THEIR image puts them at opposite ends of the supermarket food chain.

But when it comes to the quality of food could you taste the difference?

That was the test we set shoppers in Winchester after the Daily Echo revealed how the historic city had become the battleground for a clash dubbed, Store Wars.

Yesterday we told how upmarket store Waitrose will be welcomed into Britain's richest city, while civic chiefs gave budget chain Aldi the heave-ho.

Both stores were battling it out for the right to build new shops on adjacent plots in the Winchester district of Weeke.

However it was Waitrose who won after one community leader admitted that the city's well-heeled residents had got their way.

Waitrose plans to build a 2,868-square metre store on the former site of the Alan Day Honda showroom on the corner of Stockbridge Road and Stoney Lane.

The Daily Echo bought identical items from both stores and, without telling people which product came from which store, asked people on Winchester's High Street which one they preferred. The results were surprising.

Val Brown, a retired schoolteacher from Yorkshire, said: "I much prefer the cheese from Aldi and I am not surprised because I would much rather shop at Aldi than Waitrose.

"You do not have to decide what brand to choose from and no matter what store you visit in the country, the layout is the same which is great. You could be anywhere in the country but you wouldn't know it.

"I guess we northerners are just not posh enough for a Waitrose because I have never been in one of their stores and after tasting their cheese I don't see why I should."

Rose Goldie, 80, from Abbots Barton, Winchester, had similar views on the issue. She said: "Not everyone in Winchester is posh. Some of us pensioners would welcome a store offering cheaper food.

"We can't all afford more expensive prices."

However, even though Nuala Halpin from Winchester, preferred the biscuits from Aldi, she and her husband Cecil would still rather shop at Waitrose. She said: "I did enjoy the Aldi biscuit more but I have always liked Waitrose and would welcome one here. I think the council have made the right decision."