Budgens

One of the better Budgens in London, in my opinion. The produce isn’t great, but they have a fantastic selection of high quality brands that make the trip worth it. Check out some of the stuff in the frozen food aisle, ready-​to-​eat salads, and dark chocolate sections to try a few different options that might just pleasantly surprise you. =)

Plus points for having a good selection. Staff are always friendly and they make sure the queue for checkout never gets too long.
Not the best for fruit and veg selection but overall I prefer it to Tesco express up the road.

This is going to be a good ‘ol boring 3 star review, so prepare your mind for mediocrity, in both review and business form.
You’d think going to Budgens just after they open in the morning would be a wise idea. Freshest produce. No Lines. First Dibs. No. You’d be wrong. I’m not sure if this was just a rogue Tuesday morning shelf stalking fluke, but I arrived at 10am to find that there was next to nothing on the shelves.
Seriously, my list was as follows:
–Bananas
–Strawberries
–Milk
–Salsa
–Halibut
–Broccoli
–Fruit Salad
Of that, I was able to get milk that expired the next day and «Doritos» brand salsa that was probably produced and packaged sometime in the late 80s. Don’t hate — it’s the sole reason I go to this store. It’s spicy and fantastic!
Bananas, strawberries, broccoli and fish weren’t available. Apparently they were in the large crates in back waiting to be put on the shelves.
I was utterly bummed, but left with my milk and salsa. Can’t explain why, but Budgens is still a-​ok in my book. (It probably was the Grocery Gods telling me that it wouldn’t have been as good of a combo as I had originally imagined…)

Seem to have slightly less selection or perhaps they run out of items faster than the Hampstead Budgen. Conveniently located near a bus stop and tube stop. If you don’t find what you need here, head over to Tesco Express just around the corner.

I tend to think of Budgens as one of those little local supermarkets with an unimaginative range of big names. Bernard Mathews turkey, Andrex toilet tissue slices etc. So this branch was a surprise in fact so big I’ve not yet had time for a proper look as I zoom past on the way to another booking
One thing that did impress me is that they stock a range of organic/​healthy/​natural sandwiches (I forget the name). They are perhaps slightly pricey but the ‘Skinny Bird’ (chicken) sandwich I got was delicious, seemed to be made with real chicken rather than reconstituted, and filled my stomach noticeably for hours.