Forum Topic

Morrissons in Brentford slipping into decline?

Is it just me or does anybody else feel that the New Morrissons is already sadly slipping into decline?I went down there on Saturday armed with my 'small' list 10 of ingredients need for a recipe for dinner and desert Saturday night... (not elaborate ingredients I might add) - For my main course they did not have 3 of the items on my list... for my desert 2 of the ingredients they also did not have.  I queued at the very slow checkout, after which I went to use the ladies which was 'temporary out of order'.Sunday afternoon I went there again for the usual ingredients for a Beef Sunday Roast... Only 4 beef joints on the shelf bigger enough for 4 people... 3 courgettes left on the shelf... not a mange tout or sugar snap pea to be seen... they don't stock goose fat and yet another long queue at the checkout and eventually got to the checkout to a slow, unsmiling checkout assistant... after which I went to use the ladies which was STILL 'temporary out of order'.Such a shame....

Fran Naughton ● 6100d38 Comments

Hurrah, another person proving the negativity of so many about new comers to Brentford to be wrong. I'm also relatively new (just the 4 years here) and do try to use the local shops, bars and restaurants. In fact, only last night I downed a few in the Weir and am now regretting it (the drinks that is, not buying them in the Weir).How long do you have to live here to no longer be termed a new comer ... or is it purely down to the place you live (any of the new developments = new comer)? If so, thee and me, Deborah, being Islanders are damned for ever.

Alan Clark ● 6093d

We left Chiswick and moved into Brentford 3 and a half years ago. We love it. We're on The Island and like all the people we've met who have bought property in our development (as perhaps opposed to renters who may be here only temporarily), we are totally committed to the area. We shop locally (the fish counter at Morrison's is excellent), enjoy meals out at La Rosetta (which I think is great and Ciro is an excellent host) and my daughter works most Saturdays at the Bijou Box. Have you been there? It's a delightful little shop.  So please don't assume that incomers give nothing back. I'm just off now to try the new nail bar!

Deborah Hall ● 6093d

Nearly always there with their deliveries 98% of the time, good ole Tesco. Love them for humping stuff up two flights of stairs for me. I love my Tesco man! Maybe one day it will be a woman. And I love Morrison for being on my doorstep. Canni complain, so there!

Ruby Almeida ● 6094d

Whatever you may think about Tesco, they do deliver in their two-hour slot.

Susan Kelly ● 6094d

I love Brentford yay! And I love Morrison's fresh fish counter, especially the Patagonian scallops. Ariba!

Ruby Almeida ● 6095d

I really like the Weir... ... It is really lovely...... My daughter works in a casino on Piccadilly Circus and a glass of (good) wine there is 30p cheaper than what the Wier are charging...

Fran Naughton ● 6095d

If you've ever lived up north you'd know that Morrisons is an insitution - part the local landscape. They also regularly the highest customer loyalty score in the industry - so they must be doing something right. I'd much rather support the old man Ken Morrison (ok, so he's retired now) rather than the corporate face of behemoth Tesco's or Asda's big bad uncle Sam owners. And as for Somerfield - there was a good reason they were bought by the Coop ... they were mostly rubbish and unappealing.And yes - build it and they will come. The Weir is often criticised for its prices in these pages but it gets plenty of customers so clearly there is a market for that sort of pub. And the food is better than a packet of pork scratchings in any of the high street pubs. They converted the white horse to a gastropub (what, in Brentford, the horror) and people came. If you work, say, at Sky or GSK, where else would you go after work - its there or the London Apprentice?

Alan Clark ● 6096d

With not being able to find the Polenta you could always nip out the back and ask one of the staff out there.

Fran Naughton ● 6096d

La Rosetta?!!Don't make me laugh. Probably the worst eating exerience I have ever had in my 53 years on this planet. Come back Basil Fawlty, all is forgiven.

