Waitrose & Partners Cheltenham

Somehow Waitrose staff always manage to make my visit pleasant, and I've been to stores around the country. They must occasionally wake up feeling under the weather, short of sleep or hung over, like the rest of us, but never bring a trace of irritable reaction to work.

Waitrose must be a good company to make the experience that consistent, but here are a few reasons I feel the Cheltenham branch is even better:
The unpackaged department has a broad range of plastic-free foods at really reasonable prices, not just quinoa and dried fruit, but even coffee beans and frozen fruit. You can bring your own containers or use paper bags to pack it up. Oh, and also refillable wines and beers on tap.

The Waite and Rose cafe has plenty of seats, with an attractive patio area outside, and herbs in planter boxes. Some of the dishes can be small for the price, but there is a variety on the menu.
Outside the store is a nice coffee truck (see photos) and they offer reusable cups for only 25p.

It's also roomier throughout than some other stores, and although it is possible to spend over £10 on some fancy Modena balsamic vinegar, you needn't spend more than anywhere else on key food items, in my experience. We always buy eggs here, feeling more confident in Waitrose's ethical standards in their supply chain than other companies.
Well worth a visit or to try out if you usually shop elsewhere.

Cafe is one of the best I have seen in a supper store, a lovely little book swap. Clean interior and the package less goods area was superb. Had a lovely pleasant conversation with a lady on checkouts.

Love this store, easy to park, very good quality of fresh fish,meat and breads, everything of quality so not cheap but worth it.
I Went again yesterday to stock up on a few things and bought freshly baked olive and chiabatta rolls which I have for lunch daily, so I freeze them and when defrosted it is still fresh like when bought.
Popped in just for coffee and cake today, nice selection of cakes would recommend

In my view its the best supermarket in the area. the staff are always helpful andwill go out of their way to help you find something. Lots of carpark spaces in the underground carpark. It also has a nice cafe which my girlfriend goes to with our son a lot.

Good selection of single malt Scotch whisky. I know it was a cold day but the temperature in the store was ridiculously cold. I felt sorry for the check-out operatirs (partners) having to sit there in those conditions. At least shelf stacking or product placement staff can walk about to get warm.
It was so cold I didn't hang around in there for too long.

Sadly I will no longer be a customer of Waitrose due to being subjected to a £40 parking fine. I revisited the store within 3 hours to make multiple purchases on this occasion and have been a loyal customer of the store for years now.
The car park is so large that I have never seen it full, the need to employ a private parking firm to scam loyal customers is practically redundant therefore I can only assume that this is purely a money making scheme. The only issue this car park has is boy racers doing doughnuts in the evenings, which an ANPR system clearly isn’t tackling.
The easiest way to avoid this happening in future is to avoid the store and so the mywaitrose card I currently hold will be destroyed.

Had a nice coffee and chant. No need to book. Just turned up in my wheelchair and found a table. Staff very helpful too.

Absolutely appalling service! My partner and I (we are a young couple) came to the store this evening to get a few pressies and were accused of shop lifting. Ian, who was wearing a festive jumper was clearly not in the Christmas spirit as he unrightfully accused us of stealing out of nowhere. The girl who authenticated my alcohol purchase forgot to take the security tag off my bottle which made matters worse. I was unable to present a receipt as I didn’t believe I’d need one because I was buying confectionery that is non-refundable. The security guard then tried to take the items I had purchased off me. Although I was eventually able to prove myself, the was I was spoken to and treated was unacceptable. It was not simply a misunderstanding, it felt much more like ageist discrimination against young people from an elitist brand. Do better!