New Dores Road Tescos.

[Charles Bannerman]

It's only now that I've had a taste of the absolutely bogging wine that I bought there on opening day on Monday that I've been motivated to say something about Tesco Town's latest eponymous Superstore.

Let's start with the shopping trip which, as a Morrisons shoppper, I only did to get the £10 discount on £30 of shopping. Over the four weeks this operates I'll take £120 worth of stuff for £80 and then return to Morrisons thank you very much. Basically the new Tesco is a big barn with very little to commend it and pretty modest looking stock levels and brand variety.

Let's now move on to the absence of a cafe. Well, given the disgraceful state of their Inshes one, maybe they didn't dare commit the commercial suicide of another one on this site. At least that's one less injury inflicted on the good people of Inverness.

As for the wine, well my general strategy is to top my £120 for £80 up with a stockpile of cheap El Plonko Tesco and fortunately the bogging stuff which I am currently consuming is only a quarter bottle of one of these well known brands who put all the crap of the day, especially esters which taste awful, into their plonk. I'm talking about the likes of Echo Falls, Chenet and also Gallo which I have the misfortune to be drinking at the moment. On the other hand they are capable of doing decent stuff for £4 a bottle which I will now be careful to get over the remaining three weeks.

In conclusion, it's marginally worth shopping there for four weeks, counting up your bill carefully to make sure it's just over £30, in order to save £40 and then I'm off back to Morrisons like a shot.

Roll on Asda which is even nearer to my doorstep and which might even have a decent cafe.

Edited July 22, 2011 by Charles Bannerman

[PullMyFinger]

I have a dislike for Tesco too, I'm in Forres so I'll be frequenting Sainsburys at Nairn when it opens in a fortnight. You can't put a price on quality and they claim they can feed a family of 4 for ?50 a week, recipes supplied too. We'll see..

[kiltarlity]

There's a ?5 off ?40 voucher for Tesco comming up in this weeks Mail on Sunday. This you could combine with your ?10 off ?30. Personally I'm no fan of Morrisons, I find it a hassle to have to pay to park and also to have to pay a deposit on a trolley, I often find I don't have the neccessary pound coins on me. One also has to then remember to present the voucher at till to get the money back. That's if you can wait the 15 mins or so it takes to get through the till because the queues are always long they always seem understaffed. Having said that the meat and veg in Morrisons are fresher.

[Charles Bannerman]

There's a ?5 off ?40 voucher for Tesco comming up in this weeks Mail on Sunday. This you could combine with your ?10 off ?30. Personally I'm no fan of Morrisons, I find it a hassle to have to pay to park and also to have to pay a deposit on a trolley, I often find I don't have the neccessary pound coins on me. One also has to then remember to present the voucher at till to get the money back. That's if you can wait the 15 mins or so it takes to get through the till because the queues are always long they always seem understaffed. Having said that the meat and veg in Morrisons are fresher.

Kiltarlity, I definitely agree that about car park and trolley situation in Morrisons, especially if you have to queue to get change at their customer services which must be the slowest counter in the world. But I do find them handy for access to the town centre and I do also agree that a lot of their stuff is fresher. It would also take a lot of negativity about Morrisons to offset my dislike of Tescos!

[+Feb82000]

tesco in young street must be slowest counter in inverness,you can be standing there for 15mins and just one staff member on

[StockholmSyndrome]

tesco in young street must be slowest counter in inverness,you can be standing there for 15mins and just one staff member on

Reminds me of the Morrisons in Partick that I used to shop at when I lived in Glasgow. Understaffed and overpopulated.

Charles, I agree with you about Tesco. I try to avoid shopping at Tesco - any Tesco - whenever possible, and I feel your pain about getting decent wine. I tend to stick with Muscatel and Sauternes because I like sweet wines, but that can get expensive, especially the Sauternes.

[dougiedanger]

Good to see the big issues of the day being discussed on the forum.

Though, saying that, surely we are far better catered for now than when the weekly "big shop" was done at the Coop in Montague Row.

[StockholmSyndrome]

Oh wow, that brings back memories... Used to go there with my Gran when I was little. Happy days

[kiltarlity]

You would have to be minted to do a weekly shop at the Coop now... why is it so expensive.?

[PullMyFinger]

Good to see the big issues of the day being discussed on the forum.

Though, saying that, surely we are far better catered for now than when the weekly "big shop" was done at the Coop in Montague Row.

Don't forget Frozen Foods on Telford Street.

[PullMyFinger]

We also had a couple of butchers in Dalneigh back then.

[Charles Bannerman]

We also had a couple of butchers in Dalneigh back then.