Ruby Almeida ● 6096d

What an incredible bunch of snobs you lot sound! Morrison's might not be to your tastes but my wife and I are glad to have a supermarket we can visit on foot, and we're doubly glad it isn't a Tesco or (god save us) an ASDA. Morrison's is far superior to Somerfields (which always felt moribund.) Abel and Cole are fine if you want to order a small box of overpriced and undersized vegetables, which will probably get stolen from your porch before you return home from work anyhow. My only problems with Morrison's are that I can't find where they keep their polenta, and the staff smoking out the back. When I used ASDA's online delivery, they failed to meet the alloted window on the Saturday, we waited in all day Sunday but still nothing arrived and no-one contacted us. Whenever we phoned the store the phone was picked up and slammed down. Nothing happened on the Monday so on the Tuesday I cancelled the order and attempted in vain to get any sort of apology or explanation. They couldn't say why the Saturday delivery hadn't happened, they couldn't explain why no-one had rung us on the Saturday, or the Sunday, or the Monday advising us not to wait in, and they wouldn't apologise for our experience. They did offer me £10 off my next shop with them but I advised them that hell would freeze over before I used ASDA again. Compared to service like that, Morisson's is like a Disneyland of groceries.And if their loo is closed, why not wait till you get home?

Iain Martin ● 6096d

Pelvic floor muscles are your friend! :p

Stephanie Kitsune ● 6097d

:-) :-) :-) :-)

Fran Naughton ● 6097d

I believe they do have a good range of incontinence pads.

Ian Silver ● 6097d

Quick sprint to the Waterman's?

Susan Kelly ● 6097d

Hi Ian,Goose Fat makes the best roast potatoes :-)I know they are a convenience store but I found it very 'inconvenient' that their 'conveniences' were out of order for two days.... Realistically I could not plan ahead needing to go to the loo even if was on a Sunday afternoon :-)Fran

Fran Naughton ● 6098d

I have found the new store pretty good; certainly an improvement on Somerfields which was getting tired.PS. I'd forget the goose fat if you're on a healthy diet though lol.They will improve to our needs; they already have a fair smattering of organic products (hooray)- something Somerfields sat back on.They need us and I think we need them also; we just need to give them feedback in an appropriate way and I'm sure they'll do what we want; that's business, after all.Realistically, Sunday afternoon is not a good time to expect the full range in any shop, especially those for a Sunday lunch. In the days of my youth these had to be ordered/bought by Saturday at the latest, as shops were closed on Sundays. I wish it was still like that in many ways but have to accept progress like the rest of you. Some of it's good, some not so. But, we as consumer actually run the whole thing!Give them a fair chance, let them know what you want, and organise special meals a little better in the future. They are a convenience store but "convenience" is our problem, not theirs.I wish them success and with positive input we'll have a great High Street mini market.Regards to all. Ian.

Ian Silver ● 6098d

There are a some good places where you can have a good night out in Brentford.La Rosetta's Italian Restaurant.  Has been there as long as I can remember.Prezzo's.  Very good Italian. Poppadoms Indian Restaurant.  Very upmarket.The Brewery Tap.  Traditional pub Folk and jazz nights... great home cooked Sunday Roasts.The Globe Pub... Good Live bands every Friday and Saturday night.The Lord Nelson... Back street pub... great food.. lovely garden and occasional bands and folk music.Yum Kims Restaurant... although location is unfortunate great food (eat as much as you like/4 course meal £12!)The Weir Pub... Good food... nice location (but rather overpriced)The Kings Arms.. down by Brentford Station.And Montys up South Ealing has always been considered the Best Monty's.. and now they do home deliveries.Fran

Fran Naughton ● 6098d

And needless to say ask me why I live there and the simply answer is that it's convenient for work, well located for getting in/out of London by car and served by fairly decent public transport links to the rest of London.  So there never has been any 'pull' factor for me in terms of what Brentford itself has to offer.

Adam Beamish ● 6098d

I think that's true Susan.  I've lived on the old gas works site now for 7 years and in that 7 years I have probably been on a night out in Brentford once a year, and only for a work/old work related pub crawl, never because I personally choose to go for a night out in the town.  I don't shop in Brentford except for an occasional (once or twice a month) walk to Morrisons just for a newspaper, pint of milk, bread etc.  I also usually say, half jokingly half seriously, that I live at Kew Bridge, as technically it's closer than Brentford (I say jokingly as I always add the fact that if I'm not being a snob, I live in Brentford).I wouldn't say I'm embarrassed by the town or necessarily look down on the place or the local population (having been born in Cleethorpes I'm hardly in a position to be a snob !) but to me it's just one of those 'nothing' places, a place you only go to when you're passing through to get to somewhere else (better).

