You can't go wrong with Blythes. A Manchester art student staple, this store has saved me countless…read moretimes. The staff in here are extremely knowledegable and will even order in special materials and papers if they're out of stock. They've got just about type of paint from Winsor to Newton and Rembrandt paints, brushes, chalks, gouaches, water colours and graphic supplies and a large range of papers and canvases. I've bought specialist 300gsm paper in here for a menu project and special mounting glue. I had help with the measuring and cutting free of charge and advice of mounting my images. I highly recommend this store.

Blyth Art Shop…read more Blyth's Art Shop seems like a serious sort of art shop for serious sort of artists. Everything is very ordered, neat and clinical. They've got great ranges of paints, pencils and pens, as well as a downstairs section with artist accessories like folders, paper and even natural light bulbs so you can paint in natural light late into the night. There's two or three staff around to help you with any queries you might have in my experience they've usually got the time and patience to help you out properly. I can't help feeling that Fred Aldous across Stevenson square isn't just lots more fun, more well stocked and generally more exciting though.

Gallery 786 is an odd specimen, even odder when you consider its location…read more There's art on the walls - obviously. But these places need ways of making money to pay the rent. So, you have the usual picture framing service offered. Standard. They have things in cabinets to look at/ or buy - trophies, interesting bits and bobs - and very expensive costume jewellery, or all things. I suppose jewellery is a decoration to the body and - like fashion - must be seen in one respect as art. But it does contribute to an overall feeling of oddity that pervades this place. And I do wonder if anyone ever spends any money in here or just glances round open mouthed like I did.

After feeling I should support local businesses in Prestwich I had a print framed here..never…read moreagain. The result wasn't brilliant and the customer service that followed was awful, I came away with the impression that once he had my money he was disinterested in anything else.

There seems to be a trend recently for shops opening in which businesses sell rather cheap looking…read moreprints of photos or pictures of people which they then apply a rather simplistic Photoshop effect to and attempt to sell for rather extortionate prices. What's worse is that people think these look good and willing buy them as well. Thankfully, Art Framed in Ormskirk is not such a shop. Unlike their cheap imitator's, Art Framed offers its customers a range of pictures that are framed on the premises on frames that are finely crafted and beautiful. They do sell pictures of celebrities and people in general (their catalogue boasts 30,000 images), but they are all tastefully done and look quite professional whilst at the same time not being too expensive. Art Framed also sells a small selection of art from local artists which are also very tasteful pieces of art that are perfectly framed and again available for a small price, a nice touch.

This is as much a gallery as a framing shop. They do sell some prints, as was mentioned, but they…read morealso sell some original art work. There are some lovely local artists that place their paintings here for sale, and for original art the prices are good. The framing services are really good and they offer you quite a selection to choose from so that you can generally find exactly what you want to offset that fabulous piece. I

The laws around giving notice for marriage changed on 2 March, which meant there was a new set of…read morepaperwork/items to collect. As I was making sure that we had everything, I noticed that both of us had to supply a passport photo. It was no problem for me as I keep a stash on hand since I regularly need them for visas, but Mr. Snarky didn't have any. We parked up at the garage in the city centre and were making our way to the Post Office since I remembered they have a photo booth there, when we spotted Max Spielmann. Mr. Snarky suggested we go in and see if they do Passport Pictures, how long it will take, and how much. When we went in, there was a bit of a queue: one lady wanting to print pictures off of her memory card, another lady waiting for a print of her child (they had just had a photo shoot), and a very anxious man waiting for passport photos. I took off a star for the fact that the store is quite cluttered, making it 1) difficult to find a spot to wait without being in the way and 2) very easy to knock a bunch of frames onto the floor, shattering the glass in all of them. Unfortunately the hold up seemed to be revolving around one machine that was being used for all of this, despite the other three sitting next to it. The staff, however, were extremely friendly and even humored Mr. Snarky when he was making jokes. For £7.99 you get 6 photos and it takes a few minutes... actually it probably takes less than that if there is no one else in the shop. The other man waiting for his passport photos was being very picky since his other set were returned by a government agency for being too dark. The lady lightened it up as much as she could but he was still unsatisfied and kept muttering under his breath. As the lady cut them, she did tell him that they are guaranteed, so if they are rejected again, he could come back and they would take another picture and reprint for free. I had no idea that they were guaranteed... so there you have it! After all of his protesting, he finally left with his photos in hand. The staff member apologized for our wait and even gave us a 10% discount because we had waited for quite awhile. To be fair, we weren't expecting anything as there didn't seem to be much else they could do to speed things up as the other machines, they explained, are for different purposes, but it was a very nice gesture and this is where we will return if we need more passport/visa pictures.

Very knowledgeable and helpful guys, the stuff is premium and is a long established independent…read moreshop up Mill Street. They can do passport photos, develop photos, and are happy to give advice. They sell lots of brands and a selection of frames as well. Check out their website http://www.peterrogers-photo.co.uk

From the owner: * Stafford's longest established wedding photographer. *…read moreCompact, SLR, and mirrorless digital cameras. * Passport, driving licence, visa & ID photography. * Portrait photography in our studio or on location. * Photo printing services including instant prints, canvas prints, photo books and photo gifts. * Old media including cine film & video transferred to DVD. * Old photos copied and restored.