It's a good store to for a quick food shop. Nice selection of prepared foods, produce and meats…read more Fresh bakery items are always gone when I'm there.

I finally realised how old and uncool I was when found out that a new Sainsbury's Local was being…read morebuilt at the end of my road, and the discovery was basically the highlight of my week. Admittedly the prospect of being delivered from the evils of the nearby Tesco Express would probably be enough to raise most people's spirits, but it was with a rather unhealthy level of longing that I gazed upon the wooden facing that for a few weeks shielded the work going on inside. The Sainsbury's is now open, and, unsurprisingly, it's OK. Nothing amazing, but it's definitely an improvement. For one thing they sell coffee filter papers, but their stock in general is more wide ranging. I even managed to buy hollandaise sauce in there, although I wouldn't recommend hollandaise out of a jar, it turned out to taste of jellied vinegar. They have more service points than the Tesco too, and the cherry on the cake is the free cashpoint. Until that one arrived it was a good 10 minute walk in either direction to get to a free cashpoint, which meant a lot of money was wasted on buying small items in the Tesco in order to get cash back.

This little Tesco's is situated strangely in a quiet residential street so its not an obviously…read morelocation. In fact, I was living two streets away for almost a year before I even became aware of it's existence. As previously noted, it's a really small store, possibly the smallest Tesco I have ever cone across, but it does stock the essentials. It's definitely the better option than the superstore branch on church road (god, that place is hell!) if you just want a pint of milk and a loaf of bread. However, it won't suffice for your whole weekly shop.

This is probably the least customer friendly branch of Asda I've ever used…read more As it is open 24hrs I have shopped at all hours, and find problems whenever I go there. In fact I only use because it's on my way to/from work, and it's open 24hrs. I frequently find the shelves empty of want I'm after. Sometimes they are on the trolleys waiting to be put out, but more often than not, they don't have them. And whilst we're talking of the stock trolleys/roll-pallets, why do they have to leave them in the middle of the aisles? If you shop during the evening or at night, I is often impossible to actually go down some aisles because they are blocked by stock waiting to be put out. And the staff have a habit of standing and chatting amongst themselves totaly oblivious to the customers. Sometimes it takes saying excuse me a couple of times, or a quick jab with the trolley, to actually get them to move. And I would never buy anything frozen from them. I have seen, and been told by an ex-employee, that frozen products are sometimes left out waiting to be put in a freezer for longer than half an hour. However, they do have some good points such as being 24hrs. Also they do some weird offers. This week I have bought two packets of cereals for £2, when they are £2.15 each; and five Muller Lights for £1.00 when they are 54p each! Bargains! They also have a petrol station which is normally one of the cheapest in the area

I'm not entirely sure why I go out of my way to go here sometimes, I just end up leaving feeling…read morestressed. It's ALWAYS the wrong time! Screaming children, people tottering around aimlessly with trolleys, a less then impressive food selection, I could go on! I can't decide whether it's ASDA I don't like, or just supermarkets in general! The staff always seem friendly enough, I have fond memories of being an ASDA checkout girl during one summer in my teens. I liked being chatty to the customers (I'm not sure whether that was encouraged or not!) But I always have a good natter with the checkout ladies. It can be pretty monotonous scanning food all day long. My other half likes to spend ages looking around the electricals section, some bargains to be had apparently! We didn't come home with a new TV or speaker set this time.

No one likes doing the supermarket shop. But if you have to do it, then why not do it here. Before…read morebeing taken over by Waitrose, this used to be a Co-op and it was a fairly depressing place to shop, but now it's a Waitrose it's become much more pleasant. The most enjoyable aspect of this shop is that it is reasonably quite. It's not full of hoards of people like Asda and Tesco. Obviously, the quality of the food is of a high standard although I do find that the fresh produce can go off quite quickly. It's a little more expensive than other supermarkets so I don't exclusively shop here, but bargains can also be found with the Waitrose Essentials range. There is a pharmacy, dry cleaners and two coffee shops on site, and if you register for a My Waitrose card you can get a free tea or coffee every time you shop, plus a free copy of the monthly magazine - who doesn't like a freebie?! Parking is generally easy and I even manage to get a parent and child space on most occasions. There are also plenty of trolleys so you don't need to go searching for one. It's the simple things! Another plus point of this store is that you can order from John Lewis and pick up here which is pretty handy to save on delivery costs.

I really love Waitrose... did I mention before that I love Waitrose? Probably…read more This is the newest Waitrose in the area, on the site of the old Co-Op supermarket on Neville Road in Hove. Spacious, wide aisles and courteous staff (or partners, as they like to be known) make Waitrose an all round pleasurable shopping experience. For me, anyway. Contrary to popular belief, Waitrose isn't snobby or expensive, just has some clever marketing. Sure, they do sell stuff that most people won't want or need (scented ironing water anyone?) But they get the basics right too. Like I said before, if it's good enough for the Queen then it's good enough for me!

Huge Tesco supermarket, which looks as though it should be an out-of-town store, but occupying a…read moreprime location on Hove's Church Road, adjacent to Hove's old parish church of St Andrew. The store is unmissable, not only because of its size, but because of its uncompromising glass-box architecture, with a long portico supported on 'Y'-shaped columns. At night, when lit up, it dominates the streetscape. As architecture, it certainly doesn't even try to fit into its surroundings of Victorian Hove or the mediaeval St Andrew's. As befits a store of its size, the facilities - besides the acres of shelves - are extensive, with a delicatessen, fish counter, cash machine, customer toilets, baby-changing facilities and coffee shop. They also have Asian, Kosher, Polish and Afro-Caribbean food sections. The store is fully accessible with step-free access and a large car-park to the rear. There is no doubt that it is a very convenient store for a town centre location, but I wish its architecture could have been more sympathetic to the surroundings.