Adam Beamish ● 6098d

I think there is a bit of that going on Susan. I also get a bit "Field of Dreams" : "If you build it they will come". I don't mean make a Baseball park for ghosts. When something is good : Brewery Tap, La Rosetta people come. There is always a good atmosphere in these places.

Justin Anderson ● 6098d

It does seem very strange that all these expensive new flats by the canal aren't causing an improvement in local shops/cafés. I was amazed when the shop by the development went to Costcutters rather than, say, Simply Food or, at worst, Tesco Express.Maybe they are just dormitory villages.

Susan Kelly ● 6098d

Wow, that is a grim tale Paul. It has been going on for a while. Maybe a positive aspect of the old C****t C****h will be people reusing these old buildings, now that those developers have given up. I know that's happening with the old Toshiba building.

Justin Anderson ● 6098d

I think the downfall of Brentford was due to the GLC and money grabbing developers in the late fifties and early sixties.There was ment to be a dual carriage way built between Kew bridge and Hounslow, which gave the excuse to pull down a lot of shops and pubs to make way for it.FS&T lost about four pubs The Barge Aground, The Feathers, The Bull and The Red lion (the old one) and the new Red Lion was built out of compensation, now replaced by MacDonald’s. The only bit of the dual carriageway was built there.The heart was ripped out of Brentford and no government agency or local authority has ever invested in the necessary infrastructure to rebuild the town back to the great community it was before the wanton destruction and greed through those two decades Letting developers build posh blocks of fats and hotels is not the way forward, it just creates a them and us feeling within the community. It has no heart or centre, no reel community-meeting place, such as a decent shopping area for all residents to mix together. As I believe that most free land in the area is privately owned I can only see that the way forward will expensive gated communities with the residents making no contribution the local economy except there council tax which will just fill the coffers of the Hounslow Kremlin, to be spent on Hounslow and Feltham   

Paul Allen ● 6098d

Err, not in Brentford. If so that would mean that we are largely a nation of book-keepers, hairdressers and opticians. Wonder what that says about us?

Alan Clark ● 6099d

We were a nation of shopkeepers!

Justin Anderson ● 6099d

As far as I can remember (and I'm not entirely sure that it was a shop) certainly the one on the corner of Grosvenor Road was, they were general grocers/sweet shop.  The Chinese take away was always a fish & chip shop and on the corner of Hamilton Road/Brook Road was a sweet shop/bakers known as "the penny bun shop".  At the other end of Hamilton Road/Windmill Road was the post office. On the corner of New Road opposite the pub was another sweet shop.  In the middle of what is now the Haverfield estate there was Trimmers newsagens, Harnage Stores and another general grocers as well as a Fish & Chip shop and a couple of pubs all of which bit the dust when the estate went up.  Actually Brentford was awash with little shops/bakers/greengrocers etc., Most were done away with for the sake of the new estate but a lot just went out of business because of increasing costs. There were two butchers in Windmill Road (1 either side of the A4) the bathroom shop on Windmill Road used to be a Co-Op or something like that.  David's newsagent in Windmill Road has been there since I was a child (with the same couple running it)! So presumably it was possible to make a living.  However they are all gone now and what is left is not up to much.

Bernadette Paul ● 6099d

'Even Mrs Keen's house was a shop.. and look at it now.'I can't believe that Ann Keen managed to get onto this thread! This is just getting silly now...

Fran Naughton ● 6099d

"Even Mrs Keen's house was a shop.. and look at it now." Was it really? What kind of shop? I didn't know there were ever shops in that bit.It's such a shame Bernadette, you just don't get 'proper shops' much anymore. It takes all the fun out of shopping if you ask me, I really hate supermarkets, and bread never tastes the same as it used to from the bakery when I was little, even the stuff that's supposed to be 'freshly baked'. Crikey, I'm 22 and I already sound like my nan..

