I didn't know about this place (despite the massive sign on Stokes Croft) until my flat needed…read moredecorating now I couldn't be without it! They will mix up in minutes any shade of paint from their range of thousands, at reasonable prices. They also have a wide range of wallpaper including posho designer stuff as well as a range of DIY gear (although some of this can be found cheaper elsewhere). They offered me a 10% discount card which has been well used and you also get Nectar points on your purchases. My only complaint is that as there are so many colours available they don't have the full range of samples on the display - you might need to ask to see swatches if you want a specific shade. Oh, and if you buy a sample tin for around £3/4 the price will be refunded when you buy the full tin.

Now, I'm going to say 'hand woodworking tools' to you and I'm guessing 90 per cent of you are going…read moreto click elsew.... hey! Well hi there 10 per cent of you, I can see you have perked up a little. If you know of this shop then you will be having a far-away dreamy look in your eyes right about now and if you didn't then you're checking your watch and wondering where to park nearby. Yes, a whole shop of hand tools: gauges, mallets, chisels... including lots of vintage tools for very cheap prices as well as brand new ones. The staff (I feel I should use the word 'proprietor' here) are very very helpful and alway gleeful verging on surprised that other people like to chip bits of wood from a large block of wood. There's a lot of us about, be proud.

Bristol Design is a fantastic shop. It has everything you could ever need for your DIY redesign of…read moreyour kitchen to hanging up a picture. In my case it was the latter that needed doing and I had no idea how to go about it. The staff in here were extremely helpful and were easily able to point me in the right direction as far as picture hooks go. Now that I know what I need, I would probably go to Wilkinson's as it's a lot cheaper but for something a bit more complicated then it's definitely worth a trip here.

Other people here have mentioned the hardware store on one side (they mix Dulux paint which is very…read morehandy by the way) but I just want to mention the garden centre which is on the separate building across the pedestrian/cycle path (which reminds me - do note the different coloured bricks and cycle images on the floor and watch out for cycles). The garden centre is pretty well stocked for peripherals, but also has a nice selection of instant colour seasonal plants as well as some fruit and herbs for kitchen gardens. Their willows and topiary are a bit old fashioned and I would recommend going to a specialist nursery for trees (try Chew Valley Trees) but this is great for a gardening hit in town.

This sprawling department store feels like one giant throwback to the 1970s. The design is dowdy,…read morecome here after going to Ikea for a real shock. You'll hear very British muzak plays over the speakers, interrupted occasionally by an announce who kindly reminds you to validate your parking when paying for your goods. Quaint to the point of being weird, and also almost always completely empty. Enough of analysis of the style of the shop, I should probably tell you if it's any good. There are sections for homeware and DIY, as well as a garden centre. You can get more or less anything for the home, a few things you didn't know you needed, and a few things no-one would ever need. There's an entire row of various things for your milkman to leave the milk in, to give you an idea of the range. It's not that cheap unfortunately. I think all there costs must go on the staff (who are very helpful), of which there seem to be a greater number than there are customers most of the time.

The handy man's dream- Travis Perkins sells everything you would need to build a house, or repair…read moreit at least. The oddly placed trade counter sits next to dominoes back from the street, and usually has a lorry backing out. This is your best spot to find tools and materials if you have just moved to in or are repairing some gone wrong DIY.

Power tools! Manual…read moretools! Useless tools! Usefull tools! Tools! Tools! Tools! Toolstation! You want a tool of any shape of size, for whatever purpose you can think of. This is a cracking little utility shop that can supply you with a full set of equipment to make you the ultimate handyman. I do have a problem with this shop though, as when I go in, i'll browse, find a tool I have completely no need for, pay a little bit too much for it, then go home, wondering why I just spent my money on a collection of hacksaws of various different sizes!

