Julian Graves

What a grave little shop. It’s not the most cheerful, I have to say, and it doesn’t exactly scream: «Our foods will make you healthy!» The dark green décor, slightly dingy lighting, and sheepish location opposite a whole load of closed down shops, all make for a less than chirpy shopping experience.
That said, there’s lots of excellent stuff on sale here. I went through a serious porridge phase as a student, and I came here regularly for cheap bags of jumbo oats.
Also, one wall is entirely given over to bags of yummy treats such as dried bananas, yoghurt-​coated raisins and peanuts. It’s worth coming here for those things.

With very similar green and gold colourings to Holland and Barratt and similar stock in the window displays — from dried apricots to mixed nuts and herbal teas to rice crackers — you would be forgiven for thinking you had in fact entered a Holland and Barratt store. But you wouldn’t find any of the vitamin type stuff, as Julian Graves is a treasure trove of healthy (or should I say healthier) snacks. Any type of nut you could imagine can be found in this little shop and they have some great offers on, for example a big bag of brazil nuts which should last you a couple of weeks for just a few quid. They also stock specialist cookery items and some less healthy snacks and sweets to appeal to the sweet toothed among us. I particularly like their yoghurt coated raisins and peanuts. It’s Yoghurt and fruit so it’s healthy right? Ha, think again. Just don’t even look at the calorie and fat content.

I’ll admit that I’ve never been much of a health-​nut. In fact, pizza and pasta have gotten me this far and I won’t be abandoning them anytime soon. Nevertheless, I am occasionally tempted by this place and its utopia of healthy, ethical (I think) foods and beverages. You can get nuts from around the world, dried fruits, and a wealth of different ‘natural’ potions and medicines. No, the nuts and fruits are all well and good (plus some are chocolate coated to make them twice as yummy), but I can’t stand these ‘miracle’ cures. Much of it is placebo and let me ask you this: have you ever seen a healthy-​looking person working in a health food store, or are they all pasty and bone-​thin? I rest my case.