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.

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!

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

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 am very sad to hear that this fantastic shop is now closing. I will miss the owners expertise…read moreand dry humour. What many people didn't know, was that there was a third floor which was dedicated to Haberdashery (known as "Threads & Whimsy"). It held an extensive collection of Lumberjack shirts and suspenders (all very manly, apart from the high heels section). Run by a guy called Bevis (who was always very pleasant).

Back to Briterome I found this Hardware shop a little bit on the feminine side, when someone says…read moreto me hardware shop I picture hammers, tool belts and lumberjack shirts. But in Briterome they sold kettles, irons and mops. This is called a hardware store but it is more of a speciality kitchen shop. This makes it all the more useful and allows it to tap into a niche market. If you do need something for your kitchen, they will stock it. Just the other day I purchased 5 temperature gauges, random you might say but these were easy to locate in the expansive store and they were cheap to boot. At £1.99 each you can not go far wrong. The service was also really good, they shop was clean and well organised and this made it easy to navigate the shop. Hardware shops are notoriously cluttered but this to my surprise was perfect.

What a place! This os one of those rare old school high street shops that has stood the test of…read moretime - forget big chain plumbing merchants and get yourself down here. Stevenson plumbing has been on the Belfast Road in Bangor for as long as I can remember - I have fond memories of being taken here when I was very young to grab DIY supplies and now that I am a fully grown (ahem) man I really do appreciate the true value of this store. They literally stock everything you could possibly need in the plumbing/electrical realm. You name it they've got it, from toilet seats to plug sockets and everything in between. The best thing about the store isn't the products though, it's the decades of knowledge the staff possess. If you're looking for advice when you buy go here! This is a true relic of a by-gone era!

From the owner: Suppliers of plumbing and electrical fittings to trade and retail customers for over 30 yearsread more