Tesco Workington store tops Lake District mystery shop

Located in Cumbria in the northwest of England, the Lake District is one of the UK’s most beautiful and best-loved regions. Its dramatic landscapes have inspired numerous literary greats, with visitors treated to stunning peaks, vast lakes and quaint villages all within the boundaries of the national park.

Its rugged beauty and protected natural charms mean a sparse population compared to much of the UK, so in the hunt for this week’s Grocer 33 retailers, the net needed to be cast wide to include nearby ‘gateway’ towns, such as lively, scenic Kendal and the more low-key market town of Penrith.

Perhaps unsurprisingly for an area with very low population density and an expensive housing market dominated by holiday or second homes, the Lake District has an older population than the UK average. Indeed, according to CACI, the area over-indexes most strongly for the demographic Mature Success (15.9% vs 7.2%) – empty nesters living in comfortable detached homes enjoying the endeavours of their earlier career with good levels of savings and investments.

This might go some way to accounting for a first ever Grocer 33 appearance by high-end northern supermarket chain Booths. But in a relatively low-scoring week across the board, it was Tesco that came out on top with 79 points. The 25,047 sq ft store on New Bridge Road in the nearby industrial coastal town of Workington posted this week’s best availability score – a modest 14 out of 20 – and excelled on customer service.

Our shopper found it “easy to locate staff”, who were “extremely friendly and helpful, and in the main were conscious of not blocking the aisles”. She also liked the store’s diminutive stature, which made it “easy to navigate”, but “disliked the lack of manned tills, as I prefer not to use self-service tills”.

A 55-minute drive inland (or a 14-hour walk – this is the Lake District, after all), Sainsbury’s in Penrith took second place with 74 points. The store was in “excellent condition”, according to our shopper, providing a “clean and efficient” experience with “clearly signed” departments.

He was also very taken by the “accessibility of car parking”, which he described as the “best thing” about his shop. Meanwhile, staff were “attentive and helpful”, though there were times when none were on hand to answer questions.

Booths and Morrisons shared third place this week on 69 points, with the former’s 20,000 sq ft store in Kendal described by our shopper as “neat and tidy” with “excellent presentation” of its fish and meat counters. Her favourite thing, though, was the presence of product tasters – a rare treat in UK supermarkets in 2026.

She also praised the “easy-to-follow” layout, “friendly and attentive” staff and “the efficiency of the checkout process”, with “the only negative aspect” being the number of unavailable items.

About 30 miles north, back in Penrith, Morrisons on Brunswick Road was praised by our shopper as a “nice, spacious store” that was “easy to manoeuvre around”. She also liked the “reasonable” prices and “good choice of products”, as well as staff that were “really friendly and helpful and found the missing products for me”. However, she was a little disappointed the customer service assistant did not “know more about the store”.

A return journey south brings us back once again to Kendal, where this week’s largest store took last place. The 46,378 sq ft Asda had two items out of stock and one not stocked, while our shopper felt the store looked “relatively tired and in need of some refurbishments”.

Worse, though, were the “confusing store layout” and “lack of staff availability”. It took our shopper “over five minutes” to find a member of staff, and when she did, “the staff member seemed disinterested and sent me to the wrong aisle”.