How to find the supermarkets and grocery shops in the Cotswolds.
All Cotswold market towns have a small supermarket in the center of town and most have other small food speciality shops (bakery, butcher, fruits and vegetables, deli).
There are several large supermarkets throughout the Cotswolds. Many supermarkets offer organic produce and products as well as non-organic. Most offer "prepared foods", full meals that you take home and microwave or heat up in the oven. These are not frozen, but are refrigerated. The ones from Waitrose are the best (IMO). These are convenient for the traveler who does not want to go out for dinner, but doesn't want to cook a full meal.
Supermarkets in England are pretty much like those in North America. Large parking lot, shopping carts outside the front door (you do not need a coin to unlock them as in European countries), prices clearly marked, credit cards taken at the checkout.
Two things to note about English supermarkets:
Supermarket Chains
Waitrose: An upscale supermarket with good quality food products, many of them organic. Great prepared foods section. Stores in Bath, Stroud, Cirencester, Cheltenham, Straford-upon-Avon, Witney, Abingdon near Oxford and Stratford Upon Avon.
Marks & Spencer (M&S): A large chain store with a clothing section and a food section (some branches only have the food section). The food section has a good selection of sandwiches, salads and prepared meals, but a small amount of groceries. Some are called Simply Food. Small M&S in Cirencester, food only, and a larger store in Cheltenham. There are M&S Motorway stops on the M4 from London where you can pickup prepared meals to take home.
Tesco: Tesco is the largest supermarket chain in England. They have large supermarkets in several locations in the Cotswolds and smaller "Tesco Express" shops in many towns. Large Tesco supermarkets in Stow-on-the-Wold, Cirencester, Stroud (and more).
Sainsbury's: Less upscale than Waitrose, but a good supermarket. There are several in the Cotswolds.
Other Chains: Other supermarket chains in the Cotswolds include ASDA, Aldi, Lidl. The latter two are becoming very popular here.
Supermarkets in the North Cotswolds
Cheltenham
Cirencester
Both Waitrose and Tesco are accessed from roundabouts on the roads that circle Cirencester.
Waitrose supermarket in Stroud, southern Cotswolds
All Cotswold market towns have a small supermarket in the center of town and most have other small food speciality shops (bakery, butcher, fruits and vegetables, deli).
There are several large supermarkets throughout the Cotswolds. Many supermarkets offer organic produce and products as well as non-organic. Most offer "prepared foods", full meals that you take home and microwave or heat up in the oven. These are not frozen, but are refrigerated. The ones from Waitrose are the best (IMO). These are convenient for the traveler who does not want to go out for dinner, but doesn't want to cook a full meal.
Supermarkets in England are pretty much like those in North America. Large parking lot, shopping carts outside the front door (you do not need a coin to unlock them as in European countries), prices clearly marked, credit cards taken at the checkout.
Two things to note about English supermarkets:
- On check out, you pack your own groceries. Bring your own shopping bags or pay for their plastic bags.
- In some shops you may have to weigh and price your produce.
Supermarket Chains
Waitrose: An upscale supermarket with good quality food products, many of them organic. Great prepared foods section. Stores in Bath, Stroud, Cirencester, Cheltenham, Straford-upon-Avon, Witney, Abingdon near Oxford and Stratford Upon Avon.
Marks & Spencer (M&S): A large chain store with a clothing section and a food section (some branches only have the food section). The food section has a good selection of sandwiches, salads and prepared meals, but a small amount of groceries. Some are called Simply Food. Small M&S in Cirencester, food only, and a larger store in Cheltenham. There are M&S Motorway stops on the M4 from London where you can pickup prepared meals to take home.
Tesco: Tesco is the largest supermarket chain in England. They have large supermarkets in several locations in the Cotswolds and smaller "Tesco Express" shops in many towns. Large Tesco supermarkets in Stow-on-the-Wold, Cirencester, Stroud (and more).
Sainsbury's: Less upscale than Waitrose, but a good supermarket. There are several in the Cotswolds.
Other Chains: Other supermarket chains in the Cotswolds include ASDA, Aldi, Lidl. The latter two are becoming very popular here.
Supermarkets in the North Cotswolds
Cheltenham
- Waitrose, off Gloucester Road (on the east side), south of the A4019/High Street, north of the train station. A John Lewis Home store is attached to the Waitrose.
- Tesco, off Gloucester Road (on the west side), south of the A4019/High Street, north of the train station.
- Sainsbury's on the Tewkesbury Road (A4019), on the western edge of town.
- Marks & Spencer on the main shopping street, 171 High Street. Clothing and large food store.
- Stow on the Wold
- Tesco, on the A429 on the northern edge of town.
- Waitrose, off A40 to Oxford, in the Woolgate Shopping Center, near the High Street. Exit the A40 at the A415, going north to Witney, take the first right on Station Lane and follow that as it turns into Witan Way. You will see the Waitrose on your left.
- Sainsbury's, Witan Way north from the Waitrose.
Cirencester
Both Waitrose and Tesco are accessed from roundabouts on the roads that circle Cirencester.
- Waitrose at the roundabout on the A419 at Sheep Street on the western edge of town (second roundabout if coming from Stroud).
- Tesco off the A419 and A429 roundabout on the south-east (third roundabout if coming from Stroud).
- M&S Simply Food, 42 Dyer St in the town center (east end of Market Place).
- Waitrose at the roundabout on the eastern edge of the town on the A419 to Cirencester.
- Tesco at the roundabout between Stroud and Painswick, where the A46 meets the A4171, on the western edge of Stroud.
- Sainsbury's to the south of Stroud, on Dudbridge Road, at the roundabout before Selsley Hill road.
- Tesco, Priory Way off the A433 in the direction of Cirencester.
Waitrose supermarket in Stroud, southern Cotswolds
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