Supermarket antidote [updated] (Unthank Road Shops)

Member Name: ermintrude

Product:	Unthank Road Shops
Date:	14/03/01 (937 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: convenience; supporting independent shopkeepers

Disadvantages: can be more expensive; not every kind of shop

[Text updated, main changes summarised at the end.]

In a recent issue of Norfolk magazine, the Golden Triangle was described as "Norwich's answer to Notting Hill". Whether that's true or not (I've certainly never seen Hugh Grant or Julia Roberts as I pop down to the shop for a pint of milk, although there are a few Rhys Ifans lookalikes...), Unthank Road is certainly the heart of the Golden Triangle, and its wide variety of shops makes it a convenient area to live. The mix of residents includes students, and young professionals with and without families - you'll see battered Fiestas parked up against BMWs and people-carriers, and the paper put out for recycling is predominantly the Guardian and Independent. It's *that* sort of area, and the shops reflect that to some extent.

Now, don't get me wrong, it's not competing with Castle Mall, Anglia Square, or anywhere else in the centre of Norwich. These are local shops for local people, although not in a scary League-of-Gentlemen way :) Overall, they're the shops you nip to when you need a pint of milk or a loaf of bread, some cough medicine or a sink plunger - but there are a few little surprises as well. Let me see...

Let's start with the boring stuff: services. If you're going to shop, you most likely need cash, and Lloyds TSB operate the only cash machine in this area. The bank itself is the usual 9:30am-5pm place, but they do seem to know the importance of their cash machine, and keep it well stocked. I've only rarely had problems with it being empty. If all else fails, both Budgens stores (see later) do cashback, although card purchases must be over £5. There's a Norwich & Peterborough building society, but it has no cash machine.

The other purely "service" places include a launderette (which never seems to get too full, despite being reasonably priced and in a major student area) and a dry cleaner opposite them,
Hair For Men (who cut hair, rather than sell it as the name implies!), and the Coral betting shop (which I can't comment on, heh :). For those wanting to get into the area, there's both a letting agent and an estate agent, for those needing help with the well over £100k price of the houses here there's a financial services place, and for the other end of your Golden Triangle residency, there's an undertaker...

It gets more interesting from here on. Honest. You have your the run-of-the-mill shops like the chemist (very good with pharmaceutical advice, although the film processing is not up to much), the hardware emporium (everything from toilet brushes to cheesy Christmas decorations), and Bookmark, a tiny independent bookshop (a joy to browse). Elizabeth's (the florist) may stuff up the road a few nights a week when the juggernaut delivers, but offers an innovative and professional service, and always has interesting window displays! LE Electrical can furnish you with any kind of light bulb known to mankind, and always has a few lava lamps in the window to entertain drunken students on their way home. Add in a newsagent and a video rental place, and you can probably see that most things are available here.

"What about food?" I hear you ask. Now we're getting to the essentials. Well, if you want basic groceries and stuff, you're sorted - there are in fact two Alldays stores (recently rebranded Anglian, and stocking Budgens items) which are open 7am-11pm, and are not too outrageously priced. My main gripe with them is the general lack of fruit and veg, although one store has a much better selection, and also has a deli counter. If you feel the need for snacks after 11pm, then there is the Shell garage, which is open 24 hours, and does hot food in the form of microwaveable burgers etc. There's even a hot water dispenser for your Pot Noodle!

Frank Spurgeon is the rather interesting name of the butcher
(as a friend pointed out, it sounds like something out of Viz - "Frank Spurgeon, Crap Surgeon"), who will supply you with local, humanely-reared meat, plus free-range eggs and locally-pressed cider. You might pay a bit more than in the supermarket, but it's worth it for the good quality, assured sources, and friendly chat.

For most of your bread and cake needs, there's the old Sewell's bakery (still waiting for a new nameplate!). They seem to do the same kind of range, though - it's your standard pink-icing-and-a-cherry-on-top bakery, really, which makes Zuckerman's stand out all the more.

