Being an infrequent DIYer, I usually visit my local Homebase store every couple of months, or whenever my latest project takes place. I have been consistently impressed with the store, and positively love wandering around and discovering new "essentials".

The store is reasonably well laid out - maybe a bit illogical if you want to go straight to your chosen item, but as a brower I just wander around the whole store, knowing that I'll come across the items on my list eventually!

The range of stock is good too, and I've never not been able to get what I want, or at least an equivalent alternative. Generally speaking the store is clean and tidy, although one minor gripe is that the aisles are slightly narrow, especially when large. bulky or heavy items are being moved around.

The staff on the shop floor are always helpful and relatively knowledgable, although I can't always say the same for the checkout staff. Most of the time thay are fine, but some of them fail to even acknowledge the customer, and just star ringing up the items without so much as a glance at you. Working in customer service myself, one thing we are trained to always do is to greet the customer, and it does make a big difference to their perception of the store. However, for the most part, all the staff are polite and helpful.

My local Homebase has a customer toilet and a vending machine for canned drinks, as well as a payphone, which is useful as I nearly always need to call a taxi to get my purchases home. The toilet is always clean and tidy, which is a big plus point.

Overall, I would use Homebase as my DIY supply store of choice, except maybe for B&Q superstores, but as the nearest of those is 8 miles away, it's irrelevant anyway. I'd definitely recommend Homebase, based on my experiences shopping there.