In comparison to the money grabbing NCP at Queen Charlotte Street, The Mall is a refreshingly…read morefair-priced car park. It's £2 if you're parking for an hour or so and then goes up in reasonable brackets. And there are plenty of spaces, with the disabled and the family and the lower levels. I do really hate driving up the concrete spiral into it though (although driving out is oddly quite good fun) and you can see a few people have come a cropper by all the scrape marks on the wall. The exits are also clearly marked with obvious walking lanes for pedestrians and give way points. And the spaces are reasonable so even if you are for some reason driving a 4x4 in the city you should be able to park. There's also a valeting service on the ground floor as you drive in.

It's an absolute disgrace that if you go over 4hrs parking here you have to pay £12 (the same…read morecharge for up to 24hrs) but if you exit the car park you are not allowed return within those 24hrs and have to pay for another ticket! I was even sarcastically quipped "you don't HAVE to park here you know" by staff when I queried this at the entrance on my return. I have paid for 24hrs parking and should be allowed to park here for 24hrs. Unbelievably cynical money making.

This is where I usually end up hauling my carcass if I am at a gig at the Colston Hall or Academy…read moredue to the sheer lack of on-street parking round here. As car parks go it's pretty reasonably priced with a flat £2.50 fee for evenings (although you could argue it should be free at this time). It's also 24 hour although you can only stay for a max of 24 hours so don't get any ideas about moving in! The only problem is walking up the stairwells late at night can feel creepy, especially if you are walking out alone to you car parked on the roof as it does feel very desolate and the security men are not very visible. They are really helpful if your ticket gets stuck though. And they've tried to brighten up the stairwells with some cool graffiti art. It can be a nightmare getting out of here after a big sell-out gig though so I recommend parking as close to level 8 as poss as they have a separate exit straight out onto Colston Parade.

Why, oh why cruel world, do you demand that the cost to park my car is equill to that of a meal! In…read moretimes of recession, when peole have to scrounge for pennies, how can an overpriced heap of concrete junk like this demand such high prices. Yes you are getting safty, and a central parking slot with risking a warden slapping you with a £30 or so fine, but are you really happy? Do you feel a £4.90 tag for 2 hours is justified!? Do you think that when you fork out £9.90 for a 5 hour stop the whole concrete parking experience has been worth the price of a good meal!? No is the answer! park for free outside the city and enjoy the 15 minute walk into town.

I hate trying to find parking in the centre of Bristol. Luckily I live close enough to be able to…read morewalk in, but sometimes I have had to drive, be it for picking something up or if I am running late for something. NCP parking seems to dominate the 'long stay' market, with this particular car park and the one opposite castle park having a bit of a monopoly on the whole car parking industry. I do not understand how they have so much business though, the price is far to expensive. If you are there for 4 hours and 1 second you'd be looking to pay something near £10! which is a complete rip-off. I understand the need for security, and that parking space is expensive, but surley if it is so popular they can afford to use some of their profits to make the parking cheaper for all of their customers.

Millenium Square is quite a stunning open space in the city center. It is always filled with kids…read moreplaying around in the shiny silvery water features, flatland BMXers practicing their tricks in the middle of the square, or just people sitting around the benches and steps, having a good relax. This square plays host to a variety of things, such as a Sunday art market and numerous festivals when summer rolls by. There is a computery device on one of the square that provides some minutes of fun, where it points to any planet you type in, and tells you how many kilometers it is away from the earth. Interesting, but I think it gets abused by the drunk masses on a Friday and Saturday night. In the floor of the square is an analemma - lights that show the path of the sun as viewed from the earth. On the benches at another end of the square, are brass statues of historical figures, one of which I know is William Tyndale translating the New Testament. All these little quirks of Millenium Square give it its soul, despite it being just a big, flat, bare open space. Thumbs up!

