It was M&S for coffees, Eccles cake and chocolate croissant today at M&S Altrincham; a rather…read moreupmarket posh village. The coffees were cappuccino and splendid Cortado. The iced water on tap. The village has a delightful market in the centre where one can buy dressed crab, cooked whole lobster and my absolute total, complete favourite, in all the world, potted brown shrimps, sealed in butter. Forget caviar and lobster this, with good buttered toast, is the true food of the gods. Ambrosia. There are flower sellers, cake sellers, sellers of LP's from the 1960's, cheese sellers offering small batch local cheeses, folks with woodfired ovens for sourdough pizzas, beer and wine sellers, upmarket hand made chocolates, oriental and Jamaican food (I don't think I could face goat curry) and a fish & chip shop. I'm sure I've left out a lot of purveyors in this snapshot. It's also teeming with competitively priced coffee places, cafes and bars and as the competition is so fierce there's no downmarket offerings.

Marks and Spencer in Altrincham is a fairly good location, although it isn't the best/biggest…read morelocation in the area, and I do prefer their Manchester Market Street and Bolton stores, this isn't a bad alternative and it is one of my favourite stores in Altrincham town centre. It has improved a lot since my last visit, the store is now much cleaner and free of clutter to warrant an upgraded rating. The selection in the food hall was good, they had a nice range of products, again this might be slightly less compared to other stores, but I still was able to find the majority of what I needed which was handy. This store is also using the new Mobile Scan and Pay, where you can scan items and bag them as you shop in the Food Hall, pay via your phone and walk out, this is a feature I love but it always makes me feel strange as you just walk out of the store, it makes you feel like a thief, even though you have paid, you do get a payment proof on your phone incase someone does stop you, but I am worried about the security of this if someone is dishonest. Most of the staff seemed friendly and happy to help when required. Above-average Marks and Spencer store, a great brand to have in Altrincham if you don't feel like going into the city centre or another larger store.

A decent ASDA store at the Cockhedge Centre in Warrington, a short walk away from the train station…read moreand town centre, it is in a good location and does have parking as expected. It could be better lit and sign-posted in the car-park area, especially for pedestrians as it did seem a little dangerous for me, as I struggled to find my way out. Pretty much an average ASDA, the selection was fine, I also like the Scan and Go app where you can use your mobile phone to scan items as you shop, to save time at the checkouts. The staff could have been slightly more helpful in regards to finding items. 3* - OK sums it up, multiple better ASDA stores (or supermarkets) in the area to do your shopping, but it's in a good location and useful for the people of Warrington.

Asda's telephone customer service at their Warrington Cockhedge store was absolutely appalling this…read moremorning and left me no option but to take my custom elsewhere. There was literally no one happy to help or to even help

I always come to wilko when i need small household goods…read morequality is not bad and they sell a range of lots of house hold items from plates to picture frames to cleaning products and pet products. prices are reasonable too. i came in here the other day and only got a small item and the lady on the counter gave me the evil eye when i asked for a bag to put it in otherwise staff are usual plesant enough. will carry on shopping in here if something is needed.

Not a whole bunch to write about with Wilko but I popped in the other day for the first time as I…read moreneeded some bits and bobs for an event and they had everything I needed! The thing I like best about Wilko is the prices! As I say I'd never been in before but I was pleasantly surprised at what they had and the prices! All your household goods, stationary and other office style stuff you may need! Wilko could be a one stop shop for pre events now ;)

I'm an M&S supporter. I've been shopping with them since 1973 and I trust them implicitly. The…read morequality of the food they sell is really beyond dispute and represents great value for money on quality. When there were food scandals here a few years ago like the horsemeat scandal their name never arose. Sure you can go to the other big stores but when you look at the prices they charge for their comparable quality provisions they actually usually charge more than M&S do for their M&S labelled products. Buy cheap folks and buy twice. I only needed croissants, Parma ham, roasted cashews and some of their exquisite Indian meals but I had grandkids in tow so things like Percy pig sweets, banana milk, sugary cereals, doughnuts and fresh baked cookies ended up on the counter. We all then went to the M&S upstairs cafe; adults for cappuccinos and kids for apple juice - before this it would have been to the Starbucks in this vast centre but since they charged me 5p for a plastic cup for iced water (in Portsmouth) I've not been back. M&S provide jugs of water with glasses for free in their cafés - you don't even have to buy anything.

I like Marks and Spencer's location in the Trafford Centre, it is over multiple floors with a large…read moreFood Section, they also have the Scan and Go capability, meaning you can scan and bag items as you walk around the store, and then pay on your phone and leave, which makes the shopping experience much more simple. I do find the checkout area to be a little hectic here sometimes, so that makes the app much more useful here. While I do prefer their Manchester Arndale location nearby in terms of item stocked and overall look/feel of the store, this store certainly isn't a bad alternative and I do seem able to get the majority of the items I need when I visit the store. The layout of the store is pretty easy to follow, I like how they've combined the cupboard and fridge "Made Without Wheat" range to be right next to each other, which makes the whole shopping experience much quicker. There are no toilets in store which is rare for a large Marks and Spencer, there are plenty of toilet facilities around the rest of the Trafford Centre though. 4*

A pretty large, modern Next location at the Manchester Trafford Centre, while it might lack the…read morecoolness and added brands and features of the nearby flagship branch at the Manchester Arndale, it still is a decent store and features a Costa Coffee. It works better with their Home Store at the other side of the mall within Barton Square, as this branch mainly consists of clothing. Lifts are notable as they seem to be quicker and have fewer people queuing at peak-times compared to the main lifts within intu Trafford Centre. Staff seemed friendly enough. A pretty decent store, but only made better through being one of two stores within the mall, and even then it falls short compared to their larger flagship store nearby. 3*

Although not truely here just for the clothing I popped in for a quick coffee and the ability to do…read morepaperwork. The venue is clean and has Wi-Fi although is busy. The shop itself is also busy too. The staff were working as hard and fast as they could to get the drinks and food out but struggling slightly with the sheer volume of customers. Easy to find a seat though. All in all not a bad venue. The clothing side is clean and has a wide variety of clothing to suit your needs.

Poundland in Manchester Arndale, on the lower level, next to Costa and opposite Deichmann is one of…read morethe few pound-shops remaining in the city centre, following rival chain Poundworld collapsing, it is a pretty good store, it was refurbished since my last review in 2016, so the store does look better. They have a decent selection of items, it's a typical pound-shop, you're not going to find something too exciting, but you can spend a couple of quid and hopefully get something useful. The store was a little like a jumble-store, without much organisation, that is typical in pound-shops but with it being hard to find a staff member too, it made it even harder to find the batteries I came in for. Self-service tills for ease of checkout. I would say some items can be found cheaper elsewhere if on offer occasionally, but all in all, it's a decent store which sells basic and mostly cheap items, but most items operate on limited stock when they're gone, they're gone. 3*

I worked in an office in Spinningfields once. I apologise, regular followers (those of you that…read morethere are...?) as you've probably heard this about eleventy billion times already but one day I made myself the most popular girl in my department. How did I achieve such an accolade? Occasionally a staff member would pop out at lunchtime and bring back goodies for everyone. This usually involved those mini Swiss rolls and caramel shortcakes you get in Sainsbury's. One day I was trundling around Poundworld in the Arndale Centre and came across a 'chewy selection' for, of course, a quid, with Drumstick lollies and Snap n' Crackle chews and Refresher bars. I grabbed a few and brought them back to the office, declaring, 'There's retro sweets for everyone.' They were gone within seconds. You forget how much people like to regress to childhood. The next time I added a bag of mini Wham bars into the mix, again, a mere quid. These made the whole thing even more successful. For this reason and many others, I love Poundworld. One of the nicer side effects of the recession, shops like this have been cropping up all over the place in Manchester and they're a welcome addition. I've never had a single problem with a single household product from there, including multipacks loo roll and kitchen cleaners. I bought an enormous Tupperware from there too, great for transporting my amazing cakes. I am a talented baker and will not be modest about my creations. You can save a lot of money in here. That goes without saying. But its easy location and large size make for a very good shopping experience. And what clinched it for me? Four cans of sugar free fizzy Vimto for a quid. Be still my beating heart. No wonder I'm such a regular here. So should you be.

I am a regular customer in this branch i go there once or twice a week i never had any problem,…read morealways very good price and good quality and above all all the ladies working in the till are very polite and helpful this afternoon i have been there and by one lady (in the receipt her name is Madina) she is very polite and he is very patient lady Thank you

I bought east end chakki gold atta 20kg and there was a worm in it. very unhygienic and disgusting.read more

I love a good rummage around in Wilkinson…read more The love affair started when I was working in Salford and there was a Wilko's in the Precinct but has since extended into the city centre. I admit, I am a bit of a snob when it comes to places like this; I scurry in and out of Poundland hoping not to be noticed and it's a similar thing with Wilko's. However, the more I shop here, the prouder I am. Anyone who is as much of a Pinterest addict as I am can feel a tinge of sadness when browsing through DIY&Crafts, realising there are no equivilants to Walmart (trust me, our supermarkets just aren't the same) to pick up the basic vases/spray paint/endless balls of twine the crafters suggest. Poundland doesn't even cut the mustard when it comes to this. Wilko's to the metaphorical rescue. The home section here becomes a haven for anyone who has a desire to spray paint everything gold and stick small plastic animals onto screw top jars. The home section, by coincidence, is the only part of the shop I tend to frequent. The homeware department has recently had a bit of a revamp - according to the signs anyway - and the array of cushions had my head spinning. I love a good cushion. Why then do I only give 3 stars when the shop fulfills all my cheap crafty needs? The service. The service is slow. There also seems to be no limit on how much perfume one man can buy - surely this is just going to end up on a market stall somewhere? That or perfume giving has become compulsary at Easter? Maybe a quick stop at Wilko's was what Jesus rose for.* *Sorry** **I'm not really sorry