Shopping in Northern Ireland

Ronan Raver77 · 13-10-2008 4:38am

Im going to head up tuesday morning.On my list bulmers(as i know for ages its magners in uk) clothes,day to day items and may also buy some toys for xmas depending on the price.
I will possibly head to The Outlet in Banbridge and Newry. I will keep you guys posted on what i get and prices and deals.

muffler · 13-10-2008 9:41am

Ronan Devitt wrote: »

On my list bulmers(as i know for ages its magners in uk)

You will be able to get both.

mohenley · 13-10-2008 11:45am

Hi, Can anyone advise on any cheap chemists in newry area? I think there is a semi chem (went there once) but cannot remember if it was good or not. I want to stock pile on toilitries when I am go.

emc2 · 13-10-2008 11:49am

mohenley wrote: »

Hi, Can anyone advise on any cheap chemists in newry area? I think there is a semi chem (went there once) but cannot remember if it was good or not. I want to stock pile on toilitries when I am go.

I was up in tesco in Newry over the weekend and they had a lot of Toiletries specials on, 2 for £2 etc.

deelite · 13-10-2008 12:12pm

mohenley wrote: »

Hi, Can anyone advise on any cheap chemists in newry area? I think there is a semi chem (went there once) but cannot remember if it was good or not. I want to stock pile on toilitries when I am go.

There's a tiny chemist beside Woolworths in Newry - it was very cheap and had baskets scattered around the shop with special offers ie., McCleans toothpaste 50pence - hair gel (brycream) 75 pence etc. Also Solphadine soluable cost 6.94 cent here for 24 tablets - up there (in any chemist) they cost 4.99stg for 32 tablets.

I went to Sainsburys and got my loyalty card before I went shopping - customer services will give you forms and tell you the "home address" to fill in. I purchased their own brand "alco pop" I think it was 1.49stg for a large bottle - there was no difference in the taste.

I also purchased bold liquid - 2 for 4.50stg., down here it's 4.95 per bottle.

I got to Newry at 8:45a.m. and the only problem I encountered up there was some of the shelves were not fully stocked and I was stuck for 30 minutes waiting to get out of Newry town itself.

All in all I spent 150 euro - I think the bill in Sterling was about 117. Well worth it. Oh and one more thing 12 rolls of Velvet tissues was 3.25stg - compared to 8.99 or so down here....

CombatCow · 13-10-2008 11:09pm

Yeah Super Drug is opposite wooly's on the main st. I stocked up on loads of own brand paracetamol and ibuprofen tablets, which ranged from 22p - 47p for a pack of 16! in superdrug,boots,semichem and sainsburys.

Anyways, lots of bargains to be had in sainsburys especailly on alcohol and washing powder and soft drinks etc.

This site is really handy, tells you of the current special offers in UK/NI supermarkets at the moment, so it's handy to check before heading up.

http://www.supermarketspecialoffers.com/

*BTW, supervalue on the main street, give 85p to the euro. And dunnes stores have roses/quality street 1Kg tins for €5.40 (approx)

CC

kilasser · 13-10-2008 11:39pm

Tipsy Mac wrote: »

Can alcohol be sold 24 hours a day up there or is it like down here where it can be sold after 10pm?

All of the asda's, tesco and Sainsburys arround me here in Essex and arround London sell alcohol 24 hours a day (comes in very handy as a student). So I would say the ones in nothern Ireland are the same, as they would come under the same UK 24 hour drink laws as England.

muffler · 13-10-2008 11:53pm

kilasser wrote: »

All of the asda's, tesco and Sainsburys arround me here in Essex and arround London sell alcohol 24 hours a day (comes in very handy as a student). So I would say the ones in nothern Ireland are the same, as they would come under the same UK 24 hour drink laws as England.