A fabulous public open space. A great big screen for the sports-inclined and fountains and pools…read morefor the little ones. It may have been mid-March, but my little cousin adored the water. He splashed about with his dad for ages. Surrounded by lovely restaurants and lots of museums, etc. (@Bristol). Great for young and old alike.

DO NOT LEAVE YOUR CAR IN HERE OVERNIGHT. It is quite simply…read morea robbers paradise. Numerous car smashed windows and belongings stolen. Not that they are on view they are just opportunist thieves. No security and Police not interested. Find another car park.

Here comes my grumpy old man rant…read more.. I can't belive the cost of parking, I swear it escalates at the same rate as petrol, I guess the thing is that big city centre parking lots feel that people don't have a choice so they can charge rediculous rates. If you want to park here for the whole day it'll cost you £14! (or £9 for 6 hours). I went to Bridport in dorset the other day (granted not the biggest place, and not really comparable to bristol) and I parked in the town centre's central car park and it cost me 40p for the whole day, now what is so special about this mamouth concrete hump that they can charge an extra £13.60! If you do want to park in the city centre and either want security or a car near after you get lumbered with many bags of shopping then I guess it's helpful... but still... £14!

Good shopping centre and not too many empty stores. We last went on a very rainy day but it didn't…read moretake away from the shopping experience. I love that they have little food places staggered around like Ben's Cookies (which is always an essential when shopping for the family!) Easy to get to and access. Worth the visit.

Wow! I could do some serious damage at this place! Cabot Circus is a beautifully constructed…read more"outdoor" shopping centre with every store you can imagine! We were staying across the street at the Future Inn and on the evening we arrived, we strolled over to take a quick peek at the adventures I would be exploring the next day. Much to my surprise, pleasure and happiness, there was a Pret right there as soon as we walked in! Breakfast at the hotel was on the pricey side so we knew where we'd be coming in the morning and we certainly needed to get fueled up for a day of shopping! CC has lots of high end, brand name stores and with even more shops beyond the boundaries of CC, this made for a lovely day of retail therapy. My poor husband... oh well, at least they had an Apple store for him. ;)

Just had the worst experience trying to get out of this car park. Came in around 4 and got back to…read morecar less than an hour later, traffic Didn't move for other an hour and took another half hour to get out of car park! The staff said it was due to volume of traffic outside and that everyone was leaving at same time! Avoid at all costs on Saturday around 5!

I am not a fan of having to pay for parking, especially when it is in something that is essentially…read morean enormous glorified NCP. However, using the Cabot car park Is unavoidable, and it turns out to be a very pleasant experience. You want to try can get yourself onto the third level that id the one that has the bridge to the shopping center on. However, it fills up very fast. Otherwise you could go for level two if your car is looking a bit mucky, you can get it cleaned while you shop here! The car park is very reasonably priced especially during the later hours of the day when you only really find cinema goers using it.

Probably in an effort to modernise the shopping experience, Clifton Down Shopping centre has seen a…read morefew refurbishments in the last few years. Situated at the bottom of Whiteladies Road, just before the descent into proper Bristol centre, it has a large glass architectural feature at its front, with its name highlighted. The biggest shop in the centre is Sainsburys, which is very useful for all in the area as the next big supermarket is quite a distance away. With free parking for half an hour, it's a really convenient place to get a bite to eat or stock up on your way home from town. They recently re-did the inside as well, adding some flat elevators that can take you (and your trolley) up to the car park level. There's mostly chain shops in here, with WH Smith, Specsavers, Boots and O2, but there's also a local flower shop, key cutters and sports shop. Although not strictly still the shopping centre, there's a nice row of shops outside as well, housing another mix of chain and independent stores.

Shopping centre? Really?…read more Well there is a selection of shops, and a massive sainsburys but wether or not that constitues a shopping centre is something I feel is still up for debate... Nothing particualry special to draw in the people, other thsn some rain cover, this relativly newly refurbished centre lacks in any pullling power. However saying that they do have them falt escalator things that can take you and your shopping trolley up a level! They are pretty brilliant!