Trivia: Retail/food chains that don’t cover the entire UK

[PTR 444]

For example, Booths only has stores in the North of England.

Shakeaway, a milkshake bar founded in Bournemouth, has 30 branches but most of those are concentrated in the South of England. There are a grand total of 2 branches in the North (Leeds and Durham), one in Northern Ireland (Belfast) and none in Scotland or Wales.

How many other retail chains are there which have at least 10 branches, but are all or mostly concentrated within one area of the UK?

 

[Flying Snail]

Aldi have nearly 1000 stores in Britain, over 150 in R of Ireland but no presence in Northern Ireland and it is rather odd, they seem to have left the cheapo German supermarket segment to their rival who have about 25 stores.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Robert Dyas (hardware retailer) has over 90 stores, but most are located in the London / South of England area, with none sited more Northerly than the West Midlands.

 

[ANDREW_D_WEBB]

Department store Boyes hasn’t ventured south of Peterborough or outside of England.

Until recently Shaws (soft furnishings such as curtains) was confined to South Wales, west of England and West Midlands. They ceased trading last month.

 

[Thirteen]

It's a food place rather than retail but Chipotle is mostly confined to London with the only non London outlet in Watford. Tortilla is found in more places in the UK.

 

[Scotrail12]

Waitrose is one, nothing north of Stirling. Bizarre that they never tried one in Aberdeen.

 

[DanNCL]

Greggs are missing from the Isle of Wight and the majority of Northern Ireland (they've got a few shops in the Belfast area). In other parts of the country they exist but are few and far between, such as Cornwall and the north of Scotland.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Another one...

The East of England Co-op has over 120 stores, almost all of which are located in Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk.

The clue's undoubtedly in the name!

 

[ANDREW_D_WEBB]

Heron Foods seems to be mostly Midlands and north apart from a cluster in South Wales and Bristol. Nothing in Scotland.

 

[lxfe_mxtterz]

Whole Foods Market, although an American brand, has seven stores in the UK - all of which are located within London.

 

[scotrail158713]

Baynes Bakers only have stores in Scotland - and predominantly in an east coast cluster stretching from Dundee down to the Lothians. There are only 7 anywhere west of Stirling. Link to store map here.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

How many other retail chains are there which have at least 10 branches, but are all or mostly concentrated within one area of the UK?

Whole Foods Market, although an American brand, has seven stores in the UK - all of which are located within London.

Does that meet the OP's criteria?

 

[Thirteen]

Greggs are missing from the Isle of Wight and the majority of Northern Ireland (they've got a few shops in the Belfast area). In other parts of the country they exist but are few and far between, such as Cornwall and the north of Scotland.

Belfast seems to be the sole NI location for many food places. Nando's for example has four restaurants in NI, all in Belfast.

 

[jfollows]

I know you're asking about now, so I'm not answering the question, but Sainsbury's used to be in the south of England only, when we went to visit my grandparents in the late 1960s there was one in Cheltenham but I'd never seen one anywhere near Manchester. This clearly changed. Waitrose followed more recently, again there was one in Bath where I lived in 1994 but not in or around Manchester. Wilmslow gained a Sainsbury's in about 1980 and a Waitrose when it replaced Safeway in the first decade of this century, but both were definitely "southern" for a long time. Whereas Tesco was always here since the 1960s in my recollection. However there were more independent supermarkets which occupied the gap, which the now-major chains forced out when they moved in more recently.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Robert Dyas (hardware retailer) has over 90 stores, but most are located in the London / South of England area, with none sited more Northerly than the West Midlands.

The business model of a chain of small High Street hardware shops does seem something that fits London better than elsewhere, so this doesn't overly surprise me. You similarly see Johnstone's Paint Decorators' Centres in London, small high street paint shops, which don't really fit well elsewhere.

I suppose Wilko has some similarity to Dyas but they tend to go for larger stores.

Silly aside - I always read Dyas in a Geordie accent, but sadly it's more of "Die-as".

 

[SteveM70]

Another one...

The East of England Co-op has over 120 stores, almost all of which are located in Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk.

The clue's undoubtedly in the name!

The Allendale Coop is even more insular. Never left the high pennines

 

[mm333]

Yorkshire and the surrounding area have two unconnected bakery chains both called Cooplands. Cooplands of Scarborough cover East Yorkshire and the eastern end of North Yorkshire. Cooplands of Doncaster cover mainly South and West Yorkshire.

 

[dgl]

I think Warrens the Bakers is/was in the South only, and if we include places that serve food then the Hall and Woodhouse brewery only have pubs in the West country, South and a couple in London.

 

[mm333]

Cohens Chemists have got over 214 branches, with around 190+ of them in North Wales and Northern England. They have a small cluster in Bristol, only 1 within the M25 and none in East Anglia, Scotland or Northern Ireland. Their outlier branch is in Milford Haven, as their next nearest is Chepstow.

 

[philthetube]

Wenzels bakers is only in the south, as far as I am aware, I miss their Belgian buns..

