Things to look out for in Lidl and Aldi

[red & green]

I prefer Lidl to Aldi myself - I tried the 2nd Sydenham Lidl today (the one up closer to Downham) - not bad! Tbf.. i'v only tried the Anerley and the New Kent Road Aldis - I've tired many more Lidls. So far the Norbury one has been the best I think - although the one I went to today was also very good.

Is that the one just up from the big Sainsburys?

 

[gaijingirl]

Is that the one just up from the big Sainsburys?

yes... that's the one. actually my brother worked there for a while years ago but it's the first time I've visited it.

 

[red & green]

Thanks! I have gone past it so many times so it's worth a visit?

 

[gaijingirl]

Thanks! I have gone past it so many times so it's worth a visit?

I liked it. It was quiet, which is good, but I was there at about 10:45 in the morning and it has the bakery bit.

 

[red & green]

Thanks so much - I have a week off work so I will give it an early morning visit

 

[gaijingirl]

Thanks so much - I have a week off work so I will give it an early morning visit

It's just like other lidls - i jsut found it easier than, say, the one on Sydenham high street, or on Acre Lane - bit quieter overall.

 

[red & green]

Will give it a go

 

[nogojones]

I've only ever been into two Aldi and three Lidl but a survey based on just five stores stores leads me to conclude that Lidl is much nicer than Aldi. Is this a national experience or is just the difference between Todmorden, Sowerby Bridge and Clitheroe (Lidl) and Halifax and Keighley (Aldi)?

Aldi looks nicer, but Lidl's is better generally I find.

 

[angryfaceman]

I love the bakery in lidl, I have to walk past it every morning on the way to work.
Had their lobster the other day too. Very nice for £6
Also enjoying the Christmas goodies. Stollen bites are lovely

 

[Biddlybee]

My experience based on Aldis in Peckham and Cheadle, and Lidls in Brixton, Peckham and Streatham is that Aldi is nicer.

Where's the aldi in peckham?

 

[Greebo]

Where's the aldi in peckham?

Ms T do you mean the one near Ilderton Road? I go into E&C and then double back down New Kent Road & Old Kent Road to reach it by bus.

Edited to add: Hence I'm never quite sure whether it's in Peckham, Camberwell, or somewhere else.

 

[Shirl]

Aldi looks nicer, but Lidl's is better generally I find.

Where I am, Aldi looks a bit grim but the three Lidls are light and airy and look much better.

 

[gaijingirl]

The first time I went they were selling wetsuits which I thought was kind of interesting for Finsbury Park

yeah.. snowboard helmets in Sydenham was a bit incongruous too - although it is quite hilly around there...

 

[Ms T]

Where's the aldi in peckham?

On the Old Kent Rd, down the bottom past the big Asda and Tesco, and near the Toys'r'Us.

 

[RedDragon]

I did hear of horse blankets in hackney, but that may of been an urban myth.

 

[Biddlybee]

On the Old Kent Rd, down the bottom past the big Asda and Tesco, and near the Toys'r'Us.

Ah I never think of that as Peckham, its a bastard by bus!

 

[Greebo]

On the Old Kent Rd, down the bottom past the big Asda and Tesco, and near the Toys'r'Us.

That's the one! Nice enough once you've got there but I'd have to buy a lot there to justify the time (about an hour each way) and extra bus fares.

 

[monsterbunny]

The other week a bunch of German board members made an unscheduled appearance at a Surrey branch where the staff were told to remove their poppies lest it cause offence. I'll never set food in Lidl again.

 

[maomao]

The other week a bunch of German board members made an unscheduled appearance at a Surrey branch where the staff were told to remove their poppies lest it cause offence. I'll never set food in Lidl again.

Why? For employing Basil Fawlty as a store manager? I find that Christmas football ad (Sainsbury? Tesco?) far more offensive but a one-man boycott isn't going to have much effect.

 

[Shirl]

The other week a bunch of German board members made an unscheduled appearance at a Surrey branch where the staff were told to remove their poppies lest it cause offence. I'll never set food in Lidl again.

That does sound like an idiot store manager to be honest. I agree with maomao about the Sainsbury ad. I find that offensive too.

 

[monsterbunny]

Why? For employing Basil Fawlty as a store manager? I find that Christmas football ad (Sainsbury? Tesco?) far more offensive but a one-man boycott isn't going to have much effect.

