Thorntons Budgens of Crouch End

Nice shop, good selection of bottled British beers, good wine range if a bit pricey for global brands. Good ”ethnic” sections including Ireland (TK, Club, Tayto, Clonakilty puddings, etc.) Good meat counter with Gloucester Black Spot pork sourced from Norfolk. Wouldn’t be some peoples cup of tea if they had to do a full shop but for little treats it’s great.

I used to live in crouch end a few years ago and this budgens was a rather shabby place with little that i wanted to buy but since it’s refit it seems to have improved remarkably. I don’t do my entire shop in here but one thing that i can recommend this shop for is it’s excellent range of bottled ales/​beers which is unrivalled by anywhere nearby carries most of the more well known breweries beers (fullers, youngs, st peters…) and a whole lot more from breweries that you may or may not have heard of including quiet a range of bottle conditioned ales — for beer fans a treat!

I do like this Budgens as you can get a wide range of different foods, it feels less corporate and standardised than the Tesco next door. It does stock a good variety of food here but can be inconsistent in actually having stock in. The other main draw back is that it is slightly more expensive (without warranting it) so wouldn’t do a full shop here. The deli section can do nice food as well.

An independently owned and operated supermarket, pretty nifty I think. There motto is «better value than you think», but it was still out of my price range, so I hopped the bus with a Crouch End local and went to Sainsburries for my weekly shop, a 15 minute trip she tells me. This is one of the more ethical shops I have been in, which seems to be a trend in Crouch End. They have done away with plastic bags, (so make sure to bring a trolly to carry your goods home with) so now they can clam that only 6% of their waste will be in a landfill and the money they are saving is raising money for a children’s charity. This is another place where shopping here is helping others. They try to stock locally produced products (within 100 miles of the shop) as well as your other necessities. If you spend £25 or more they will deliver your groceries to your for free, which is a nice touch I think.

This budgens is not like a normal S$%%t Budgens. This branch is totally gourmet.
This branch sells tofu and has continental cheeses. They have Oatcakes. They sell freshly baked bread.
This store caters for the Organic, Fair Trade, I’m from Crouch End Upper Middle Class, still can’t afford to live in Islington crowd.

This sort of supermarket is not what springs to mind when you think of the Budgens name. However, this store is an independent and very unlike most local supermarkets (including the Tesco next door). Little gems within it include the freshly-​made ‘ready meals’ (if that’s not a contradiction in terms) from a local company, a juice bar, and a selection of locally-​produced items such as jam and cake. However, it is quite pricey and it can be a bit awkward if you don’t have a car and thus rely on Budgens for the majority of your groceries. The quality is mostly good, but sometimes hit-​and-​miss; I have noticed a tendency for the vegetable section to include items that are past their sell-​by date.
Back on the positive side, the staff are generally helpful and the shop is making an effort to curb the use of plastic bags. All in all, a great local store, but not the place to do your main shop if you can avoid it, particularly if there are more than two of you in the house.

Expensive, but you do get what you pay for; the quality is excellent. An asset to the area since the refurb and definitely beats Tesco next door

I have to say i don’t normally review a supermarket but this little one in the heart of crouch end is great. Might not do my normal weekly shop but at lunch time they are my best place to go. The staff are always helpfully.

This shop looks brilliant now that it has been refurbished. They sell more organic stuff and has a healthier range. The people working there are nicer and also the prices are more ranged. Yes some things are too pricey thats why people go to the tesco express next door, but in budgens you know you wont be dissapointed. I myself have never faced any difficulties with the store so i would recommend it

I know it’s a bit odd to be celebrating a mini supermarket like Budgens, but this store has been taken over as an independent, the franchise bought by one Andrew Thornton, and as I heard him give a talk at a local food event I thought I would revisit the store. The new owner’s aim is to source products as locally as possible, when possible finding producers within the 100-​mile radius that counts as local for London. The closest is Dunn’s Bakery, over the road (though I’ve not checked where their flour comes from, I think I remember reading about it being pretty local too). There is a juice bar inside, nice cheese counter, and a campaign to reduce plastic bag use which donated money to a local school. The groceries came to more than when I shopped at the lovely close-​by Broadway Fruiterers, but if it’s an all-​rounder supermarket trip you are after, at least this one is making an effort to reduce food miles and to support the smaller producers. Much nicer than the crappy Tesco next door!