 

[urbophile]

Merseyside seems to be a desert for posh supermarkets (and before people snigger, 'wonder why?', there are several areas well capable of supporting a Waitrose or a Booths). There is one Waitrose in Formby (footballers wives and all that), but I'm not aware of either of the two chains having a presence anywhere else. Booths used to have a branch in Southport but I don't know if it's still there. Maybe they are advancing in a pincer movement north and south respectively, but have mutually decided on a standoff.

 

[Shimbleshanks]

Does Coughlans the bakery place have any stores outside London and the South?

When I was a kid growing up in North Wales, I always assumed National Milk Bars was a big enterprise that covered the whole country, as in the UK. It was only later that it dawned on me that they were 'national' only in the sense that they had North and Mid Wales reasonably well covered, but nowhere else. (I think they may have had one 'foreign' outlet somewhere like Liverpool or the Midlands.) All gone now, I believe. I think the last one was in Rhyl, and that closed several years ago.

 

[ANDREW_D_WEBB]

Percy Ingle is another bakery with small spatial footprint. 50 branches in east London and Essex

 

[Bletchleyite]

Merseyside seems to be a desert for posh supermarkets (and before people snigger, 'wonder why?', there are several areas well capable of supporting a Waitrose or a Booths). There is one Waitrose in Formby (footballers wives and all that), but I'm not aware of either of the two chains having a presence anywhere else. Booths used to have a branch in Southport but I don't know if it's still there. Maybe they are advancing in a pincer movement north and south respectively, but have mutually decided on a standoff.

There's a Booths in Burscough, but for a long time Penwortham was as far south as it got. Very much not a standoff, they co-operate a fair bit including some supply chain stuff.

There are quite a few M&S Foodhalls in the area including Ormskirk, though that's a slightly different sort of posh, more about fancy ready meals than locally sourced fresh ingredients.

 

[urbophile]

There's a Booths in Burscough, but for a long time Penwortham was as far south as it got. Very much not a standoff, they co-operate a fair bit including some supply chain stuff.

There are quite a few M&S Foodhalls in the area including Ormskirk, though that's a slightly different sort of posh, more about fancy ready meals than locally sourced fresh ingredients.

Yes plenty of M&S but as you say, not quite the same thing. I'm not pining for a Waitrose: Aldi usually suits me fine for basics. But I'm just curious about the absence.

 

[JonathanH]

B&M took a while to work its way southwards. Even now, with stores more widespread, there isn't one in Surrey.

 

[Busaholic]

I think Warrens the Bakers is/was in the South only, and if we include places that serve food then the Hall and Woodhouse brewery only have pubs in the West country, South and a couple in London.

Warrens is mostly in Cornwall, with a few in Devon and Somerset, plus one in Merthyr Tydfil, which there must be a story behind. Famous for having their pasty described by Mark Steel as being the worst he'd ever tasted when he featured Penzance in his radio series visiting towns. I'd only add I've tasted far worse in Bristol when I lived there.

 

[route101]

Whole Foods Market, although an American brand, has seven stores in the UK - all of which are located within London.

There used to one in Giffnock, Glasgow. Only one that was outside London.

Wenzels the bakers , only see them around West London and West of London.
Tim Hortons are still most found in Scotland and the Northwest, certainly don't rate their food.
Wilko, only a few in Scotland.

Yorkshire and the surrounding area have two unconnected bakery chains both called Cooplands. Cooplands of Scarborough cover East Yorkshire and the eastern end of North Yorkshire. Cooplands of Doncaster cover mainly South and West Yorkshire.

How can they be unconnected with that name ha

I know you're asking about now, so I'm not answering the question, but Sainsbury's used to be in the south of England only, when we went to visit my grandparents in the late 1960s there was one in Cheltenham but I'd never seen one anywhere near Manchester. This clearly changed. Waitrose followed more recently, again there was one in Bath where I lived in 1994 but not in or around Manchester. Wilmslow gained a Sainsbury's in about 1980 and a Waitrose when it replaced Safeway in the first decade of this century, but both were definitely "southern" for a long time. Whereas Tesco was always here since the 1960s in my recollection. However there were more independent supermarkets which occupied the gap, which the now-major chains forced out when they moved in more recently.

I have noticed in the South its more Waitrose and Sainsburys.

Baynes Bakers only have stores in Scotland - and predominantly in an east coast cluster stretching from Dundee down to the Lothians. There are only 7 anywhere west of Stirling. Link to store map here.

Interesting they have a drive thru in Hillington, Glasgow. They have opened a few in Lanarkshire.

 

[mm333]

Department store Boyes hasn’t ventured
south of Peterborough or outside of England.

The Yorkshire Trading Company - who, to me, are quite Boyes-esque - now have 30 stores from Alnwick to Leek to Spalding.

 

[Runningaround]

Barclays, Lloyds Bank, HSBC and Santander almost all have gone from areas that don't have Universities or a big town.