I have no idea what the story is about the rest of the week but the big stores have to close at 6 PM on Sundays - and thats by law. So the chances are that the licencing laws are different in N.I.

mailburner · 14-10-2008 12:51pm

hi,

If anyone can give me any idea what price the likes of
corona, tiger, sol and vodka (Any brand) are then i
would be grateful.
It's a fair drive from galway just for beer tho with xmas in
mind it would be a big shop.

Corona is on offer here now 12 for 15eu
tiger generally 6 330ml btls for 11eu or
2.69 for one 500ml btl
sol 6 330ml btls for 10eu
70cl smirnoff 17.99eu
Can these price be beaten by much?

smashey · 14-10-2008 12:58pm

mailburner wrote: »

hi,

If anyone can give me any idea what price the likes of
corona, tiger, sol and vodka (Any brand) are then i
would be grateful.
It's a fair drive from galway just for beer tho with xmas in
mind it would be a big shop.

Corona is on offer here now 12 for 15eu
tiger generally 6 330ml btls for 11eu or
2.69 for one 500ml btl
sol 6 330ml btls for 10eu
70cl smirnoff 17.99eu
Can these price be beaten by much?

Not too sure on them all but the smirnoff would come to about €11 - 12 in Strabane.

emc2 · 14-10-2008 1:24pm

I got 12 miller for £10 at the weekend.

JohnCleary · 14-10-2008 1:37pm

Hi guys,
Great thread.

Can I ask a question?
We're heading to Belfast for the day on Friday (just for a daytrip) and want to stock up on:
Magners/Bulmers
Some nice Rosé wine
Jack Daniels

Where should I go in Belfast for this?

Cheers lads

mailburner · 14-10-2008 1:44pm

emc2 wrote: »

I got 12 miller for £10 at the weekend.

That's dearer than here unless less its cans you're talking about

often can get 20 330ml btls here for 18eu or less possibly

smashey · 14-10-2008 1:58pm

Asda regularly have 24 bottles of miller for £10.

CombatCow · 14-10-2008 1:59pm

mailburner wrote: »

hi,

If anyone can give me any idea what price the likes of
corona, tiger, sol and vodka (Any brand) are then i
would be grateful.
It's a fair drive from galway just for beer tho with xmas in
mind it would be a big shop.

Corona is on offer here now 12 for 15eu
tiger generally 6 330ml btls for 11eu or
2.69 for one 500ml btl
sol 6 330ml btls for 10eu
70cl smirnoff 17.99eu
Can these price be beaten by much?

70cl smirnoff - £10, same for Malibu, Baileys 1L £14 (Tesco/sainsburys)

Corona Extra 12x330ml £11 (Tesco)

Black Tower White 75cl, £5

(sainsburys)

Tiger Beer 640ml Bottle £1.76 or 2 for £3.00 (Tesco)

Sol Mexican Lager 4x330ml Bottles £3.48 or 2 for £6.00 (Tesco)

Forgot to say, gillette mach3/fusion blades are nice and cheap up there too.

CC

muffler · 14-10-2008 2:01pm

I can only tell you that the smirnoff 70cl is £9.95 in Asda = €13 or less

8 x 1 pint bottles of Bulmers for £9 = €11.50 approx also in Asda

muffler · 14-10-2008 2:06pm

Forgot to mention. Most if not all the shops in the border towns will accept euro and dont normally rip people off. Asda for example were giving an exchange rate last week of £1 = €0.785.

A very rough guide to calculate your sterling prices to euro is to add about a quarter on (+ a few cents). For example something costing £20 would be about €25 and add maybe 50 - 70 cents. The only downside to this is that if you use the example given they will charge you €30 and give you the change in sterling coins.

mailburner · 14-10-2008 2:13pm

CombatCow wrote: »

70cl smirnoff - £10, same for Malibu, Baileys 1L £14 (Tesco/sainsburys)

Corona Extra 12x330ml £11 (Tesco)

Black Tower White 75cl, £5 (sainsburys)

Tiger Beer 640ml Bottle £1.76 or 2 for £3.00 (Tesco)

Sol Mexican Lager 4x330ml Bottles £3.48 or 2 for £6.00 (Tesco)

Forgot to say, gillette mach3/fusion blades are nice and cheap up there too.

