Shopping in Northern Ireland

boopolo

Snaggerman wrote: »

I'm heading to Lisburn (Sprucefield) at the weekend. I plan on leaving early enough to try and avoid the gridlock around Newry. Just wondering if anyone can reccommend an alternative route just in case the N1 is chock a bloc at 7.30ish?
Also, is there an Asda to be found in the Newry/ Lisburn area. One google suggests one in Armagh, but that one seems to be ether closed or actually a Morrissons. Is Kilkeel viable, ie not too far out of the way?
Thanks in advance

Snaggerman
There is a big Asda less than 30 mins up the road. They have well stocked shelves. See my post from yesterday with map etc. Lots of parking in the carpark. It is just off the motorway before Belfast.

TarfHead

JJJJNR wrote: »

Can anyone recommend a good place for shopping a bit past newry, I dont mind going that bit further to get some parking etc..

Bear in mind that you would still get caught up with the traffic heading for Newry. There is a way of avoid a lot of that, detailed earlier in this thread.

Snaggerman

Thanks Boo, will check that out. Any suggestions to avoid Newry anyone?

Just saw your post Tarf, what I'm looking for is a detailed route that I can drop into the gps

boopolo

Snaggerman wrote: »

Thanks Boo, will check that out. Any suggestions to avoid Newry anyone?

Just saw your post Tarf, what I'm looking for is a detailed route that I can drop into the gps

Helicopter?

TarfHead

boopolo wrote: »

Snaggerman
There is a big Asda less than 30 mins up the road. They have well stocked shelves. See my post from yesterday with map etc. Lots of parking in the carpark. It is just off the motorway before Belfast.

If you're going to drive up that far, check out Forestside SC. It's a good suburban (Newtownbreda) SC, e.g. Sainsburys, NEXT, Smyths. It shouldn't be suffering the throngs of Irish cars heading for Newry or Lisburn. Once you come off the M1, it's about 15 minutes.

TarfHead

Snaggerman wrote: »

Thanks Boo, will check that out. Any suggestions to avoid Newry anyone?

Just saw your post Tarf, what I'm looking for is a detailed route that I can drop into the gps

See post #775, supplied by KingShankley

boopolo

Snaggerman wrote: »

Thanks Boo, will check that out. Any suggestions to avoid Newry anyone?

Just saw your post Tarf, what I'm looking for is a detailed route that I can drop into the gps

Well actually if you go late, or very early. Like at 5pm there is no traffic at all. Asda is open 24 hours and you can buy drink till 11pm I think.

Boo

Snaggerman

boopolo wrote: »

Helicopter?

Don't think I'd get too many beer cases into it:)

soccerc

Snaggerman wrote: »

Don't think I'd get too many beer cases into it:)

Well considering the lack of beer stock today in Sainsbury's (Lisburn) and Asda (Kennedy Way) that won;t be a problem:D.

No Guinness
No Bottled Magners
No (decent strength) Carlsberg
No Heineken

Plenty of Tennents Coors Lite and Carling but no slabs of any beer!

Our man in Havana

There will be nothing left if you leave it too late.

Snaggerman

What time was that, thimble?

beolight

boopolo wrote: »

Helicopter?

all booked out by government minisiters and junior ministers

some first class seats have recently been freed up on on short hop inland air flights though if your interested

EdgarAllenPoo

Was up in ASDA today, woman at the til said they took in £1.2 million last week alone thanks to Southern shoppers.

Apart from a 10 minute queue at the til it was well worth it, I would have paid the guts of €120 for the drink I bought down here and all I paid there was €67.

My brother bought 3 packs(20 in a pack) of kids pullups and it only cost £10 whereas you'd pay €15 for one pack here.

soccerc

Snaggerman wrote: »

What time was that, thimble?

We were there from 11am, staff said beer was sold out over weekend but fresh stocks due today/tonight in time for tomorrows trades

Good value in wines and spirits, Absolute and Smirnnoff Vodka, Jameson, Gordons Gin all £14 for litre bottles. Speciail on Bushmills 10 year old single malt £20.

