Places you won't be bothered negotiating when baby arrives

[irishamy89]

I've just been to my local Tesco metro.
Every time I go (whatever time of day) there are consistently about ten members of staff working on the floor stacking shelves and stock checking.
It is a nightmare for me as an individual small person to negotiate!!
I cannot imagine having the energy to go through the trauma of entering that store with a baby, even in a fairly compact Bugaboo!
Anyone else resigned themselves to ditching visits to certain shops/places.
Ps you mummy's that bring your babies/children anywhere I take my hat off to you!!

I made the mistake of attempting to go to the Natural History museum during the last half term week... I don't think I will ever be able to take my DC to London museums... It was carnage. Chaotic queues, pissing down rain... We just wanted to look at the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition! We gave up and went to the Science Museum which, although there were no queues, there was too many people to go and look at anything...
I hope my DC school will do the museum trips... Or I'll take him/her when they're big enough to kinda understand what's going on but before they are limited to school holidays!
Phew... Long post haha!

Oh god, sounds like carnage!
Whereabouts in London are you?
I'm North with very quick access to central London.
Were looking at buying a larger property (I'm praying we stay close to London as I love it) however if I cannot even face my Tesco metro I am probably dreaming if I think I will be prancing around central with baby in tow!

We moved out of London about 2, nearly 3, years ago now. I grew up in north London!
I don't think id ever take my child into central London... I work in London mon - sat and I hide away at work on a Saturday because it's just chaos on the streets!
Even today in Covent Garden it's mental and that's just because it's easter!!
I do miss living closer to London, but we're down near Brighton now and loving it. I have to admit, I've not gone into my local big tescos on a Saturday yet... And usually DH and I are so rubbish at shopping, we tend to get some bits and pieces for a couple of days worth of food and then go back once we've run out haha. So we don't spend long there...

Oh nice, Brighton is lovely.

We were going to go there on Sunday but the weather was too inclimate!
Instead we went to a lovely town in Hertfordshire, spoke to a lovely bar owner (a Londoner) who sold Hertfordshire to us.
We are considering moving out that way as everything is "bargain basement" price compared to London however I'm not really sure I'm ready to take that plunge yet!!!
Your train costs must be monstrous!
Myself and DP are the same, in and out of our local store. I swear we will do a weekly shop once baby is born!!!!

But a weekly shop requires planning...
Hertfordshire is lovely.
I think if you love London, you'll always miss it. What I don't miss is the attitudes. I'm always so amazed when I'm in London how angry everyone is!
Brighton on Sunday would have been rubbish... Even I had a duvet day and I have horses
And yes, commute is extortionate but location makes it worth it. Hoping for more brighton based work soon!

I do a weekly shop online, with a small baby/toddler you can just throw them in a sling. Much easier and hands free!

Ah yes, that is a good idea. Ive done it before but found that they give me the fresh food that's going out of date... so complaining about that is a pain and they do refund but then I'm still short the fresh fruit I wanted... Guess you can get the big heavy stuff (like tuna, toilet paper, tin foil etc ) online and do the fresh food yourself? And yes, a nice carry thing for little ones is good!

I do a big online shop for all the bulky stuff every now and then and try to do shops for my weekly meals too but that doesn't always work out.. Planning is not my strong point! I have found that round here, Ocado are the best for delivering salad and fruit that isn't about to expire. Asda are cheapest for household stuff like loo roll and branded pharmacy type things so if I'm feeling poor I'll get that sort of thing from them and then fresh stuff either in real life or from ocado. When the baby turns up though I am not sure how this will continue as it does need some sort of organisation and advance planning! Our local tesco has steps up to the door which is really annoying so I guess I will be using a sling too! going back to the original point of your post.. I think I will have to give up my favourite secret habit of poking round the local hardware store. It's like aladdins cave in there but can barely move past the piles of stuff on my own never mind with a buggy! I am also not convinced I will ever make it home if I go out without the car.. Live on top of a MASSIVE hill!

Pregnant with two so straight to double buggy territory here...and generally not being able to go into anywhere! Witnessed my local independent coffee shop have to move everything around just to get single buggies in and realised I'm not going to be the coffee shop owners friend unless I go to the bigger chains with larger stores :(

God I hate tesco metros. Why do they need to restock constantly?

Feckeggblue - I have no idea! It is actually crazy.
It is so hard to jump over staff/ avoid crates and combi's and get past other customers.
I mentioned it to a guy on the till the other day but he didn't understand me and thought I said "stuff" instead of "staff".
I really would prefer not to break my leg tripping on some 6"7 male member of staff!

Yes to Tesco Metro! I'm a shopaholic frequent shopper so I'll barge in anywhere if I feel the need, but WHSmith, Sports Direct and our tiny local HoF are a nuisance - lots of tat piled in heaps in the former, and just no thought to layout in the latter. I always thought shops had to be wheelchair accessible?

2015isgoingtobebig - I feel your pain!
Some independent stores like redlolly mentioned and also cafes are hardly fit to accommodate people/people with single buggys never mind double buggys!
I read that the Bugaboo donkey double only has the footprint of a wheelchair which sounds okayish.

Shops are meant to be accessible to wheelchairs by law which is why we got a side by side that is no wider than a wheelchair. Not sure how a lot of shops are compliant because if I think about my local small WHSmiths their aisles are very narrow with lots of temporary displays that must get knocked over by wheelchairs unless they doing bother trying to get in.

Definitely get a sling - not a baby bjorn or anything, something like an Ergo with a wide base, or a stretchy wrap. Particularly if you're planning on going into a city on a regular basis, it's the only way to do it!!

I had an Ergo sling with my first and used to feel ever so smug as I glided up the escalator with my baby all tucked in and asleep. Now I'm expecting #2 I'm fairly certain I'll never leave the house again unless I'm walking at toddler snail pace.

Seriously though, with just one baby in the sling there were very few places I couldn't go and shopping was a joy as so many people would stop and chat with me and the baby and tell me how lovely and comfy she looked.

Click and Collect is your friend. Online shop done in the bath or on the loo or during a feed. During the two hour slot you choose, pull up, they open the boot and fill it with your shop and off you drive.

My food shopping now takes 2 minutes to order (saved favourites) and a seven minute round trip door to door to collect.

I live in London and I must say I've never avoided going anywhere! And I have found most places really accessible with my buggy (I have a babyjogger city mini). Don't be put off, the underground and overground are really good with lifts etc and the tourist attractions in town all have baby changing and when it isn't school holidays they shouldn't be too horrendous :)

Although food shopping (certainly a 'big shop') is tricky so I made friends with Ocado and have a weekly delivery. Just go to Tesco metro/wherever for milk and bread top ups.

I am definitely getting a sling and saving the buggy for longer trips/being outdoors longer etc.

I prefer going to the supermarket than online shopping (although whether that'll change with a baby in tow remains to be seen!).

I saw a woman the other week at an out-of-town retail park carrying a tiny baby in a massive car seat and it just looked so hard. Forget that!

Try shopping with a toddler who doesn't want to be in a buggy...

We took DS (just over 2) to Zara kids the other day to get him some clothes.

Christ on a bike!

He was running off to explore behind the counter, picking up shoes and taking them to other places, climbing on everything. Honestly, its SO much hassle. I miss the days he would snooze or sit happily in the buggy and we could wander about aimlessly shopping!