British Grocery

Just spoke to who I believe is the new owner. She was soooo nice! They have moved to 1890 Bryant St. Near Mariposa.

THIS STORE IS NOW CLOSED AS OF LATE APRIL 2012. I found out the hard way today.

tucked away on a dead end street in protrero hill is this gem of a market. i prefer coming here rather than trekking across town to stock up on rashers, bangers, and many other imported goodies. they also keep their stock current and never sell perished items.

I have been wanting to try this place for about a year. I grew up in Scotland and always have to check out local suppliers of my childhood favorites.
First off let me say that it’s lovely from the outside. A cute little white cottage in an alley. You ring the doorbell for entry and then walk down the stairs to the store. Very cute. But that’s about the end of the excitement for me I’m afraid.
Their selection was Meh. I was very excited when I saw the wall of crisps and started to stock up on some favorite flavors but then I saw the expiration dates… at least 6 months past. I understand how hard it it to sell these off in time and oftentimes the vendors here receive them right at or just around the expiration dates. But 6 months was a bit off.
The freezer section is where I always go wild in these stores. I love to stock up on Steak pies and sausage rolls. This might have just been wiped out by another eager customer but there were only a few pies and they were all the steak and kidney kind :(. I DID buy some sausage rolls but once I made them at home the puff pastry was not puffed and they just tasted old. Double :(
The candy selection was just not exciting at all. I’m going to be really honest and say that the corner store right next to my house already has Crunchies, Curly Wurlies, Flakes etc and they are cheaper.
The majority of the store was taken up by a lovely teapot collection that you could purchase from. In fact, that’s what I would recommend here. Go for the teapots and maybe buy a chocolate bar while you are there.
I went here ready to stock up and left with one little bag. I guess I’ll make the trek to San Carlos to my favorite store (
) when it’s time for me to do some serious shopping

Aww, I went here with hopes of buying some British groceries but it turned out to be a sad excuse of a store. They didn’t even carry jammy dodgers, they were out of stock. I didn’t find anything I wouldn’t find in regular grocery store. The store was tiny, about as small as a storage closet and there wasn’t much to chose from besides candy bars and such. I will probably not return to this store since it was pretty sad. :(

This place was hard to find! I had to call the store to confirm the address and the directions. This store is on 15^th Street near Portero. when you’re at !5^th and Portrero, looking ahead, all you see is a dead end and factory type places. little did I know this Bristish Grocery is located there!
The nice gentleman confirmed the location and of course I got there 2 minutes after speaking w/​him and he even asked me if I was the young lady that called, haha.
You have to ring the bell otherwise you can’t get in. This place is closed Mondays. I learned that the only thing USA made are the packaged crumpets. These products are imported so you can imagine the prices. even a candybar can make a hole in your wallet but I must admit– I came here w/​no knowledge whatsoever and I had no clue what is that I was looking for.
All I know is that Dharam is from London and he mentioned quite frequently that he misses the food and pastries and sweets there so I Unilocaled and this place is one of a few that came up that aren’t a tea lounge place…
I got a mini pie (frozen), bangers (frozen), 2 candybars, and a Heinz can of beans. I could swear the Heinz brand reminded me of ketchup but hey, what do I know. I was born here, haha.
I noticed there is a small section of antques here too. I didn’t look but boy do they look expensive. Anyway– the nice man who is also the owner rang me up and everything took less than 15 minutes. I was seriously going, «Wow» or «Cool» at a lot of the products, mainly the sweets selections. I also saw Cadbury Eggs but didn’t get it because we have it here. right? Hmmm.

I think it’s brilliant and bravo for this marvelous quaint little place. I covet all their teas and of course with my little sugar tooth situation, I always gravitate toward all of the wonderful British candies. Oh, I am naughty and those candy bars rock my little world in a very brilliant way. Stay true to the Bristish flag my former ex-​pats, but never disrespect the two things every Brit adores – our royalty and our jammie dodgers!

As Brits recently moved to San Francisco we were glad to find this. We bought maltesers and mustard powder. However, we didn’t notice at the time, but both were a long way past their sell-​by date. The maltesers were pretty horrible though the mustard powder seems ok.
We got our mince pies from ‘You Say Tomato’ on California and they were fine, so plan to stick to that store in the future.

When you have a hankering for Irish bacon, Prawn flavored crisps, or the penultimate Ribena, then this is the place for you. Parking is ample, the service is spot on, and the selection of traditional British fare is brilliant!

Don’t be fooled by the word Grocery in the name, this is a tiny basement store with no produce what so ever. Maybe I’m misunderstanding the definition of the word grocery but you cannot buy everything you need for even one meal here, fortunately it’s right behind the Safeway strip mall on 16^th.
I mostly like to come here for the tea; they carry PG Tips my favorite tea in the world. They also have proper English bacon, frozen meat pies, assorted other English favorites, and even teapots.
The old guy that runs this place seems like a proper English gentleman from a movie. He’s polite but a little aloof. You have to ring the doorbell for entrance and he comes up the stairs to let you in. The place is a little claustrophobic because it’s jam packed with stuff.
I like this place but I dislike the hours, who closes a retail shop at five PM?

