The two marks of being middle class have to be an overriding concern with house prices and strongly held opinions on the relative merits of supermarkets. I find myself distressed to write this post, therefore.

I’ve been a big fan of Out of this World since I got to Newcastle. The small, packed high organic shop that was here when I arrived re-opened last year as a bigger, more spacious place. Of course, it had plenty of terribly worthy food; food that you could eat with a clear conscience but without that much enjoyment. But it also had a lot of great stuff; the fruit and veg section was pretty good. The dried fruit and nut selection probably the best that I have seen. I was particularly fond of the dried mango slices.

Today, however, I’ve found that it is shutting down. I suspect that they over-expanded; as well as the new location here, they have opened a new store in York. Then, they’ve also been hit by the new Sainsburies which opened next door (ironically over the site of their old store). As well as having a bigger range, Sainsbury’s is open for longer, including Sundays, and has free parking. It’s an old story, and not a surprise; I was just waiting for the time. I can’t help but be depressed, though, that the three rows of wierd things, of strange grains that you have never heard of, their bank of honeys from different parts of the UK, have been replaced by three rows of ready-meal uniformity.

Still, look on the bright side, combined with decline of Northern Rock (also based in Gosforth), perhaps it will mean a drop in local house prices.

Originally published on my old blog site.