Who we visited

Smile, Old Market Street, Bristol

Spar, Warwick Road, Solihull, West Midlands

premier, Broadfield Barton, Crawley, West Sussex

tesco EXpress, High Street, Woodville, Derbyshire

tesco metro, New Street, Birmingham



How they performed

The Smile on Old Market Road in Bristol was exceptionally clean, tidy and attractively laid out. However, the store was out of stock of Fairy washing-up liquid. It also did not stock a six-pack of unsmoked bacon or a 250g pack of Tetley tea bags.

The Spar on Warwick Road in Solihull, West Midlands was out of the 4-pint bottle of semi-skimmed milk when our mystery shopper visited. The store also did not stock multi-packs of Stella Artois and only had weight-sized packs of bacon rather than a six-pack. She felt the pricing and presentation of the bacon was confusing. However, she found the store pleasant to shop in and the staff were polite and helpful.

Our shopper at the Broadfield Premier store in Crawley, West Sussex, said it had a "threatening" atmosphere, with lots of hooded youths hanging about both outside and in. The store did not stock multi-packs of Stella Artois or a branded block of butter.

The Tesco Express on High Street in Woodville, Derbyshire, had almost all the items our shopper was looking for. However, it only stocked eight-packs of bacon, rather than six-packs. The store had a promotion of two for £7.20 on the Stella Artois 4 x 440ml pack and two for £2.30 on the Coca-Cola two-litre bottle.

Our shopper at The Tesco Metro on New Street in Birmingham also found that the store did not stock a six-pack of unsmoked bacon. She came across the same beverage promotions as the shopper at the Tesco Express in Derbyshire. She also found additional promotions of two for £2.20 on Tetley tea bags and two for £1.19 on 250g of Kerry Gold butter.