I went to the first Amazon Fresh store in the UK and felt like a shoplifter. Take a look inside.

My first thought when approaching Amazon Fresh was: why Ealing?

It takes over an hour on the tube to get from central London to Ealing. But the high street is home to some popular household names — the newest being Amazon Fresh.

The doors in the photo above are the exit to the store. The entrance is around the corner where I joined a line, downloaded the Amazon app and got directed by assistants in green jackets.

I visited around 14:00 p.m., just after the lunchtime rush, so the queue wasn't very long. Considering the store has no tills, it noticeably cut down the waiting time.

As soon as you scan the QR code on the Amazon app, you're timed. The receipt showed I was inside the store for a total of 17 minutes and 12 seconds.

Amazon Fresh didn't fail to give a good first impression. As long as you have the Amazon App downloaded, it's a simple scan of the QR code and you're in.

Customers can take their own bags or pick up the medium-sized, reusable Amazon Fresh bags for £1 ($1.40). There are no trolleys or baskets, which made the whole experience much smoother.

But as an pedantic trolley-stacker, shoving things into a bag and not visually having my food in front of me to organise proved a little difficult.

The main visual difference between Amazon Fresh and other supermarkets were the hundreds of cameras dangling from the ceiling. I felt like I was being watched, even though the cameras were just monitoring what was going into my bag.

On the flip side, it felt safe and secure. If the tech remains reliable, then shoplifting shouldn't be a concern, as customers are tracked as soon as they enter the store via their Amazon account.

Halfway around the store, I realised I was putting items into the bag in a very exaggerated manner to prove I was set on buying the product and had nothing to hide.

The aubergine masala was part of a takeaway deal of two mains and two sides for £10 ($14).

It's a solo shopping experience. If you pick up an item and pass it to another customer, the weight sensors and cameras will think you put the product in your bag so you'll be charged.

The retail giant sources its food from British suppliers. Unexpectedly, around one third of the store was taken up by Amazon's own branded products. And it all looks great!

Prices are average but competitive. It's £4 ($5.60) for a medium-sized pizza, similar to other UK supermarkets such as Tescos and Sainsbury's. But Amazon Fresh offered good deals. For the two chicken breasts in the photo above and a side, it's £5 ($7).

The store also had free-from, organic and vegan ranges, as well as lots of popular food brands.

At the back of the store, you'll find the Amazon Hub where you can pick up and return items that you've bought online from the retail company.

What is usually a pointing game with a cashier behind a till, is now a case of picking up a coaster and handing it into the Amazon Hub to get drugs.

The 'booze bouncer' welcomed me into the alcohol corner and proceeded to watch what I put into my bag — on top of cameras watching me. I picked up a beer and on my way out, she asked to check my ID.

When I asked her if I could take a picture of the alcohol section, she told me: "Of course, lots of people are doing that at the moment."

Given that attractions are shut due to COVID-19, the store has become a tourist magnet. There were certainly more tourists than genuine shoppers roaming around in there.

It was also noticeable that everybody in Amazon Fresh was young. This begs the question of whether older people will have the technology to shop there.

The meal deal section was huge. There's a wide variety of meals, snacks and drinks on offer.

The meal comes at its standard price, then you add any drink and snack on top for £1. Some of the meals were really fancy, such as the lemongrass chicken and edamame mixed grain salad.

Amazon Fresh is ideal for that lunchtime food dash. There was a lot of ready-prepared food, perfect for city workers on the run.

At the front of the store, there were two separate coffee machines, one for normal milk and one for oat milk.

Amazon Fresh was comparable to a high-quality UK convenience store, such as Waitrose. It was clean, tidy and there was lots to choose from.

The strangest bit was walking out without having to scan the items.

My receipt was emailed to me two hours after I left the store, which I became impatient for because I was eager to know whether the technology had charged me correctly.

It did — it logged every item in the order I put them into my bag.

Amazon Fresh makes it too easy to buy things...