Stephanie Kitsune ● 6099d

Even Mrs Keen's house was a shop.. and look at it now.

Jim Lawes ● 6099d

I don't disagree with you Adam but I don't see why Brentford can't be improved.  I accept that it is not considered to be an affluent area but I suspect that most of the people considered "poor" are better off than I am and the fact that they spend so much time in pubs like the Albany would suggest they have money to spend in the first place, it's all a question of what they choose to spend their money on and I feel it is a bad assumption to only pander to the bottom rung of the social ladder.  I am not one of them but, an awful lot of people have paid an awful lot of money to live in the various new developments in and around Brentford and I suspect they would welcome some good indepdendent shops etc., on their doorstep.  I have absolutely nothing against Morrisons and I take my hat off to any business sinking its money in the area but I suspect (like you) they take the view that they will only sell lowish quality goods in Brentford and therefore that is all they stock.  This in turn means thousands of people (like me) taking their business out of Brentford and thus maintaining the status quo as far as Brentford being a shopping ghost town is concerned.  This is not good for anyone.  I too remember Woolworths in the Half Acre, and the shoe shop, Freeman Hardy & Willis, there was a mens clothes store (that blew up) the jewellers (pawn shop) lovely Dickensian building think they were called Rattenburys or something, there were about 6 butchers (Dewhurst) the rest independents, next door to the Bricklayers was a greengrocer, 1 in Albany Parade and another in the Half Acre.  There was a bakers on the corner of Albany Road and Brook Road South, another in Pottery Road (obviously before the new houses were built) I even remember a pie & mash shop somewhere around.  People have never come to Brentford to go shopping but at one time there was at least some choice

Bernadette Paul ● 6099d

the shops in brentford have been declining over the years, the money has never come into brentford,can even remember woolworths in the high street.Brentford is just a place people don't come to or shop anymore.

Robert A Field ● 6099d

Even though I'll probably be shouted at by all and sundry, the fact remains that we're talking about a town whose population on the whole isn't affluent.I don't regard myself as a snob but Brentford has always had a feeling of 'poorness', both in terms of the buildings and generally the local population.  A considerable number of the pubs are nothing more than chav dens - would most people really consider going somewhere like the Albany with their other half for a romantic evening ?!.I always wish people would stop trying to change the place, it is what it is, the people are who they are etc.

Adam Beamish ● 6099d

It is such a shame that we don't have that much quality  in Brentford High Street. Northfields Avenue has it. Chiswick High Road has it. Brentford High Street is okay if you need to bet on the horses, get something from the poundshop, buy inferior fruit and veg from the very rude people in the greengrocers, sit on the street by the bustop and have a burger, or you are in need of an urgent tatoo, need a carwash in the yard by The Brewery Tap or just want to take a stroll down there to take in the beauty of boarded up buildings and grafitti.

Fran Naughton ● 6099d

I have no problem with the fact that Brentford is not swamped with supermarkets but I do wish there were some "quality" shops.  For instance a really good bread/bakers would be nice.  Of course there is nothing wrong with greengrocers but there aren't any I can think of in Brentford.  Sorry but the stuff on offer in the individual shops invariably looks on its last legs and usually at twice the price and is not for me.  A decent butchers would also be good.  However, the fact is that Brentford did once upon a time have all these shops and they vanished with the advent of the supermarket be it International/Somerfield or now Morrisons.  All 3 supermarkets that have been in situ in Brentford have been, in my opinion, depressingly downmarket in everything bar the price.  There is a premium to be paid for convenience which I would rather pay for quality.  I envy Chiswick for their choice of individual delis, bread shops the butchers in the Terrace, etc., and wish Brentford could follow their lead to some extent.  I enjoyed the different produce I bought from the farmers market and was very sorry to see it go.  I had hoped it would do well and grow rather than vanish altogether and I agree that it's a shame the charity shops have gone although it has to be said even they were pretty grim when compared with those in other areas.  Brentford is an expensive place to try and start a business and without the support of the locals any individual trader would struggle and eventually collapse but I don't want to support anything just because it is local, I would like it to be local and GOOD.  If everyone in Brentford goes shopping in Chiswick/Ealing/Hounslow or wherever then Brentford will never improve.

