Islington Supermarkets: Are you Team Morrisons or Team Waitrose?

Many have claimed that Islington's true social boundaries are divided not by anything as complex as postcodes or Tube stations, but by its two biggest supermarkets. Straddling Seven Sisters Road with just meters between them, Waitrose and Morrisons are said to polarise the borough's haves and have-nots in startling contrast...

Or do they? Speaking to residents earlier this week, I found out some interesting facts about the typical Waitrose and Morrisons shopper.

A straw-poll of Islington residents revealed that a hard core of Waitrose afficionados claim they'd never dream of going near Morrisons, with its noisy self-service checkouts and high-stacked shelves.

But there were also some staunch Morrisonions: of those who claimed they'd never go in to Waitrose, there were all sorts of claims made about the relative cheapness of Morrisons, and an insistance that the overall quality was 'just the same'.  They raved about Morrisons' fresh, cheap and cheerful baked and deli goods, and poured scorn on the apparent lunacy of Waitrose's 'essential artichoke hearts'. They did, however, tend to admit that the shopping experience at Waitrose was calmer.

Quite a few admitted to being 'floating shoppers', popping into Morrisons to pick up items they could get for less than the sale price next door (but presumably shoving the goods back into their Waitrose-branded shoppers), or going to Morrisons for essential staples and Waitrose only for luxuries or when entertaining. @TrishaDLishus on the Islington People twitter said she favoured Waitrose 'when hungover'. @alexsheppard declared herself 'Team Waitrose' despite its higher prices, as 'Morrisons is always packed'.

Of course, if you can't get it in Morrisons or Waitrose, there's always M&S, Sainsbury's in Angel or one of the many smaller Tesco stores to keep hunger at bay. But the majority of local residents I've met seem to feel an affinity with one or other of the Big Two.

As a regular customer of both, I've found pros and cons to both (Waitrose is invariably quieter, while Morrisons stays open later), but on the whole tend to wind up in Waitrose simply to avoid Morrisons' queues. Also, I'm a sucker for those artichokes.

But let's not forget that it's quite possible in Islington to get by without doing any supermarket shopping whatsoever: as @katmaddison rightly added, 'it's all about the independent corner shops and market stalls' - and we've certainly got enough to choose from not to worry about the relative differences between bigger chains,

If you use the supermarkets in Islington regularly, which do you side with: team Morrisons or team Waitrose?