Perhaps not, but at least my ethical standards haven't been compromised. I don't suppose my boycott of Costa Coffee, Starbucks, Google, Sainsbury, SportsDirect, Amazon and numerous other businesses using unscrupulous employment methods matters much either, but it does to me. And that's what's important.

 

[maomao]

Perhaps not, but at least my ethical standards haven't been compromised. I don't suppose my boycott of Costa Coffee, Starbucks, Google, Sainsbury, SportsDirect, Amazon and numerous other businesses using unscrupulous employment methods matters much either, but it does to me. And that's what's important.

A couple of those are actually organised boycotts though so you're contributing to something bigger that hopefully does have an effect. And I've been known to withdraw my business from a company when they've offended me personally (British Telecom and EDF ). I just think your Lidl boycott is a bit odd because a) it probably stems from a stupid decision by one dickhead manager who could just as easily work for any supermarket and b) do they even know why you're withholding your business? A strongly worded letter to their customer services department would probably be more useful in making trouble for the dickhead manager in question. I can't find a source for your story and it's the kind of thing that the Mail and Express would usually be all over. Where did you hear about it?

 

[gentlegreen]

My local Aldi has a store manager who seems to hate plants.
I wonder why they even put them out on show after the staff have failed to water them.
I reckon they must be wasting at least a third of them.

 

[dlx1]

My local Aldi has a store manager who seems to hate plants.
I wonder why they even put them out on show after the staff have failed to water them.
I reckon they must be wasting at least a third of them.

Didn't know you was local to me!
Don't water here too.

 

[monsterbunny]

A couple of those are actually organised boycotts though so you're contributing to something bigger that hopefully does have an effect. And I've been known to withdraw my business from a company when they've offended me personally (British Telecom and EDF ). I just think your Lidl boycott is a bit odd because a) it probably stems from a stupid decision by one dickhead manager who could just as easily work for any supermarket and b) do they even know why you're withholding your business? A strongly worded letter to their customer services department would probably be more useful in making trouble for the dickhead manager in question. I can't find a source for your story and it's the kind of thing that the Mail and Express would usually be all over. Where did you hear about it?

Blaming a frightened shop manager is a bit like blaming a clerical worker in the DWP for enforcing the odious ideology of arbeit macht frei as espoused by Lord Freud and Iain Duncan Smith.

Lidl have a non-unionised workforce; employing mainly foreign nationals on zero hours contracts who are unaware of their employment rights and are therefore expendable and easily replaced.

They rule by fear. Cameras continually observe staff taking toilet breaks and rest periods. Workers are on 24 hour callout frequently having to work back to back shifts. Shift patterns can be arbitrarily changed by management. Humiliation is a tool in their armoury, attendance at lengthy staff meetings is compulsory and unpaid. Any sickness is replaced on the rota by a worker’s days off.

The Guardian exposed their working practices in 2007, but have become strangely quiet ever since the economic crash, perhaps because their readers are now flocking to Lidl stores to stock up on frozen lobster and seasonal stollen.

Recent press reports include banning staff from speaking Welsh in their Welsh shops. Poles are not allowed to converse with each other in Polish in Lidl outlets in Scotland.

I can understand why people who cannot afford to go elsewhere would shop at Lidl; because they have no choice, but everyone else should feel ashamed for swelling Dieter Schwarz’s personal coffers. According to Forbes his net worth is currently in excess of $21Bn making him the 23rd richest person in the world.

 

[friendofdorothy]

I did hear of horse blankets in hackney, but that may of been an urban myth.

Not an urban myth in Brixton. I remember the horsie special week in Lidl, about 15 yrs ago. I remember thinking those horse blankets are very cheap. I recall the whips, reigns,boots etc sold out really quickly. Not many stables around here - but Fist and Torture Garden nightclubs were based nearby...

 

[Looby]

Avoid Lidl whole camembert. It tastes of nothing and doesn't melt. Mine has the consistency of scrambled egg.

Eurgghhhh.

 

[BoatieBird]

Tinned Potato Rosti - Aldi - got to get some - don't know why, but I have high hopes for some reason

We've just had this for lunch, chose a pan that was too big so it was impossible to flip over. It ended up as more of a potato hash, but oh my it is totally delicious. We garnished it with a fried egg

 

[Wilson]

isn't it just grated potato in a tin?

 

[BoatieBird]

isn't it just grated potato in a tin?

Largely
It also has onion, garlic & loads of fat