A Taste of Home - A British Haven in Barcelona!

Being an international city and having a huge expat community, Barcelona has no shortage of shops, restaurants and other amenities to serve the various nationalities living particularly those from the US, Latin American and various countries in Europe to name but a few. But what about us Brits? Is there a 'British Barcelona?' Thankfully, amongst the grid-like streets of the Eixample is a very special shop who specialise in all things British. Aptly named 'A Taste of Home', this is a shop to visit for any Brit living here in Barcelona either for Erasmus or for those here living more long term. Intrigued to find out what treasures are inside? Read our exclusive interview with the owner below!

The Interview

A Taste of Home has been serving the people of Barcelona since 2008 and was started by Inge Barker, an expat from the UK. She also owns another branch of the shop in Sitges which has been open for 11 years. This shop is the real deal and that's not just my opinion. In 2011, A Taste of Home was awarded the accolade of 'Commended British Shop in the World' as part of the 'Best of British Awards' which are sponsored by the Telegraph (newspaper) and John Lewis (one of the biggest retailers in the UK).  Upon walking in, your British blogger here found the staff busy showing some new customers around, but I managed to grab a couple of minutes to ask some questions...... Suitelife - Hi Inge. I really like your shop! Could you briefly tell me a bit about 'A Taste of Home'? Inge - Of course! I started the shop mainly because there isn't really anywhere else in Barcelona that serves the specifically British products. A lot of the small shops and supermarkets offer some basic stuff such as teabags, but nothing compared to what we offer here. SuiteLife - Yes, I noticed that too. It's quite nice to see something which is actually British for a change! Inge - Thanks! We do lots of different things. Obviously, we sell specifically British products such as Marmite, Cadbury's chocolate, different brands of English tea, jams, pies and loads more. We also sell books, greeting cards and do a lot of fundraising for charities particularly animal charities. The vast majority of things we sell are British but we also have food from other countries too notably ingredients for making Indian food as well as some American and Dutch products too. Naturally, we can't provide everything, but we are happy to take requests. If you come in for something and we don't have it, you can go on our Facebook page to request it and we'll do our best to get it for you!
SuiteLife - Wow! Sounds really good and I'm pretty sure I'll be making use of that! Inge - We've also recently started the IPTV service which lets people from the UK who live here in Spain access British channels legally. For years now, we've been using the Freesat channels. This has changed lately and could be really expensive for people who want to continue to access British TV this way which is why we've started offering the IPTV service which streams to your TV from the Internet. We are the sole distributor of this in Catalonia and it's completely legal! You get all the main channels plus even more. It's a great deal. SuiteLife - One thing I definitely miss about the UK is British TV. How much does this service cost? Inge - It costs about 30 Euros per month, but if you sign up for it via our Facebook page, then we will give you a discount on this.
SuiteLife - Excellent. What would you say are your most popular products here, at "A Taste of Home"? Inge - Our baking section is really popular and we sell a lot of British cookbooks too! SuiteLife - Do you get a lot of British people coming to the shop? Inge - Yes, we get a fair amount of people who have heard about us and like to come to see just how British we are. It's fair to say, that people are left pleasantly surprised by the sheer variety we have. We also get a lot of Spanish people come into the shop too and they are pretty curious to see what we're about. SuiteLife - I can vouch for that! Before we round the interview up, is there any advice you'd have for any aspiring Brits reading this? Inge - Check out our Facebook page. We have a lot going on such as competitions and offers. We also publish recipes too! Don't forget that you can also get exclusive discounts and can request those home comforts too. SuiteLife - Thanks a lot for your time!

This is amazing! Where is this gem of a shop!?

Intrigued? You can find A Taste of Home on Carrer Floridablanca 78 in Eixample. You can get there on L1 Rocafort near Plaça Espanya (I'd recommend taking the C/Calabria exit, it's quicker!). The best way to get in touch with them is on their Facebook page or by calling 933 251 797. They're open from 10am - 9pm on Monday through to Saturday, so there's plenty of time to rush and get a box of tea when the worse happens! Looking for more shops for expats living in Barcelona? We've got a list of some of the best in the city for you to check out! Thanks, Chris