Bloke ahead of me spent almost stg£2k and reckons he saved €3k. I am assuming he was in the trade if you know what I mean;).

EDIT/ One more thing, Disabled Parking Spaces are for Blue Badege holders only - All the spots in Spurcefield were occupied by southern regged cars without the Badge. Caused us some difficulty as normal spots will not allow door to open fully so we can swivel the car seat and access for the wheelchaor.

Fidelis

It's now €1 : £0.85 according to xe.com and x-rates.

boopolo

thimblefull wrote: »

Well considering the lack of beer stock today in Sainsbury's (Lisburn) and Asda (Kennedy Way) that won;t be a problem:D.

No Guinness
No Bottled Magners
No (decent strength) Carlsberg
No Heineken

Plenty of Tennents Coors Lite and Carling but no slabs of any beer!

Thats cause i got it all on Saturday
Well when I was there on Saturday (Asda, Kennedy Way) the boys kept bringing in more beer, spirits from the store. There was no Tia Maria. I asked the tall guy there. He said try in a half an hour, as they keep bringing stuff from the store. Ten minutes later we saw some boxes of it on the trolly. Got four bottles (700ml) for £36. They only had heineken (5%) in bottles (£14.98 for 24). Guinness draught cans were expensive (£14.98 for 15 400ml) Any of These Wines were £10 for 3 bottles.

MORISH

Does anyone know if the bargins up north extend's to engagement rings??

jakeyb

Is the Outlet in Newry or Banbridge? just wondering are there more clothes shops in Newry

tks

gurramok

This was Sainsburys on Sun at 12pm. I was halfway in queue. What you see ahead of me was on outside, add an equal number that were behind me, then just double those 2 numbers for those queueing inside the centre.

Mayhem and chaos, all southerners. Be there in car parks before 11am to get a spot is my advice and earlier if you want to eat upstairs for a Sun!

brettmirl

Wow!

When was the last time you saw people queuing outside Dunnes or Supervalu!

gurramok

mick_irl wrote: »

Wow!

When was the last time you saw people queuing outside Dunnes or Supervalu!

Yeh, never

Its not just the alco stuff thats cheaper.

Even groceries are way cheaper nevermind the usual choc prices. Big shampoo bottles about €1.50 cheaper, food like ready meals are half price when you factor in the 'buy 1, get 1 free' offers and there are plenty of them.

I noticed alot of people stuffing their trolleys with baby stuff and toilet rolls!

My other half spent about 300 euro in Boots getting prezzies and essentials and i spent about 270 euro in Sainbsurys so thats 570 gain for Newry shops.

I havent even started getting electricals yet, thats a 2nd journey for xmas.

jakeyb wrote:

Is the Outlet in Newry or Banbridge? just wondering are there more clothes shops in Newry

Don't think so in Newry, defo Banbridge i believe.

Best way to compare for clothes shops. If you know Blanch shoppin centre with all the UK clothing multiples, well most of them that are in Blanch are also in Newry including Irish ones as well (A-wear, Dunnes etc)

muckety

What is the best way to pay (with apologies if this has been well dealt with earlier, there are too many pages to sift through) - laser/Maestro, credit card, euro cash or should I go to bank in advance and exchange to sterling?

kleefarr

muckety wrote: »

What is the best way to pay (with apologies if this has been well dealt with earlier, there are too many pages to sift through) - laser/Maestro, credit card, euro cash or should I go to bank in advance and exchange to sterling?

I'm going with Euro cash next week. Even if they only give you the going exchange rate you'll save on the exchange rate at banks and on cards.
If we're lucky enough we'll get €1-£1, but .85c-£1 will do me.

dodzy

Update: Left Blanchardstown at 825am yesterday heading to Newry. Did not fanct the mayhem of the dreaded N3 / M50 to M1 so I opted to head out thru tyrellstown, crossing the old north rd (N2 i think ) and merged with the M1 at swords. 25 mins to this point. 1hr from here to Quays carpark. Some traffic on the hill into Newry but no issues compared to weekend posters reports. Plenty of spaces at 10.00am. That said, many Southerners were finished and loading up the cars at 10 :eek: The usual suspects - Alco and food.