This depot is run by morons. Most of the staff are foreign…read morebad speaking Know nothing imigrants. on a minium wage,They don't care if your order is right or not. All they know is how to read numbers. They know nothing of the building trade at all, so no good trying to explain anything to them. Every order you give them they get wrong. I came away, and back to a job in the Forest of Dean to find most of the items in the bag were wrong. It is a good half a day to go to the nearest Toolstation and get back to work. I then decided to order direct from the warehouse. This order was made on Wednesday morning. I was told that I would definately get the delivery on Thursday. I received part of the order, but the bulk of it was not there. As one of my employees received the goods I couldn't know it was incomplete until it was unwrapped. I phoned Toolstation to be told that the courier had it on the van and that it would be re-delivered. I left that job at 5.45pm, there was NO DELIVERY. I phoned the warehouse to ask what the hell was going on.They told me that because it was after 5pm the order probably wouldn't get delivered before next Monday. I now have 2 tradesmen at £180 per day each turning up for work tomorrow with nothing to do. Apart from that the owners of the house are coming back from holiday on Saturday to find NO HOT OR COLD WATER, NO TOILET AND NO COOKING FACILITIES. I will probably lose this contract because of the Cowboy outfit called TOOLSTATION. This is probably the 15th time I have ordered from them and not one order has been correct. If your son wants a cowboy outfit for his birthday, buy him The Toolstation company. They are very polite on the phone when they ask for your credit card number. That is when the politeness stops. I will tell everyone I know to avoid this bunch of idiots like the plague. I am now ordering the goods from Screwfix. They might charge £5 for delivery but their prices are cheaper and their service is better. so It is far cheaper to give Toolstation the big elbow.

This is one of those shops where although the stock is modern and up-to-date you really get a feel…read moreof a time gone by. Complete with old style writing of the name on the frontage, this place takes things at a more traditional place. It is your guaranteed one stop in the area for all your DIY and gardening desires. From light bulbs, to compost to gardening gloves it's all down here. As you can imagine it's been here a while so it's not just seeds and slug pellets you can get here - but valuable knowledge and advice too! A wonderful little shop.

Like stepping back in time to 1950, you feel like Gary Sparrow (IMDb it), just don't go thinking if…read moreyou get two different woman pregnant it's not cheating just because they are in two different decades... Anyway, where was I...pretty classic, brilliant hardware store, where the staff (owners?) are always willing to help you, however DIY disabled you might be. I went in looking for a mop and after a long and thrilling discussion about whether to go for the 'Ferrari' of mops, made from cloth, or the 'Old-world' mop, made from string...I bought a sponge. The point of that story is, just imagine trying to have a conversation with the staff in a larger cooperate hardware store; some 16 year old moped driving rude boy would be as much use as a wet fart on laundry day. But it's not just mops and mop chat, oh no, I don't think any shop could pack more stock into a space this size. Spray paint, brass door knobs, hinges and a key cutting service all delivered by a fatherly bearded man. Perfect.

This is a pretty vast electrical shop located on a side road off Gloucester Road. By the looks of…read moreit, it looks like it used to be some sort of Church which gives you an idea of how big it is! To be honest, it's hard to say exactly what they sell. It's pretty much everything electrical, ranging from ovens, fridges and washing machines to small appliances such as kettles, toasters and hair dryers. All of which are available to view at their showroom. The company has been family run for 25 years and they are really helpful and friendly. It is nice to actually have a conversation with someone in one of these shops without being bombarded with technical information and being pressurised to buy something. Prices are marginally higher than Curry's Digital, but you are getting a much more personal service. Bonus: they have heaps of off road parking (which if you are familiar with Gloucester Road is a real selling point!).

I'm the kind of person that avoids shops like Nailsea Electrical like the plague. I much prefer to…read morebuy what I need from small independent retailers than huge sprawling shops like this one. I certainly wouldn't usually consider buying spares or having anything repaired here. I'm far too fond of Bobs Best Electricals and Beacon Electronics to willingly take my trade anywhere else. If it weren't for the recommendation I'd been given by the chap from Bristol Tools, who suggested that I try Nailsea Electrical to see if they stocked belts for my old Hotpoint Twin Tub, then I would never have thought to pay them a visit. He of course, suggested that I tried Bob's Best and Beacon first, but I explained that I'd phoned them both already, and neither one of them had anything in stock. Sharing the same level of reservation that I had, he gingerly suggested going to Nailsea Electrical, on the basis that I had nothing to lose. Ben dealt efficiently with my enquiry, and quickly told me that Nailsea Electrical never keep old items like this is stock on the grounds that there is very little call for it. Consulting a large catalogue he continued by saying that they no longer made the belt that I was looking for. He broke the news apologetically and then turned his gaze back to the catalogue. Stabbing at the page with his index finger in a triumphant gesture he announced, "but this'll do it". He said it with such conviction that I was instantly convinced he was right, and so I ordered it on the spot. A few days later I got a call from the shop to tell me that it had arrived, and I called in a couple of days later to collect. I've been washing non-stop ever since!