I think the Spar is a great shop, if it on the High Street, attached to a Filling Station or as it…read morestarted a simple corner shop you are bound to get great service and convenience. Most Spars will have either an ATM in close proximity or a mobile ATM in store which will probably charge. But don't fear cards are accepted. The Holywood road Spar is no exeption. The other great thing about the Spar is that it always seems to strive to stock as much Northern Irish produce as possible. Tayto crisps, Mash Direct, champ and potato bread can all be found at the Spar. Although having said that this Spar did not have any potatoes when I last went in and it does not get more Northern Irish than that. Having said that it was a Sunday and that's peak potato time. I will let them off, just about.

This is one of those establishments that totally infuriates me, whoever decided to build a…read moresupermarket in a filling station should be taken out and quietly shot. As such coming here for fuel is fraught with frustration as you sit waiting for a free pump whilst the person who used it before you is wandering about doing a weeks shopping. In the event you get pulled up at a pump and filled up, you can wander into the shop which has a built in Subway which nobody ever appears to use, and a better choice of stuff than most small supermarkets, which means you turn into the sort of person you despised while you waited at the pump,, walking around getting a few things for dinner. The staff are usually young chaps and chapesses, with the odd older memeber of staff, and they work hard, although I once had a young chap try charging me for £65 of diesel when I had actually put a tenner of petrol in my bike. Fortunately someone pointed out his error before he got strangled and I got lifted by the PSNI for ABH. A special mention goes to the new car wash, which at night resembles driving into a disco, it gets your car clean most of the time, but my ancient banger is a bit too faded so no fault of the Spar. But please please PLEASE get rid of that bloody fake SPAR FM Muzak you play, it makes me want to eat my own eyeballs!

If you are up on the Ormeay road working or shopping, or just dandering about you will need to get…read morea bite to eat at some stage. You have plenty of options if you want to call into a trendy café or bistro to pick up a sandwich or have a bit of a lunch date. If you want to pop into one of the parks on the road and eat a sandwich of a bagutette outside you can't really go wrong with popping into this Mace and grabbing a bit to eat. It has a pretty nice wee deli that you can pick up a sandwich to go from at a pretty good price. Its not the cheapest but its certainly an ok budget option. The staff are friendly and the rest of the shop is well stocled and you will be able to pick up most things for the household if you need a pint of milk or a loaf of bread. You probably can't do the weekly shop here but its a pretty good emergency option. There is usually OK parking on the Ormeau road and if you're stuck you can jump on the bus at one of the many stops along this busy road.

This was my closest Mace for some time, while I was waiting for the Sunnyside Street Mace to open…read more(see my other, enraged, review), and although it's the usual run of the mill corner shop it's not too bad to nip into to buy something for tea if I can't be bothered going to Dunnes down the road. It has the faults of other corner stores - it can be overpriced and understocked, but generally it's well enough filled and there are at least Mace own brand items like washing up liquid or kitchen roll if you're a bit stuck for cash. And come on, it's washing up liquid, for pete's sake, how much different can it be? I don't like the way the minimum charge on a debit card is a tenner (again, see my other Mace review), although to be honest the tangoed, false-eyelashed, false-nailed snooty staff member I asked about that could have made it up, she was certainly unimpressed when I asked. I'm quite fond of the newly opened deli in here though and have chatted to the owner a few times while waiting for my piled sandwich to be made up. And his mum is great, knowing that 'A little bit of mayo please' means just that, rather than squeezing a huge dollop out of the bottle for each slice of bread. Deli men, please. Most ladies are on a diet, and even if they're not, err on the side of caution and assume they don't want the fat content of their sandwich doubled just by the dressing. But don't suggest they're fat. Dear god, never suggest they're fat.

I used to work right by this place and lots and lots of my friends have even worked here and it has…read morenever had a good reputation. Firstly, the place is always cold and never seems that nice or bright on the inside. It isn't a particularly nice place to be. The staff are all young, which means you can kind of tell that they don't really care about the service and that kind of leaves a bad taste in your mouth. There are always wee hoods hanging about outside, smoking and drinking and generally milling about which just adds to this place not being up to much whatsoever. It would be ok if there was a particularly good stock or service but this place is just average, when you add in the bad environment it means it gets a low score.