As previously posted, great deals on beer, particularly 1lt of Smirnoff = 14£ although you can get it cheaper elsewhere in this thread. Very busy inside the shop. They now accept laser in Sainsburys. Er indoors spent 236£ ( maybe 10 bottles of spirits / good wines / beer and a LOT of groceries and Xmas stuff. Reckon that easily 100€+ saved.

Loaded up the car and headed into the stores. Jack and Jones still on € for £ but beware; the selection is poor :mad: you are not getting the selection of down here - still though, worth a look.

Music stores / game stores were thronged at this time ( 11.30am). PS3 bundles going a storm. Wii games ( €55 in Smyths here ) only £29.99 there. Music CDs, DVDs, blue-ray - I seen plenty of savings

TIP: Xavvi in buttercrane has good deals with a little less queues to contend with.

No doubt you'll head for a peep in Buttercrane S.C across the road.

TIP: If you can, take a spot in the Quays car park close to the exit and WALK across the the Buttercrane !

Arrived in Banbridge Outlet at 3.00pm ( Travel time from Quays S.C - 15mins max. When you exit the Quays, turn right and proceed through the town, well signposted, approx 13km. Carpark empty :eek: surprised. Again, one or two units doing £ for € ( Replay clothing was one ) but again, selection not great, particularly in the Nike / Puma stores. Limited siaes in footwear. Largest mens sizes - 8.5 !!!! Uncanny how the decent trainers in the range were all limited sizes

TIP: Try and pick up a discount booklet if you can. Got one last time ( October ) worth 10% - 20% discounts in many of the stores here so good saving to be has if you find things you like.

Example: Pavers shoes here were selling caterpillar boots ( tanned ) for 62£. Same boots were £44 in Buttercrane ! I've been told that they sell here for approx €100:eek:

Left there at 5.00pm - She had to POP in to Smyths ( its like a drug with her )which you hit on the way back to Dublin ( along with Currys, Halfords, MFI, B&Q etc ). These stores are at the back of Newry so best left to hit on the return trip.

1 hr from here to M50. No traffic issues from here to the 1st roundabout entering Newry and from here - plain sailing. Hit the M1/M50 junction at 7.00pm, heading for Blanchardstown. I'm sure I dont need to elaborate any further on what traffic fun awaited me here:mad:



All in all, well worth a trip. Particularly, early & mid-week !

Enjoy

bcirl03

Great post dodzy

Anyone any idea what the traffic will be like Friday morning - thinking of leaving Dublin 7:30 ish.

Thanks,

BC

tribulus

I'll be leaving early on a Wednesday morning but might head up to Lisburn after Newry - does anyone know if they'll take euro that far north? Won't have a credit card so need to know whether to bring sterling in advance.

barongreen

Has late shopping kicked in, in newry yet. thinking of going up this evening arriving at 4ish. This madness

Stky10

barongreen wrote: »

Has late shopping kicked in, in newry yet. thinking of going up this evening arriving at 4ish. This madness

Was thinking the same myself. Just think of the killing they'd make if they went 24hour. Hopefully, they'll do it for the week before christmas.

veryangryman

How much is a Nintendo Wii up in Norn Iron?

Best deal like?

tantipie

barongreen wrote: »

Has late shopping kicked in, in newry yet. thinking of going up this evening arriving at 4ish. This madness

shops open till 9 or 10 as of yesterday,,

DonJose

If you are interested in seeing a dedicated "Northern Ireland Bargain Alerts", please visit the link below and show your support.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055429431

snaps

was in Enniskillen yesterday (ON A MONDAY) and the asda car parks were full by 11am. The wait at the tills was over 30 mins. i overheard local people moaning about all the southerners coming up and they cant even go and do their normal shop now because of the surge from the republic. I then headed over to Tesco, where it was calmer. Got some terrific bargins, all well known spirits were 13£ for 1L (Bells, gordons, smirnoff). Wine that I drink was near enough half the price, brought 12 bottles!!! Beer worked out so much cheaper per 100ml (Carlslerg €3.25/l here, €1.51/L in the north!)