Bernadette Paul ● 6099d

I've used Abel & Cole online before... great organic seasonal fruit and veg... delivered to your door.Another fantastic web is donaldrussell.com... quality organic meat and fish delivered to your door all the way from Aberdeenshire (and they have the By appoinment to HM the Queen crest) Grass-fed, traditionally matured beef and lamb• A complete range of gourmet steaks including fillet, sirloin, ribeye and rump• Award winning free range poultry• Wild venison, game birds and hare• RSPCA accredited Freedom Food salmon• Wild sea fish• Scottish scallops and langoustines• Smoked fish and Arbroath smokies• RSPCA accredited Freedom Food pork• Award winning sausages and gourmet steak burgers• Welfare-kind veal• Gourmet specialities hand made by our chefsAND.... cookfood.net.  Quality Quality frozen ready meals.  I have used cookfood.net a few times when I have had people around to dinner. They also deliver or I pop into their shop in Chiswick.  In my opinion I would rate their meals 5 times better than Marks and Spencers AND they are cheaper! Choose by CategoryChicken MealsBeef MealsLamb MealsPork MealsFish MealsVegetarian MealsSide DishesChildren's MealsBaby FoodPuddingsEntertainingQuicheMeal PacksWhat elseChoose by UsageFamily MealsEveryday MealsEntertainingPresents & GiftsGluten FreeMicrowave MealsIndian MealsThe Far EastLastly... Yes it was such a shame about losing the Farmers Market on Market Square in Brentford... BUT it had nothing to do with Brentford Locals not frequenting it enough... it was all to do with the traders being constantly getting parking fines for having their vans parked on the Square on Saturdays! (Well done Brentford)

Fran Naughton ● 6099d

Fran, I was beginning to think that because it was already getting a bit dirty, but went today and it was fine. Stephanie, I totally agree, Brentford has more character for not having the same corporate dives as everywhere else. Shame the charity shops closed. Maybe we can have a new one in one of the vacants?

Justin Anderson ● 6099d

One of the things I like most about Brentford (especially that bit) is that it's not been swamped by supermarkets and chain stores. I think Brentford should be proud of the fact that its 'highstreet' is predominantly local shops run by people from the community. To summarise I suppose what I'm trying to say is that I'm not going to be shedding any tears for the fact that Morrisons is a bit s**t.Bernadette, what is your definition of 'quality' in this case exactly? Have you tried Abel and Cole? They source as locally to you as possible, all their food is organic, it has 0 air miles, and everything is fresh and in season. In saying that though there really is nothing wrong with the produce from your local greengrocer, they can still tell you what's been grown organically and what's in season.But then probably best not to take shoppoing advice from me, I eat out of bins. (well.. depending on which way you look at it, maybe it is best to take shopping advice from me after all :))

Stephanie Kitsune ● 6099d

I know nothing about Morrisons the one in Brentford is the only one I have ever been in and then only twice.  However, I felt (rightly or wrongly) that it was a very downmarket sort of place.  As with you Fran I couldn't find a lot of things I wanted and what I did find were curiously more expensive there than elsewhere.  I feel it may have something to do with Brentford.  It seems to me they perhaps cater for less discerning  palates.  On both occasions I visited I bought things that were purportedly on offers but did nto go through the till as such.  The palaver to get a refund was mindblowing, forms to complete and customer having to sign etc., what is that all about?  I am definitely not impressed and feel it is a real mistake to only cater for the low end of the market.  This leaves Brentford still without any quality supermarket or shops.  Maybe we get what we deserve - the farmers market didn't last long in Brentford yet it thrives in West Ealing.  Seems the natives of Brentford wouldn't pay for fresh/organic/different produce and we therefore end up with dingy poorly stocked shops.  Such a shame.  However, on a positive note, my cigarettes are 10p cheaper there than anywhere else!  Hoorah!

Bernadette Paul ● 6099d