Aldi UK maps the great gravy divide as Londoners pour the palest gravy and the North insists on the thickest

Key Takeaways

• Aldi UK has released the Great British Gravy Map, which sorts the country's regions into five levels of gravy shade and strength.

• The News Generation surveyed 2,001 UK adults online in September 2026, and 94% said gravy is essential to a roast dinner.

• London sits at the pale end of the scale while the North takes the top spot for dark, thick, spoon standing gravy.

• Aldi ties the research to its Specially Selected Gravy at £2.97 and Quixo Gravy Granules at 99p, both in stores nationwide.

Britain has argued about chips, scones and the correct name for a bread roll for generations, so it was probably only a matter of time before somebody turned the gravy boat into a regional battleground, and Aldi UK has now done exactly that with a colour chart running from pale golden tan in London to something closer to espresso in the North. The supermarket's new gravy divide research, packaged the findings as the Great British Gravy Map, which Aldi describes as the first ever map of its kind.

The map grades each part of the country on how it likes its gravy to look and pour, and the survey behind it goes much further than colour, asking people whether they would drink gravy from a mug, take their own to a restaurant or even install a gravy fountain at their wedding. The answers give Aldi a set of very shareable regional statistics just as the weather turns and roast dinner season properly begins.

There is a product story underneath the data as well, because Aldi says it has sold nearly 13 million jars of gravy in the past two years and uses the research to point shoppers towards its own gravy range, which starts at under a pound for a 300g pack of granules.

The News Generation surveyed 2,001 UK adults for Aldi as Quixo Gravy Granules sell for 99p

The research was conducted by The News Generation on behalf of Aldi UK, with a nationally representative online sample of 2,001 UK adults and fieldwork carried out in September 2026, while the 13 million jars figure comes from Aldi's own sales data and sits separately from the survey results. Those results start with a near unanimous verdict, as 94% of people said gravy is essential to a roast dinner and 24% admitted they would secretly judge someone who does not like it.

The map itself sorts the country into five regional gravy personalities, each matched to a shade on a scale that runs from the palest pour to the darkest and thickest. Level 1 belongs to London, where Aldi says "Londoners favour the nation's lightest, most delicate pour", while Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland share Level 2 with what the release calls "a classic, smooth warm amber finish" and the Midlands sits in the middle at Level 3 with a medium brown. The South East and South West move darker again at Level 4 with a chestnut hue, which leaves the North alone at Level 5, where respondents are described as "insisting on a pitch-black, spoon-standing-up thickness".

The city findings add the most colourful detail, since 35% of people in Liverpool said they could drink a full mug of gravy and the same share of Londoners would eat gravy with breakfast, which sits a little awkwardly alongside the capital's preference for the lightest pour. Elsewhere, 31% of people in Birmingham said they would bring their own homemade gravy to a pub or restaurant, 34% of people in Wales pack gravy in their suitcase when they go on holiday, 19% of Edinburgh residents would have a gravy fountain at their wedding and 12% of people in Bristol add beer or ale to their gravy.

The survey also ranked the worst things that can go wrong at a roast dinner, and running out of gravy came first with 44% of the vote, comfortably ahead of running out of roast potatoes at 22% and running out of meat at 21%. Away from the Sunday roast, bangers and mash topped the list of meals people will not eat without gravy at 65%, followed by chips at 61% and toad in the hole at 51%, while shepherd's pie, cottage pie, steak, casserole, meatballs, pies and pastries and sausage rolls completed the top ten. A small group of more adventurous eaters said they pour gravy over pasta (7%), pizza (3%) and even cereal (2%).

Julie Ashfield, Chief Commercial Officer at Aldi UK, said "Gravy sits at the heart of British home cooking, and our research shows every region has its own take on the perfect pour." She added, "Whether shoppers prefer it light and golden or dark and thick, Aldi's Quixo range delivers great taste at unbeatable value." That links the map directly to the shelf, with Aldi listing its Specially Selected Gravy at £2.97 for 500g and its Quixo Gravy Granules at 99p for 300g, both available in stores nationwide.