CC

sweet

huge savings
thanks for that
2 640ml tigers for £3 is amazing compared to to
one 500ml bottle here for 2.69eu (never on offer either)
practically half the price
there'll be an awful lot of those winging their way
back to galway next month
:P

Ste.phen · 14-10-2008 3:04pm

Awesome, I'll have to get myself a few crates of Tiger. I presume Cobra is similarly discounted up there too?

upthewalls · 14-10-2008 7:19pm

another bonus with shopping in the North is that you do not have to pay a plastic bag levy..(yet)

wyndham · 14-10-2008 7:20pm

Philips CFL bulbs are 3 for £1 in Sainsburys.
Think they are subsidised by British Gas or something.

Max 12 per customer (in theory).

Redpunto · 14-10-2008 7:47pm

upthewalls wrote: »

another bonus with shopping in the North is that you do not have to pay a plastic bag levy..(yet)

I always try and shove a load of extra bags in with the shopping, I cant help myself, its like being in a kid in a sweet shop and free sweets:D

Redpunto · 14-10-2008 7:49pm

OK, need people's recommendations, gonna go up at the weekend so where should I go,,, ill be heading up m1 and hitting Newry first, bear in mind there will be two midgets in the back so dont want to go too far off track. Want to try somewhere else other than sainsburys in the Quays, the shelves always look empty. Thank you

15-10-2008 1:41am

Redpunto wrote: »

OK, need people's recommendations, gonna go up at the weekend so where should I go,,, ill be heading up m1 and hitting Newry first, bear in mind there will be two midgets in the back so dont want to go too far off track. Want to try somewhere else other than sainsburys in the Quays, the shelves always look empty. Thank you

Asda in Enniskillen would be your best bet to be honest and it's cheaper than Sainsburys.

josh59 · 15-10-2008 9:38am

Redpunto wrote: »

I always try and shove a load of extra bags in with the shopping, I cant help myself, its like being in a kid in a sweet shop and free sweets:D

it's great we almost cleared out Asda in Pwllehli of plastic bags when we shopped there coming home from out hols

I know we all want to do our bit for the enviroment but the old plastic bags are very handy although you are starting to see people in the UK bring their own shopping bags to the supermarkets.

JohnCleary · 15-10-2008 11:21am

JohnCleary wrote: »

Hi guys,
Great thread.

Can I ask a question?
We're heading to Belfast for the day on Friday (just for a daytrip) and want to stock up on:
Magners/Bulmers
Some nice Rosé wine
Jack Daniels

Where should I go in Belfast for this?

Cheers lads

Sorry to be bumping my own post, but can anyone help me out here? Don't have a clue where to go in Belfast

TarfHead · 15-10-2008 11:36am

I assume any big supermarket (e.g. Sainsburys) or off-licence (Waitrose ?) will provide you with the choice and value you ask for. If that's all you're going North for, then you don't need to go as far as Belfast.

ThOnda · 15-10-2008 1:11pm

Sainsburrys on your way home (is it Lurgan exit?) has really nice selection of wines.

JohnCleary · 15-10-2008 2:51pm

TarfHead wrote: »

I assume any big supermarket (e.g. Sainsburys) or off-licence (Waitrose ?) will provide you with the choice and value you ask for. If that's all you're going North for, then you don't need to go as far as Belfast.

We're heading up for a day trip anyways, so will just do the lot there

Heading there from Sligo

DonJose · 15-10-2008 3:50pm

After reading the following from the finance minister who just increased my yearly taxes by over €4k, I am going to make a huge effort to do as much shopping in the north as possible. I have a Ford Galaxy which I will fill to the roof with items purchased in the north. Thanks for starting this thread, it would be great to have as a sticky. I'm fuming :mad:

"The Minister for Finance has said an increase in the number of people travelling North of the border to do their shopping had made things 'very, very difficult' when he was framing the Budget."

http://www.rte.ie/money/budget2009/stories/2008/1015/budgetlenihan.html

jaycen · 15-10-2008 4:03pm

JohnCleary wrote: »

Sorry to be bumping my own post, but can anyone help me out here? Don't have a clue where to go in Belfast

http://www.theparkcentre.co.uk should have all you need but pretty much any supermarket along the way would fulfill your needs.

