I have a predisposition against shopping centres that charge me to park my car just to go shop or…read moreeat but won't give me a couple of hours parking credit for, say, stopping long enough for a Starbucks coffee or other food. So I'm predisposed to disliking this shopping centre for this reason. The wonderful Lowry Outlet in Manchester, an altogether nicer place, allows for free generous parking up to four hours if you go for a coffee or have something in their food-court. I'm predisposed to dislike Sainsbury's too, it's one of the 'flagship' stores in this place. I rarely go there. There's really no logic to this at all, nor any sense about it I just much prefer M&S. There's a recently opened Eddie Rockets in the centre. It has a barrier outside for crowd control. Dear help us, crowd control for a fast food joint. No thanks this business model relies on mostly industrially made food, they pay staff minimum wages with few employment rights, this chain also relies on freezers, microwave ovens and deep fat friers and they are at their most imaginative when it comes to maximising shareholder/franchise profit from pricing mass produced food. I'd say if they knocked 50% off the menu prices that would be realistic and I might go but I certainly wouldn't queue. So I'm not so opposed to this type of business model that I'd never go and I have twice gone to the subway outlet in this centre but only because the price better reflects the industrial pre (factory) made food on offer. The Subway coffee is awful and I'd only pay more and go here more if staff were paid living wages, after all we all have to live. So the chances of Eddie Rockets halving their prices are as realistic as my going to eat there. There's a Starbucks here and I walk to it quite often for good coffee, parking free elsewhere. There's a cinema in this centre too again I go occasionally - it reinvested in comfy seating and is pretty good cinema experience but again their food prices like popcorn and ice cream are just outrageous. This centre also has the usual suspects Debenhams, Boots, Car Phone Warehouse, a Pound Shop, a juice bar on the concourse (so no seating) a BurgerKing, Deli - Lites and so on, lots of places I haven't the remotest interest in ever visiting. The centre is kept clean the toilets are in the central part of the shopping centre although the two flagship stores at either end also have toilet facilities.

Oh it's a funny old world. This is day three of M&S not able to take contactless payments UK wide…read more Credit cards (chip & pin) or cash will still do rightly. I rely on contactless as I don't carry money nor a credit card. They now have a staff member at the door advising that contactless remains useless as the other day I only found out at the till having already shopped. Maybe Mr Putin has free time to meddle now that Game Of Trump players are doing his Ukraine grabbing work for him on Day 99. Maybe it's Kim interfering for profit. He called the 47th a doddard when 45th. Even maybe it's the Chinese. Oh just wait for their silicone valley to launch. It won't be pretty for California. Oh and while I'm trying to buy bananas unsuccessfully the only true remaining leader of the free world has up and died. His funeral this Saturday will be sad. Then it's over to an electorate of 120, potassium chlorate, lactose and chloroform resin. As I said funny old world.

Got my skirt done in a rush! Perfect tailoring and very friendly service. Pricing good too..read more

McEvoys used to be the Bees Knees in Newry, forty years ago it was THE shop to go to for fashion,…read moreundergarments, wool, needles and every other imaginable/unmentionable requirement drapery wise. Over the past year or so it has plummeted in standard and shot up in price, (the elderly and young were the staple clientele of McEvoys). Why did they have to change it? I'm a great believer in 'if it ain't broke don't fix it' if you had a sick older relative in hospital...get them something in McEvoys, a child ready for school...get them kitted in McEvoys..a nice new pair of big women's pants...go to McEvoys. Now they seem to have tried to move upmarket and more 'fashion' based, basically just like all the other department stores around. McEvoys, go back to your roots, big pants, thermal vests, fleece nighties, fat men's pyjamas, terry tea towels, knitting needles, wool, stuff for turning up hems, bed socks, thick welly socks, flat caps and cheap and functional baby clothes. Basically the stuff that is far too un trendy to be in most other places but essential to the older person. Granny will pay a small fortune to have a decent pair of knickers that will come up past the waist band of her skirt you know. And you can never have too many thermal vests. Go back to where you were 10 years ago it will be much better!

I have been to McParlands in Newry many times and always leave a very happy and satisfied customer…read more The service is always excellent and the banter in store is great for a laugh. They really have everything to suit your hardware and giftware needs. There is a vast stock with great prices and they have regular sales on their fantastic giftware stock. All members of staff are friendly, approachable and very helpful. Well worth a visit for that personal service that can be lost in the bigger retailers.

We are currently M&S card holders and as part of this we receive coffee vouchers quarterly. Each…read morevoucher has a £2.65 value towards a hot drink allowing choices from the medium coffee selection. I only noticed a few days ago that I was being charged more than I expected. Let me explain. I ordered a flat white (£2.50) there's only one size of flat white and a large latte (£2.85) and expected to be charged £5.35 against a combined voucher value of £5.30. Oh no, M&S have become spivs. I had to pay the 20p difference for the latte and I also lost the value of the 15p on the flat white. This may not seem much but I find this a deception and multiplied by hundreds of customers M&S are rifling the pockets of their most loyal customers. Technology wise it's easy to programme tills to aggregate the vouchers. So a deliberate decision had to be made to rip us off. Disgusting really. I've been a fan of M&S and also a loyal customer for over forty years, but I am angered to see what I think is an indefensible price hike. The Eccles cakes and apple turnovers have gone up in price from £1.50 each to £1.75 each. The factory made sandwiches are thinly filled. A small bacon roll in the cafe, that would sit in the palm of my hand, is now well over £3 yet Greggs can deliver a bigger, fresh, soft roll with much more bacon and the bacon is crispy too with an alright coffee for £2. This miserable price hike comes when M&S is cutting staff conditions. I really dislike being ripped off and I suspect that this is exactly what's happening here. There are no comfy seats in this cafe. The tables and chairs are often dirty and while the coffees are good they are certainly priced at the upper end. Time to go elsewhere methinks.