And not long before that we had Bobby MacKay's and Jocky Lawson's vans! Aye, food retailing in Inverness has sure changed.

[SMEE]

Good to see the big issues of the day being discussed on the forum.

Though, saying that, surely we are far better catered for now than when the weekly "big shop" was done at the Coop in Montague Row.

Don't forget Frozen Foods on Telford Street.

And Templetons where Pondstretcher is now. And Fine Fare (and their green sausages)where i think it is MacKays is now....which got taken over by Gateway, before they moved into the Eastgate shopping centre!

[Charles Bannerman]

And Templetons where Pondstretcher is now.

That actually started life when that Bridge Street development first opened in the 60s as Liptons which I think then moved across to where Tesco Metro is now when they knocked down Rossleigh's Garage on that site.

Anyway... I digress... what I was going to say was that Liptons had a very good cafe back in the 60s on Upper Bridge Street right above the shop. Correct me if I'm wrong but I think that may have been the first ever supermarket cafe in Inverness.

Now, on the subject of Supermarket cafes in Inverness, has anyone been in the Tesco Inshes one of late? Is it still as dreadful as ever? At least Tesco Extra at the Retail Park has a slightly better one and I used quite to like the Morrisons one as well. However ordering a meal can somethimes be as slow as waiting at their Lottery counter and I've been very disappointed with the last couple of breakfast visits there.

I've probably said this before, but I've yet to find better than Cobbs Cafe at Highland Industrial Supplies down the Longman. To quote but one example, you get a fantastic bacon roll, wedged thick with bacon, and a coffee for ?2.25. There's also a supply of papers.

But I'm sure there are other decent breakfast establishments in our good city. For instance I've heard Wetherspoons well spoken of.

[kiltarlity]

Last time I was in Weatherspoons for food the carpet was covered in bits of food... put me off for life... I was shocked the last time I was in Tesco's on the A96 cafe, it's no longer run in house but is leased to some wanabe Starbucks/Costa type outfit and the prices were similar to these outlets too. I take fright at Starbucks/Costa prices and I certainly don't want to pay that kind of money to watch folk pass by with trolleys full of shopping.. We went to Howdens a month ago lovely but, I could get a decent bar meal for the price of a scone and coffee in there, I'd need a second mortgage to go there reguarly... tourist trap prices... like Made in Scotland or Robbed in Beauly as the locals call it.

Cobbs sounds good thanks for the tip ! Anyhow todays papers cost about ?2 but got me a ?6 off ?50 Morrisons and a ?5 off ?40 at Tesco's and Tesco will take both (they take competitors) so that's ?9 off my weekly shop next week.

[Charles Bannerman]

Last time I was in Weatherspoons for food the carpet was covered in bits of food... put me off for life... I was shocked the last time I was in Tesco's on the A96 cafe, it's no longer run in house but is leased to some wanabe Starbucks/Costa type outfit and the prices were similar to these outlets too. I take fright at Starbucks/Costa prices and I certainly don't want to pay that kind of money to watch folk pass by with trolleys full of shopping.. We went to Howdens a month ago lovely but, I could get a decent bar meal for the price of a scone and coffee in there, I'd need a second mortgage to go there reguarly... tourist trap prices... like Made in Scotland or Robbed in Beauly as the locals call it.

Cobbs sounds good thanks for the tip ! Anyhow todays papers cost about £2 but got me a £6 off £50 Morrisons and a £5 off £40 at Tesco's and Tesco will take both (they take competitors) so that's £9 off my weekly shop next week.

Similarly, Kiltarlity, thanks for the tip about Wetherspoons. Tesco franchised out all their cafes to this company I think in 2005 and that was where the rot really began to set in at Inshes. Before that, Tesco's Inshes cafe had been fine when they actually ran it themselves but it went steadily down hill after that and then got a whole lot worse when they reopened the "upgraded" shop (which to my mind doesn't even cut it as a convenience store never mind a supermarket.)

The other problem with the refurbished shop is that the lay out is such that you can no longer collect papers from the news stand, take them to the cafe and then "accidentally" leave them there.

To be fair, Tesco's cafe prices are not totally outrageous but that and whether or not you can get papers kind of becomes irrelevant if the food is inedible. The Dores Road Tesco doesn't have a cafe but that's no great loss.

Im actually miss the old Safeways cafes in Margaret St and Millburn Rd.

I agree with what you say about Howdens prices and similarly Simpsons is also a very nice cafe but charge an arm and a leg.