As an add-on, anyone know the price of coal in N.I.?

muincav · 15-10-2008 10:38pm

Sainsburys in Armagh-Fusion razor and 2 blades £3.73---cheaper to buy 2 packs like this than to buy 4 blades on their own--sweeeeeeet:D

DonJose · 16-10-2008 12:25am

Mods any chance of turning this thread into a sticky.

beolight · 16-10-2008 4:35am

asda on falls road Belfast is good place to start

On motorway to Belfast get off at exit for kings hall and then take turn for falls road a little down the road you will see mcdonalds on right hand side turn into shopping centre

Anybody know where to find curleys shops in Belfast?

Don't forget to look out for tesco shops on the way big difference in their prices same applies to dunned

Tipsy Mac · 16-10-2008 9:58am

I think Curleys was taken over by Tesco or Asda last year.

ThOnda · 16-10-2008 10:16am

If you go to IKEA, there is Sainsburys next door and Tesco across the road.

dfcelt · 16-10-2008 11:12am

JohnCleary wrote: »

Sorry to be bumping my own post, but can anyone help me out here? Don't have a clue where to go in Belfast

Don't know if these have been posted up before, its a cash & carry type place but....
NOTE: Prices exclude VAT (17.5% on alcohol, see bottom of last page on brochure) and you have to be a member to enter store but as far as i remember membership is easy enough, we signed up years ago via a family members company. Give the Belfast store a call to see what you need. If you've access to a northern address you can join up no problem.I think my mates ordered a load of cards via one company with all their names on last year. Your name & company name appear on card. Cards are issued pretty quickly from what I can remember.
No charge to company as you pay at the till and VAT is calculated there. Firms claim the VAT back in North but you or me wont be, however you will pocket massive savings esp. baby products (no vat applies & cheaper than Sainsburys) washing powder, dishwasher tablets, toilet rolls etc. Remember you're buying in bulk so the savings are HUGE.

http://www.makro.co.uk/servlet/PB/menu/-1_l2/index.html

Click on view mails, click on specialist mails, valid to 18/11. Wines/ spirits/ champagne. I'll give ya 50c on a bottle Brian :mad: Click on specialist mails for food/elec etc. All in pdf format

http://www.makro.co.uk/metro_mail/mcc-uk/catalog/1105971/MM22Wine_64pp.pdf For current wines brochure

http://www.makro.co.uk/metro_mail/mcc-uk/catalog/1105941/MM22F_32pp.pdf Food Promo beers etc.

As you enter Belfast you'll see the yellow flags on its roof on the l.h.s. of dual carriageway, about the size of a B&Q with unbelievable value. Take next slip road & make your way back, think its on Boucher Road or something, Satnav helps

They always have a buy one get one free on selected wines ie buy one crate (6 bottles) of Kumala Zenith (tasty) get one free

Quick look at prices:
McPherson Chardonnay 23.94 per case 6 x 75cl
23.94 * 1.175 / .77 = 36.53 euro per case, 6 eur per bottle on wine brochure

Kumala Zenith 35.94 for 12 bottles on Promo 22
35.94 * 1.175 / .77 = 54.84 for 12, 4.57 a bottle :eek:
Anybody know how much it costs in Dunnes?
See pages 14/15 of promo22 for great wine offers.

Wolf Blass 5.08 euro a bottle etc. etc.

Check beer prices carefully though, sainsburys etc. usually as good or better I've found.

TVs & power tools can be unreal cheap too, see other brochures.