The Spar is located in the centre of Ashbury in Bangor and provides local residents with real…read moreconvenience. It stocks everything that a supermarket does as well as a few miscellaneous items. For instance I was at a party and it was lacking a little something so I went to Ashbury shops and found the perfect mood lifter....Crazy Straws! They got the party going alright before I knew it I was dancing on the sofa with my shoes on! But what I am trying to say is that The Spar is the king of convenience and the crazy straws are the jewel in its crown. It has an ATM on site and you can pay by card so never fear. From the outside it looks like some sort of gated community but I think this is only in place to prevent teenagers loitering, which can only be a good thing. My advice is get down to the Spar and get some Crazy Straws. Your mates will go wild for them.

As far as local convenience stores go this is a really good one in most respects, with only one…read moremain flaw which I will say before going on to praise the place! The forecourt is too small and parking is hard and quite frankly frustrating at times. The shop has grown and expanded over the years but the forecourt hasn't which makes it gridlock at times! Onto the shop though, and it is great. There is a surprisingly large of items in all the different areas: it is more like a mini supermarket than a convenience store. There are great selections of fruit and veg and baked goods, and there is a delicious deli counter, with a delicious old lady called Eleanor who works behind it ! ;D The staff here are really bubbly and friendly, which can't be said of a lot of shops of this nature. The prices are surprisingly competitive compared to other stores like spar etc, only the Big 3 stores can really defeat it! Oh I forgot another criticism. The name. It is a joke. That is all!

Petrol is more expensive but you have to pay for convenience when your driving and the red lights…read morelit up like a Christmas tree for fuel. Expensive but good service, ideal spot to stop and check your tyres for damage as the surface of the moon would be smoother than the roads around ballygowan. There's a coffee shop/cafe above and hot food counter downstairs. There's a much better selection of groceries in ballygowan thanks to the garage, before it was there all you could get was spuds. For anything remotely different you had to drive to comber or ards. Now there's any amount of choices.

Love this Spar. Handy to home, good selection for size of store. Bargains to be had, reduced goods…read moreare great. Handy for petrol or takeaways and easy to park. What's not to like?

This was actually our local petrol station growing up but it's come on a lot since those days…read more There's been some serious dollar pumped (get it?) in to this place! On site they boast a Spar convenience store, a newly opened Subway, a Chinese and a Chippy. As well as an ATM. The Spar itself is huge - it stocks fresh fruit and veg and a frozen section. So don't worry if you have nothing in the cupboards. You can always nip down to the Spar and garb a few bits. I would avoid this garage like the plague between 8am and 9am and then again at 3.30pm. This is because of it's proximity to BGS and the fact that for a start you'll be queueing for ages and secondly you'll struggle to be able to pull out of the station with all the traffic backed up.

This used to be a Spar, and it was one of the worst shops I had ever been into. It was dark and…read moredirty inside with a terrible product range. Last year it got redone to be a mace and underwent a refurbishment that was frankly badly needed. Unfortunately the issue of a lack of space is an issue here but at least it uses its space well. The store has a fair range of most items ranging from tinned goods, chilled meats and other grocery items. It also has an ice cream stand and a slushie machine which are a big draw for the local hoodlums. Unfortunately the selection of particular items is poor, especially the frozen section which is one limited freezer of stock, with no lollies in the shop at all. The garage has a far better selection of everything than here: the only reason people come here is because its a closer walk, they don't want to be hassled in busy times by the garages busy forecourt or you have an issue with the garage on a personal basis. To be avoided unless the garage has ran out of stick in something or you want something on special offer!

great shop.. very…read morefriendly,very clean and well stocked. best fruit n veg for miles.way way cheaper than the garage. eg potatoes 1.00,garage 1.45. considering its size its got everything.great chilled food,deli,great range of bread,cakes and sweets.i think if declan looked he'd see the lollies are beside the ice cream machine. not all shops can be big,but boy this place really makes up for it in in every other way.it really gives the garage a run for its money too. try it folks,we all know in ballygowan that the garage has been expensive for a long time, and with possible the rudest staff and owners about. so good on ya mace, john d

Good to have a shop down like this near me. Saves me having to go to the Spar garage or Tesco…read moreKnocknagoney. Handy for the every day necessities. This shop never stays in the same hands for long. Think it was the Mace before this. Shop is located at the cross roads at the top of Sydenham. Has parking space outside. Hope your have a deer hand break though as its on a steep hill.

Good big spar on Ballygowan road. They sell sandwiches, lottery, coffee and any other groceries you…read morewould want, fresh flowers on sale and on display outside, great convenient store that sell a wide range of products. There are daily deals to grab. Local and convenient.