Also boots/M&S were fantastic value compared to down here. The boots deodrant i use is 2.49€ here, the exact same one in boots in the north was .97p!!!

Was in Heatons finally, were i brought some plain T shirts, Heatons in Castlebar were selling for 9€, Heatons in enniskillen were selling for 5.79£!!

Argos to was so much cheaper, some presents i was going to buy here were around 40% cheaper at least in argos in the north. the 3 presents i brought here would have totalled 185€, Argos in the north the same 3 presents came to £84 (€108 charged to me CC) plus a £5 voucher!

I done a comparison of the cars in the car park and i would say that 75-80% of the cars were southern reg.

People say its not worth the price of petrol etc for the journey up? well i used just over €20 petrol, the wine alone saved me that!

marcowil

tribulus wrote: »

I'll be leaving early on a Wednesday morning but might head up to Lisburn after Newry - does anyone know if they'll take euro that far north? Won't have a credit card so need to know whether to bring sterling in advance.

All the shops at Sprucefield (M&S, Sainsburys etc) take euro but most of the shops in the city centre (probably) wont.

Just for a guide - i changed €100 in Sprucefield Sainsburys on Friday and got exactly £80 - M&S also have an exchange and the post office in Lisburn city centre offers quite a good exchange rate

kleefarr

Are there any other tolls on the way up to Sprucefield apart from the M50?

dereko1969

m1

kleefarr

Is that cash or camera like the M50?

Our man in Havana

kleefarr wrote: »

Is that cash or camera like the M50?

Cash or tag only.

kleefarr

Ah, thanks. Not been on the M1 before, is the toll in Southern Ireland? Euro?

lynchie

kleefarr wrote: »

Ah, thanks. Not been on the M1 before, is the toll in Southern Ireland? Euro?

Yes and Yes

kleefarr

Great. Thanks guys. Heading up a week tomorrow. Hope they have stocked the shelves by then.:rolleyes:

the groutch

tolls + petrol used (especially when in 2 hr tailback) + overcrowding + most of your saturday gone + poor exchange rate in most places = not worth it

okidoki987

they went 24hour.

But you'll only be able to buy booze up to 11pm.

"tolls + petrol used (especially when in 2 hr tailback) + overcrowding + most of your saturday gone + poor exchange rate in most places = not worth it"

Quite a number here that would disagree with you.
Try going up on a different day.

the groutch

if I do go up, it'll be a morning midweek, and will bypass newry and head up to lisburn, banbridge,etc

kleefarr

the groutch wrote: »

if I do go up, it'll be a morning midweek, and will bypass newry and head up to lisburn, banbridge,etc

Yep, sounds about right to me. Leaving Kilkenny at 5am Wednesday week. Will try the M50/M1 route at that time in the morning.

jelly4

There were 11KM tailbacks going into Newry last Saturday. I think the best thing to do is to just by pass newry + go on to Craigavon, Lisburn or Belfast. You can barely move with the amount of people in the Quays and the buttercrane, the shelves are empty in Sainsburys and theres kids running around screaming and crying. If you must go to Newry avoid it like the plague during the weekends. Your best bet is to go in the evening. There are great bargains in Newry but these bargains are in the less packed shops that are further north too.

the groutch

you'd need to be out that early to avoid trouble at the mad cow roundabout

kleefarr

Should be up to Mad Cow about 6:30am. Would it bad then?
Will then head up via the M1 using the ring road around Newry.

the groutch

that should be fine

Jimpsta

okidoki987 wrote: »

But you'll only be able to buy booze up to 11pm.

"tolls + petrol used (especially when in 2 hr tailback) + overcrowding + most of your saturday gone + poor exchange rate in most places = not worth it"

Quite a number here that would disagree with you.
Try going up on a different day.

Asda in liverpool sell booze 24hrs

is it different in NI perhaps?

Our man in Havana

Yes, there are different laws in England and Wales.