When I was younger my dad was always a bit handy round the house, if anything needed doing, the…read moreidea of calling someone in to do it was always an alien concept. He always did it himself, and it always required a visit to Andy's Stores to get the items needed to complete the job. It looks small from the outside, but inside, it is the untimate hardware store, they have a good selection of pretty much everything you need to get the job done. They have everything from tools, plumbing odds and ends, paints and painting equipment, gardening supplies, electrical supplies, house ware items, locks, key cutting.. you name it. They also seem to be able to compete with the larger DIY stores, which is no big surprise, as they have been in business for years, so they are obviously doing something right. Parking is a bit hit and miss. If you are getting bulky/heavy items, you would want to be parked out the front, but they are on a busy road, so it can be a bit hit and miss as to whether this is possible, but if not, there is a filling station with plenty of parking next door.

Andy's stores is well known in the area for being a great…read more (and cheap to boot!) hardware shop. It's here that you can pick up any number of various electrical / household goods or even find the parts for that item you've just taken apart and tried to put back together (which never works does it?) Well, Andy and his great employees can, more often that not, help you out with whatever DIY problem you may have. I'm not the best minded in that regard and when something breaks I usually run to my dad begging him to help me, though sometimes even Daddy's can't fix everything (Shock I know) and in that event, dad comes to Andy's to solve the problem. If you can't fix it here, then it can't be fixed!

Known locally as Hurrells if you need a diy item they have it, they also have a large builders…read moresupply yard and sell wooden products such as pet houses and garden sheds. Theres a furniture dept upstairs and a second hand furniture section out the back. Wether you need one nail or 5 tons of sand Hurrells will have it. They deliver heavy goods in the town for £4 with a same day service. Anything not in stock can usually be ordered for collection next day

This is a really excellent wee shop where almost everyting can be purchased for any kind of diy to…read morebe completed. The staff in the place are able to locate everything straight away i really dont know how they always remember where things are kept. The store is really well located although parking can be a bit of a bummer sometimes.

Everything you could need for any building project, I bought corrugated plastic sheeting from here…read moreto make a car port roof, the sheets were bigger than I expected with eight feet of them hanging out the back of my mums ford escort. They do a delivery service too and I got a ton of garden stones delivered to top up my mums garden, it saves a fortune over buying from garden centres. Ideal for garden projects. Small selection of tools and accessories inside too.

I made my first visit to Bangor Building Supplies recently and to be honest I was surprised about…read morehow much they sold. As I'm not the most manly man in the world I don't visit building supply shops too often but this one was easy to navigate and seemed to sell almost everything you could want to build/renovate a house. They have a huge timber yard and a large car park which I suppose is handy if you are buying larger items. I wish I was there to buy timber as this would have definitely marked my graduation from boy to man but unfortunately I was there to buy spray paint, not quite as macho! You'll find the staff easy going and helpful - unlike other builders merchant yards they are used to DIY enthusiasts coming through their gates. If you are in the market for manly goods my advice is to give it a go.

We bought a fire grate 12 months ago to replace one fitted some 15 years earlier and used over…read moreChristmas for a few months. We came to light a fire this year and found three of the slats had disintegrated. Sent a photo to Ray Graham's pointing this out and was told that this was expected of cast iron grates if you burnt wood and coal on them. We had subjected the new grate to exactly the same treatment as our old grate which had lasted 15 years plus. Ray Grahams insisted that there was no fault with their product and would not replace it. I posted a negative review at their website but it has never appeared - they clearly only 'allow' postive reviews that score 4/5 and 5/5. As a consequence, one wonders if you can trust any of the reviews you find there .....

Got all my stuff to build my Garden Bar and terrace, good quality products and price and very Covid…read moreaware well done Ray Graham's the place to go