Edited July 24, 2011 by Charles Bannerman

[Tug]

well in the tug household we are quite sad

the wife and i are often to be found on our respective laptops. one logged into tesco and the other into asda. it is then a simple process of going through the shopping list and chosing the cheapest like for like products. one delivers in the morning and one the afternoon. that way we can take advantage of both supermarkets offers with out all that much hassle

on a side not charles the asda cafe in elgin is very good. decent portions at a reasonable price. taste is not bad either

[IBM]

And Templetons where Pondstretcher is now.

That actually started life when that Bridge Street development first opened in the 60s as Liptons which I think then moved across to where Tesco Metro is now when they knocked down Rossleigh's Garage on that site.

Anyway... I digress... what I was going to say was that Liptons had a very good cafe back in the 60s on Upper Bridge Street right above the shop. Correct me if I'm wrong but I think that may have been the first ever supermarket cafe in Inverness.

Now, on the subject of Supermarket cafes in Inverness, has anyone been in the Tesco Inshes one of late? Is it still as dreadful as ever? At least Tesco Extra at the Retail Park has a slightly better one and I used quite to like the Morrisons one as well. However ordering a meal can somethimes be as slow as waiting at their Lottery counter and I've been very disappointed with the last couple of breakfast visits there.

I've probably said this before, but I've yet to find better than Cobbs Cafe at Highland Industrial Supplies down the Longman. To quote but one example, you get a fantastic bacon roll, wedged thick with bacon, and a coffee for ?2.25. There's also a supply of papers.

But I'm sure there are other decent breakfast establishments in our good city. For instance I've heard Wetherspoons well spoken of.

I worked in Wm Lows on the corner of Bridge St & Bank St 1971-72 the big new supermarket then. Started part time on the cold meat counter then full time when I left school at 15 only got paid ?3 a week full time! That was the time of the power cuts and the shop stayed open with gas lamps and wind up tills, lots of shoplifting in the dark! Thought it was a good job till I moved on. We used to get 2 artic deliveries a week, look at the artics and trains coming up to Inverness with food now. Lows was taken over by Tesco then moved across the river to the Rossleigh's site.

[PullMyFinger]

That actually started life when that Bridge Street development first opened in the 60s as Liptons which I think then moved across to where Tesco Metro is now when they knocked down Rossleigh's Garage on that site.

Lows was taken over by Tesco then moved across the river to the Rossleigh's site.

Wm Lows actually built the Tesco Metro store prior to the takeover.

Tesco were competing against Sainsbury to take over Wm. Low in 1994. If only..... :annoyed:

Im actually miss the old Safeways cafes in Margaret St and Millburn Rd.

I think you mean Rose Street Charles, lay off the vino.

[Charles Bannerman]

I think you mean Rose Street Charles, lay off the vino.

Not at 9:40 on a Sunday evening, but you are quite right! How could a veteran of the merger forget which is Rose Street! :biggrin:

And yes, it was indeed Lows that moved on to the Rossleigh site.

Over the last 30-40 years and the days of Liptons on Bridge Street and the Coop in the old (ie the one before last) swimming pool in Montague Row there's been quite a through put of supermarkets in Inverness.

Bring back Jocky Lawson's van I say (but not Mrs Lawson )

[caleyboy]

Let's start with the shopping trip which, as a Morrisons shoppper, I only did to get the ?10 discount on ?30 of shopping. Over the four weeks this operates I'll take ?120 worth of stuff for ?80 ....................

Spent ?33.34 on usual Tesco garb today - but no ?10 discount voucher! What did I do wrong Charles?

[dougiedanger]

What about Marks' cafe over toon--how do you rate that?

And, on a slight tangent here, mind Morrisons' cafe upstairs in the market? Tinned tomato soup, roll with processed cheese, syrupy orange juice, that fake wood stuff on the walls...

Edited July 26, 2011 by dougiedanger

[Charles Bannerman]

Spent £33.34 on usual Tesco garb today - but no £10 discount voucher! What did I do wrong Charles?

I got my 4 x £10 vouchers sent to me at home. Maybe they're trying to draw in the locals and I'm 3/4 of a mile away. I'm also a former holder of a clubcard from the dayas I used to shop with Tesco so they have my details. You then present the voucher for the week and get £10 off if you've spent over £30.

Marks cafe... I've never used that one. Morrisons upstairs in the market?

Now there's a symptom of misspent youth along with the Cafe George, Dorandos, Salvadoris etc etc!

You know there's something bloody bizarre about this ever lengthening thread. Bunch of blokes sitting discussing cafes andf supermarkets!!!

Edited July 27, 2011 by Charles Bannerman

[Heilandee]

You know there's something bloody bizarre about this ever lengthening thread. Bunch of blokes sitting discussing cafes andf supermarkets!!!

[caley100]

Nice one Alan, errrrr which one is CB????