A tad overpriced but you can’t beat the feeling of this store. You wonder where it is, you ring the bell, go downstairs ans start wondering. Jaffa cakes, Fairy soap… the mint sauce I had in London! The atmosphere was a little bit decadent with complete silence and the compressor of the refrigerator cranking up but when I saw a bunch of black puddings I completely didn’t care anymore. Sure that 5.20 $ for 12 Jaffa cakes is a little bit pricey but I don’t mind supporting stores like this if they feed me with hard-​to-​find goodies.

The very existence of this place is pretty awesome, as is its authentically British owner and charming setting, and a visit here is certainly a must for anyone who’s ever come back from the UK and found it awfully hard to readjust to life without their daily cup of tea.
However, I simply can’t give it 5 stars, because in our cosmopolitan city you can already find Colman’s Mustard, Wilkin & Son’s Jam, HP Brown Sauce, Twining’s Tea, Clotted Cream, and crumpets fairly easily, and definitely at cheaper prices. Now finding Fairy Soap, or a equally large selection of teapots, might be harder. But blimey, you’d have to be a rich old codger to shop here all the time. Also, a suggestion for luring in more carb-​crazy San Franciscans: carry some freshly baked scones! After all, how can you have a proper teatime without that?

Lovely, Lovely, Lovely little shop, I must say!
I was on my way to pick up a few of the «Real Dogs, Real Rescues» calendar today.
and lo and behold, right across the street, I notice a sign:
BRITISH GROCERY– OPEN
Hmm, I thought… Perhaps I can find me some Jammie Dodgers?
Sing it with me if you know it, everyone…
What’s more jammy than a jammie dodger?
A crunchy, munchy, yummy jammie dodger?
Nothing’s more jammy, nothing’s more jammy, you can’t get more jammy than a jammie dodger.
Seriously, it was quite a catchy tune on the radio (in England) a few years back.
The salesclerk, Simone, was sooo helpful and was running the shop as her dad (the owner) was in the back.
Repectfully, *everything* there was Made in England. The lovely china, teacups, teapots… which was, I must admit, surprising.
And, reasonably priced, considering I’m sure the Pound Sterling is kicking the butt out of the US Dollar!!~~~
My purchases today:
1. Made in England «Forget me Knots Blue Teapot (slightly imperfect, hence a bargain at) $ 14,95
2. Box o’ Blackberry & Elderflower Tea, $ 6,95– to be used with the lovely new teapot.
3. Package o’ Jammie Dodgers, $ 3,65
And for those of you who know, *no*, i did not *need* yet another teapot.
But… much like bags, I *love* and *adore* teapots, too.
Good to know: Weekends, parking is much much easier on that hill, so stopping in on a Saturday is a *perfect* little thing to do!
OH. and Fairy detergent! I *wish* i had bought it~!!
OH… and Neighborhood… Mission? Nah, more like Potrero Hill.

Did I just ride BART from Berkeley and walk 15 minutes uphill in the blazing sun to get here?
Yes. Yes I did.
Was it worth it? Definitely.
The promise of Marmite was enough to coax me out of the apartment and travel myself to this little shop.
Little is an understatement. This place is tiny… and underground.
The selection is very limited, carrying British essentials like jam, clotted cream, marmite, and soap.
Also one of the few places in the States where you can say, «Can I bum a fag,» and be understood.
P. S. Do not ring the wrong doorbell.
Be sure to stop by Dandelion while you’re in the neighborhood.

As much as I want to minus half a star for prices and another half for it’s lack of square footage — I can’t. I simply can’t because I really love the fact that you have to doorbell to enter the store, just like going to gram and grappy’s house for tea and some good olé McVitie’s. The shop has a wide array of chocolates and pies (i.e., Pork, Steak and Kidney, Shepard’s, etc.).
Granted, you need to break the bank a bit for this place and there certainly is no British Grocery Card to build credit (I wish there was) but it is a nice place to get those British goods! Lastly, the place sells authentic house wares and they would make some pretty amazing gifts for that special Brit or Brit-​phile in your life!

Hard to get in but once you do, candy heaven. Expensive but worth the British chocolate! Nice owner too.

This place is FUNKY! I would have never knew it existed if it weren’t for there ad in the SF Weekly. It’ s situated in a tiny dead end street, and huddled in a basement. The owners (father & daughter) import treats every so often. They have darling accents and are informed about UK delicacies. I visited the British Grocery after returning from my 1^st London trip. I adored the varierty of crisps & chocolate across seas, and was missing it as soon as I was on the plane back to the states. Thanks to the British Grocery, I never have to leave the good ol US of A!

They sell Fairy Soap, what more can I say?