I don't bother using them for online shopping as it's expensive compared to Tesco for none of the benefit of avoiding the experience of having to go into a Tesco).

And now we scan our own shopping. What does that do to the rankings? I know it's not good for my blood pressure!

I'd put Asda and Iceland in the same row. Morrisons and Aldi one step up (actually depends - the one near me just recently renovated and is now really good quality - but for years it was falling apart). Then Tesco and Sainsbury's - but at a push I'd put Sainsbury's above Tesco. Then Co-Op would probably be a step below Tesco.

That house in Heath is beautiful. There is a fabulous old worldly pub in Heath can't remember the name. It still has gas lights and serves traditional beers and ciders. The good is too notch too.
My list is from the bottom:Iceland
Petrol station food
Lidl
Farm foods
Aldi/Iceland
Asda/Morrisons/Tesco
Sainsbury's
Waitrose
M&S

Iceland with Aldi.

Re. Sainsburys I don't shop there as despite the higher prices the product range/quality and shopping experience is less pleasant (not that any of them can be considered pleasant!) than at Tesco.
Having said that the Tesco was built in the last ten or so years so has that advantage.

@Onlinedilema

That house in Heath is beautiful. There is a fabulous old worldly pub in Heath can't remember the name. It still has gas lights and serves traditional beers and ciders. The good is too notch too. My list is from the bottom:Iceland Petrol station food Lidl Farm foods Aldi/Iceland Asda/Morrisons/Tesco Sainsbury's Waitrose M&S

My local garage has M&S food 😋 can be very expensive on the way home from work at 9pm . But normal petrol stations , no.

Aldi is cheaper than Morrison’s but definitely posher. They sell proper wine, not the mass market rubbish you get in Morrison’s and don’t have aisles devoted to 1970s cream cakes made of chemicals. Morrison’s have large quantities of suspiciously orange cheese, Aldi have delightful manchego. You can’t eat the ready meals at either of them, of course.

You must have a particularly bad Morrisons. You can get Manchego and lots of other cheeses at ours. Their own brand The Best Champagne was voted the best by Which magazine at Christmas.

I do my weekly shop either at M&S, which is walkable, or Lidl if I can be bothered to drive. I like both. Lidl is cheaper, obviously, but it is perfectly possible to do a 'normal' weekly shop at the large M&S foodhall in my London suburb without breaking the bank - it's not all ready meals and pre-mixed cocktails. The nearest branch of Lidl to us is fairly new and is always full of middle class types checking out the bargain ham, cheese and wine. Loathe Waitrose - so overpriced, although I used it for years as it used to be my nearest supermarket. Sainsbury's definitely thinks itself posher than Tesco. I would tend to avoid Asda and Morrisons, but that's partly because the only ones I know of near here are a bit of a drive and always seem utterly chaotic and poorly stocked.

It's so area dependent
My local Morrison's is lovely, bright and airy and well stocked. Next town over is dismal, dark, small and smells weird

Locally I like (the brand new) Lidl and Morrison's
Sainsburys and Asda are below that (I like sainsburys in the next town)
Love booths. Waitrose, well we only have one and I need a new mortgage to shop there

I now have severe house envy. I'll take it as it is, thanks, but not the curtains.

Pfff, between my deliveries from Riverford, Farmison and Farmdrop, even Waitrose feels like slumming it these days.

I thought Iceland and Aldi was less posh than Lidl. I also think Sainsbury is posher than Morrisons.

@MyHolyWine

Killing myself laughing at those who think Booths is just for southerners on holiday...🤣

You’re just jealous...😉

I’m jealous, I don’t mind admitting it. Round here Waitrose is as good as it gets since they closed the Wholefoods down. We did have a nice Budgens very locally that sold a lot of local produce but it’s now a co-op.

The only one I'd disagree with is Morrisons. I wouldn't rate it as highly as Sainsbury's,I'd rate it a 3,along with Asda and Tesco.

Don't confuse price with cachet. The smartest people I know would be far likelier to be found in Lidl than any of the others. This is because it's a treasure trove and always provides a pleasant surprise at the till. Grand cru bin ends, anyone? Cretan honey and German chocolates? Ski socks? You wouldn't perhaps rely on it for the whole shop, but it's always worth a look! I don't feel that way about any of the other supermarkets, which generally annoy me with their cynical marketing and deceitful pricing and encouragement of waste (T), their hopeless supply chain and empty shelves (S) and pandering to aspiration (W). Harrods and F&M are gift shops not grocers.

Isn’t it Tesco not Tesco like is Asda not Asdas?

Oh and I know a close family member who earns £450k a year and he loves Lidl

Tesco not Tescos

Tesco not Tescos was how we found out that DS2 could read or at least equate letters and sounds when he was 3.

He'd not long started nursery and they'd had a trip to visit the local Tesco to look at, buy and try different fruits.

They'd been discussing the trip in his little group and his group leader said something about Tescos. DS2 pipes up, "miss, do you know that it's Tesco not Tescos, there isn't a Ssssss on on the end?" She then proceeded to tell us she'd checked and he was right.. :o

That's not meant to be snobby by the way, we aren't snobby or rich, DS2 was just a clever little sod and had no idea he was being a bit cheeky pointing it out.