Oh yes, Zuckermans. The pride of Unthank Road. It probably deserves a review in its own right, so I'll try and be brief. Zuckermans (or Zuckies to those in the know ;) is a bakery, a patisserie, a chocolaterie, a delicatessen, a pizzeria, and a cafe, all rolled into one. Among other things, they do the most amazing crusty French bread (I've been lucky enough to get it fresh and hot enough that it still melts butter when I get it home... mmm), upmarket sandwiches (salmon and dill mayonnaise is more likely than cheese and pickle), and cakes. Well, "cakes" doesn't do them justice. From New York Cheesecake to Sachertorte via Sinful Chocolate and Apricot Parfait... at about £1.40 a slice they don't come cheap (neither does anything else in there really), but they are heaven. You can eat in, or sit outside in the summer - if you've got the cash, the cafe inside is cosy and intimate, but the tables outside are by a busy road, so maybe not so great. However, overall it's a fantastic shop, with some unusual ranges, and very friendly staff.

Want a takeaway? Well, as well as Zuckies' pizza (10% discount on collection, 10% discount to students), there are two Chinese takeaways, Cantonese Kitchen and Hong Kong Takeaway (both pretty similar), the Royal Tandoori (relatively pricey, but award-winning
quality), and Lim's fish & chips. I hesitate to recommend Lim's, as the quality is only just about average, and I'm not sure about the hygiene. However, there's not really any alternative chippie in the area. The other place to eat is the Unthank Kitchen, a small "greasy spoon" type cafe with a new "decking" type extension on the front (Garden Force has much to answer for!) - the food is top-notch, including many veggie options, it's very reasonably priced, and you'll have a job getting in on a Saturday morning for one of their breakfasts!

The two pubs on this part of Unthank Road, the Rose Valley and the Lillie Langtry, both advertise food, although I must confess I've never tried it. The Rose Valley is a mixed students/locals pub, but all too often seems to have either karaoke or a "local vocalist" on, which is something I'd rather avoid whilst eating, thanks very much. The Lillie is a more studenty pub, geared towards big screen sports and loud music, and I've also avoided it up until now. There are plenty of better pubs tucked away on the roads leading off this part of Unthank (Rose Tavern, York Tavern, Unthank Arms, Gardenhouse, to name but a few), and it's worth seeking them out if you can, I think.

And that links nicely on to alcohol, heh :) Both Budgens shops are licensed, and sell the usual range of mass-appeal booze (lager, cider, alcopops, cheap wine, spirits). Next up is Le Chateau, which is a silly name for a corner off-licence. Crammed into a small space is a very impressive range including a good range of real ales and ciders, and a better selection of wines. Organic wines and beers are readily available, and they have a wider range of spirits than just gin/rum/vodka.

I think that's it! Maybe it's not Notting Hill, but Unthank Road is a vibrant, interesting place to shop, and makes a very refreshing change from the sterile fluorescent-lit barns th
at pass for supermarkets now. It does take time to bob in and out of all the shops, especially if people are in a chatty mood, but if you can do it every once in a while, it might even convince you that everyday shopping can be enjoyable.

[Update] Well, shops come and go, and they have indeed come and gone. Gardeners [sic] Grotto took their awful garden/houseplant furniture and left, and October, a second-hand clothes shop in the same premises, didn't last long either. Sundance Kids has also gone. My hopes for a good greengrocer to take over a newly renovated shop came to naught, and it's inhabited by Dragonfly, who do posh frocks. Sewell's bakery has also changed hands, the Grapevine off-licence has closed and even the Alldays shops are now Budgens. [End update]

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Practical stuff:

Unthank Road is on the Eastern Counties 25 bus route, which links the rail station and city centre to the university. The stop you want is "Unthank Shops" :) Car parking can be problematic on occasions, but if you avoid the morning rush hour, you should be okay. There's roadside parking at the city end (for Zuckerman's etc.) and some shop-front spaces at the other (convenient for the chemist, newsagent, and bakery). All the shops I've talked about are in between Park Lane and College Road. Opening hours are mostly 9am-5pm, Monday-Saturday, although Budgens is 7am-11pm every day, and Zuckerman's is sometimes open until late in the summer.

Summary: