Halfords

I go in the balham/tooting bec one now and again when I need grease or lubes or random stuff with a brand name I can trust written on it. They have a head mechanic who is reasonable but I wouldn't say good at repairs and then a couple of others who can do a basic service if you are lucky. I get the idea from seeing others wheel in bikes with snapped hub axels more often than I would expect that they skimp on grease/bad at adjusting or just don't service hubs despite charging for it in a service. Never seen them true a wheel or noticed a stand so wouldn't be paying for a mediocre between the brake pads diy style job. Some of the more recent visits I taught the staff things like one didn't know the bolts on 90% of disc brakes are called torx bolts instead of hex/allen(would be worried if he put my bike together with new brakes), another didn't know what spindle length on a bb was so went out back to check the bb shelf and then said "we just have ones in these boxes" "yeah they will have a different number on" "what number they are all shimano..." that convo went around a few times until I pulled a crank off and put a vernir on the spindle to be more visual and then he thanked me and I explained some more about bb cups and cartridges. I get very lucky with bike shops tho so have explained the difference between a 1 1/8 threadless headset and a 1 threaded in baffels and that a bb wasn't a headset in xlapham evans(asked for a headset they came out with a pair of external bb cups lol).

I think what worries me more is people who have no idea how a bicycle works when they ride it daily. I could understand if it was all complex with heating elements, double insulated wires, buttons, springs, timers and sorts of other shit like a toaster has but bike parts are far more simple.