I have had very helpful staff at Homebase. On one occasion at the Alnwick store they did not have…read morewhat I needed, found out that Berwick store had it, and got it on a van and brought it to Alnwick for me in about 1/2 an hour. As I live in Wooler, it saved me a trip back and forth, or to Berwick. They have been happy to exchange things bought in one store for items in another, and have given good advice on paint and various other things. Many thanks

An Amazing shop, stocked with all your DIY and home furnishings and a good Trade selection to boot!…read moreReasonable prices and knowledgeable, friendly staff.

Plenty of variety in stock, provide advice and it's a good place to get contacts in the building…read moretrade. I will most certainly be a regular visitor now that I have found this little treasure trove.

Hardware/Homewares store in the centre of Alnwick. Absolutely chock a block with stock. Extensive…read morerange of cookware and kitchen gadgets, a gardening section, furniture and gifts. My main interest, being a bit of a foodie, was the kitchen department and the range and choice was great; Le Creuset, Aga, Stellar, Victorinox, Kitchen Devils, Cole & Mason and many more big name brands. An excellent choice of electrical items too including breadmakers, toasters, kettles etc. It's good to see independent businesses like this competing with the big out of town retail park type electrical and furniture stores and I only wish my nearest town had such a little gem of a shop.

An excellent and interesting shop split over a few levels…read more On the ground floor by the front door, you have interesting knick-knacks, gifts and stuff like that. Move farther into the shop and you'll find the kitchen section which has an excellent selection of cookware. You'll find they have most items at a variety of price levels. For instance, you can get some relatively cheap kitchen knives for a couple of quid right through to top-end Japanese knives that almost require a mortgage. Deeper into the shop, there's a small gardening department and at the very back there's a hardware section with a good selection of tools and fittings. Head upstairs and you're into the furniture and decoration bits. They stock pretty much any kind of homeware and you'll find towels and linen mixed in with bedroom furniture and tables. The staff are all really friendly and know about everything they stock and where it is, which can be handy if you're in there for something specific. Otherwise, you can browse for hours PS Qype doesn't quite get the name right, it's Proudlock.

As I approached this store, it seemed to me from the window display, that this was yet another…read morehardware shop which stocked everything you could want in a DIY shop and more on top of that! And when I entered Boyds, I was not wrong! The isles are quite narrow to allow the shop to stock so much. From Irons, to clocks, to DIY tools to garden equipment this shop had it all! Indeed, I could not count the amount of irons that this place stocked. Whilst I was pondering in side this shop I noticed that this shop seemed popular with the locals, with the door constantly swinging open and closing. A reason for that is that it is located in the centre of the town and does not mean that the locals have to travel to a big supermarket! The shop is slightly dated, but does have up-to-date products and the shop did have some good offers! A good local Hardware Shop!

With rows of tawny-coloured tenements, massive student population, a surfeit of artsy cafés and…read moreindependent grocery stores, Marchmont's vibe falls somewhere between bohemian and genteel. It's bordered by the Meadows on one side, and the wealthy mansions of the Grange on the other, and has its own character as a fairly sleepy residential neighbourhood, disturbed only by the occasional blaring music of student flat parties. When I lived here, I loved its smallness, and the village-like quality - the fact that, whenever I left my flat, I'd meet someone I knew, and could survive for days at a time without ever venturing across the Meadows, getting all I needed from the cornershop, having a pint in the Argyle down the road, renting DVDs from Alphabet, and generally shying away from the outside world. Now that I've moved away, I feel slightly relieved to have escaped this insular community. Still, I'll always have a soft spot for Marchmont's leafy streets and turreted tenements.

Marchmont Hardware is a great handy business in Marchmont which provides a good range of cooking…read moreutensils, tools and even mini vacuum cleaners for hoovering up crumbs on the tabletop - an amazing invention. The guys who run it are pleasant, helpful and offer to find any products which they don't have in stock or recommend where you might find them. My only criticism is that some of the things which they sell are a bit gimmicky and pointless. For example, they were displaying an electronic rotating ice cream cone! Does that appeal to anyone? Possibly, but I can't help but feel that they'd benefit from specialising in stuff which people actually need. Nevertheless, Marchmont Hardware offers top service and a great range of products at good prices.