Milk and cola top of the shops for city shoppers

A FOUR-pint bottle of semiskimmed milk is the main staple of Portsmouth residents' shopping baskets closely followed by a two litre bottle of cola, according to a regional co-operative.

Since Southern Co-op launched a home delivery service at its Portsmouth stores last September, there has been an average of 177 orders per week with the two products being ordered the most. The co-operative's delivery service, accessed via the Snappy Shopper app, created 24 new jobs.

Since its launch, the service which originally covered Chichester and Portsmouth, has expanded to more stores in Emsworth, East Wittering and Selsey.

Sam Davis, store manager at The Co-operative Food in Highland Road, Southsea, said: ‘Although a lot of customers find out about the service through word of mouth, we already have a lot of repeat customers who get their groceries from us every week - many of them know our drivers and store colleagues by name which gives it a real community feel.’

The initial pilot, which ran from September to January, saw the majority of deliveries made within the hour.