Our man in Havana · 16-10-2008 11:27am

I would personally recommend avoiding Newry as the prices in Belfast/Lisburn are way cheaper than in Newry. Newry knows its market and knows how to charge.
For the sake of a few more miles, you can save even more and you won't have a stroke from your blood boiling at the parking problems in Newry.

TarfHead · 16-10-2008 1:30pm

dfcelt wrote: »

As you enter Belfast you'll see the yellow flags on its roof on the l.h.s. of dual carriageway, about the size of a B&Q with unbelievable value. Take next slip road & make your way back, think its on Boucher Road or something, Satnav helps

Great post - thanks

AFAIK, Boucher Road is on RHS as you approach Belfast City while MAKRO is on LHS. Boucher Road is full of shops, especially DIY & Tile stores. DEKKO also used to be good for IKEA-style houseware.

smashey · 16-10-2008 1:56pm

TarfHead wrote: »

Great post - thanks

AFAIK, Boucher Road is on RHS as you approach Belfast City while MAKRO is on LHS. Boucher Road is full of shops, especially DIY & Tile stores. DEKKO also used to be good for IKEA-style houseware.

Be careful when approaching Makro. While it is on the left of the M1 as you approach Belfast, you need to go right at the next exit.

TarfHead · 16-10-2008 2:00pm

smashey wrote: »

Be careful when approaching Makro. While it is on the left of the M1 as you approach Belfast, you need to go right at the next exit.

Please clarify.

IIRC, the next exit is Kings Hall. Down the off-ramp to roundabout. A right will bring you under the M1 to another roundabout. Straight ahead is Malone Road & access to Boucher Road. Keeping right at this 2nd roundabout leads you back to M1 heading South.

Or does it

?

Gosh · 16-10-2008 2:01pm

DonJose wrote: »

"The Minister for Finance has said an increase in the number of people travelling North of the border to do their shopping had made things 'very, very difficult' when he was framing the Budget."

And then he adds .5% on to our VAT

. Complete twat IMHO!!

smashey · 16-10-2008 2:14pm

TarfHead wrote: »

Please clarify.

IIRC, the next exit is Kings Hall. Down the off-ramp to roundabout. A right will bring you under the M1 to another roundabout. Straight ahead is Malone Road & access to Boucher Road. Keeping right at this 2nd roundabout leads you back to M1 heading South.

Or does it ?

It will also take you back under the M1 past Makro.

helpme07 · 16-10-2008 2:33pm

£8 for 70cl bottle of smirnoff vodka in tesco's at the minute. offer ends Oct 19th

okidoki987 · 16-10-2008 2:41pm

Be careful when approaching Makro.

They should have a sign for it on the motorway, I always miss the
turn for it

dfcelt · 16-10-2008 2:42pm

TarfHead wrote: »

Great post - thanks

AFAIK, Boucher Road is on RHS as you approach Belfast City while MAKRO is on LHS. Boucher Road is full of shops, especially DIY & Tile stores. DEKKO also used to be good for IKEA-style houseware.

As I said, Satnav helps.........until you hit roadworks, well used to the journey myself now. Can't remember road names though.

Moonbeam · 16-10-2008 3:27pm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7670658.stm

bmaxi · 16-10-2008 4:40pm

I posted this on another thread but it may be more suited here. According to the BBC, ASDA and BP are to reduce the price of petrol in N.I. to 99p/l, which at current conversion rates is cheaper than here.

stooge · 16-10-2008 6:32pm

Got myself two t-shirts at the weekend in a shop in banbridge. It was doing 1Euro = 1Pound and also a half price sale on the marked price.

The two t-shirts were marked at 5 each, then 50% off meant it was 5 for both. You could pay in Euro and get change back in sterling so I gave in a 20E note and got 15Sterling back. Daylight robbery on my part!

Esel · 16-10-2008 6:54pm

Easy Makro price conversion formula (rough but v. close): Add 50% for VAT inclusive price in Euros.

Shopping in Northern Ireland

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