Sainsbury's

You're trudging down Portswood Road after a long day, and that familiar whiff of fresh bread from the in-store bakery hits you just right. This isn't your artisanal sourdough operation, but it's exactly what this student-heavy neighbourhood needs: proper crusty baps, decent croissants, and those jammy doughnuts that somehow taste better when you're grabbing them alongside your weekly shop. The bakery counter sits proudly near the entrance, and the staff actually know their stuff about when the next batch of tiger bread is coming out. It's the kind of place where you pop in for milk and leave with a still-warm French stick and a couple of those chocolate twists. Not fancy, but reliably good – and open until 10pm most days, which is a godsend when you need emergency cake for tomorrow's office meeting.