This gigantic branch of Tesco is how I imagine Hell must be…read more Honestly. It doesn't matter what time of day or night you go, it always seems hot and stuffy and filled with rude people pushing their trolleys into you or screaming at their malnourished children. The flurescent lighting adds to the horror and there's aisle after aisle of untempting produce. Add to this, the feeling you're putting money in the pocket of a monopoly that's slowly squeezing the life out of every community that once had a butcher, a greengrocer, a baker and a newsagent and now has... Tesco. The feeling isn't good. Like I said, Tesco = Hell.

Anyone for sheep's head!? This is a Middle Eastern delicatessen with a huge difference; it also has…read morea kebab shop inside it! Excellent! The butchers section is pretty vast and I'm assuming halal but nobody working in the shop at the time could speak English. They were very friendly though and pointed out that their boss would be back in a couple of hours. There was a huge amount of different herbs and spices, olives and dates on offer that gave the whole place a fantastic and really intoxicating smell. The shish kebabs looked really nice and were cooked on a flame grill but I settled for a jar of stuffed olives. If I'm ever facing the prospect of cooking for people I don't like though I'm going back for a dozen sheep noggins!

Nice enough, lots of choice, good range of middle eastern foods, most of the staff are nice,…read morepleasant, decent people, (see tips) Staff issues seem to have been addressed, been in a couple of times recently and 10/10

This Waitrose store is a fairly larger version of the supermarket chain, especially considering it…read moreis located right in Brighton centre, within walking distance from Churchill Square Shopping Centre and the Pier, on Western Road, fairly close to a great number of shops. I'm firstly surprised this store has been here in this location since 2007 when it was first reviewed, it has obviously been taken care of and refurbished since then which is a good sign. Interestingly, this is one of the few stores to not have one of the new signs "Waitrose and Partners" which all branches of Waitrose and John Lewis seem to be, rebranded as. They have multiple counters here for fish and sushi, meat, cheese and more. You could potentially get a great deal of your weekly shop here, it is larger than your typical Little Waitrose store, yet smaller than your average Waitrose supermarket but is still a decent size, with coffee machines and a small amount of outdoor seating to grab your loyalty scheme free beverage. The outdoor seating area, being on a busy road isn't the nicest of places to sit, especially considering this part of town is prone to the standard beggars and Big Issue sellers who seemed a little harassing. A decent branch, they seem to have a smaller product range of everything you'd normally find in a Waitrose, with the gluten-free selection being especially sub-par compared to other branches but still it's a decent store in a great location, making it pretty good to grab essentials or more while in Brighton centre. 3*

Hardly a hidden gem, though it's surprising how many people don't know there's a Waitrose here…read more It's a reasonably-sized version of the familiar supermarket on this busy shopping street, five minutes west from the main Churchill shopping centre. Helpful staff, though check-out queues can be long, and some of the aisles are a bit narrow. Good wine section. Helpfully, there are bus stops right outside to a wide range of destinations. Also opposite is the Taj Foods supermarket (see separate review), for all sorts of organic stuff, authentic Asian produce and exotic fruits, if you want a wider choice of these items. There's a life up to the car park area at the rear (on the first floor).

M&S Simply Food at Brighton Station is one of the few shops inside the station concourse, it is…read moreprobably one of the better places in the station to grab some to-go food and drinks ahead of a train journey, with rivals Superdrug and WHSmith barely having a food selection, and PRET being the only other place which sells food, but even then they sell a limited menu compared to other stores. This is pretty different from other M&S Simply Food stores as it is a travel store, they specialise in to go food and drinks at really high prices, as I recall a meal deal cost around £5 which is £1.50 more than a regular store, an increase of around 42.8%. I understand travel stores can cost more because of the location, but this seems to just take it a little step further, knowing there is little competition elsewhere in the station and it is from the Marks and Spencer brand, which has a reputation for being towards the higher-end scale for food anyway. The gluten-free selection was awful, they didn't have any wraps or pasta pots which stores usually have, they had two varieties of sandwiches, even then this is quite poor for a Marks and Spencer store, who have much more to choose from. I personally have a strong hate for seeded bread, which is why it frustrates me to see so many places only offering gluten-free sandwiches on seeded bread, and this location is sadly no different. A useful store, but they really do need to work on making pricing much more reasonable and stock of gluten-free items, which Marks and Spencer are usually pretty good here, so this branch is pretty rare in that sense. 2*

Y'know those long journeys when you've been travelling for hours and just want to get home, pull on…read moreyour PJs and eat something warm and homely? Well, if your train pulls in at Brighton Station you can pick up a roasted chicken, mashed potato and asparagus from the M&S Simply Food. They're open til 11pm every day except Sunday and also sell staples like bread, milk, yoghurt, fruit and juice. Of course, Marks and Spencer is always slightly more expensive than other grocery stores but the food is usually of such good quality it makes up for the extra pennies. If you're super-tired, you can also pick up muffins and coffee for breakfast the next day!