It's hard not to love this massive semi-outdoor shopping center. Steel and glass and lifts and…read moreescalators with so much fresh air moving through. It's clean and well patrolled by security and there are retail outlets for everyone and restaurants, too. I think what most people are missing is the rooftop atrium, called The Dome. The lift goes to the top and from there, a tremendous view over the city of Belfast. It's free and should not be missed. [Review 1885 of 2024 - 867 in United Kingdom - 22907 overall]

It is a massive shopping center, beautiful and made of mirrors. Lots of shops and restaurants to…read morenosh and spend your cash. I stopped at a few stores here, and partook of great hospitality and service. The spaces were immaculate and there were lots of places to sit, eat and meet. Great name eh.... Victoria Square.

Also forgot that these shops and cafes became these:…read more Dunnes Stores = Brand Max (now closed forever) Pickwicks = Shopmobility (now closed forever) Tesco = The Range Eason = The original Sports Direct (now closed forever) re:beebies = HomeStart Zodiac = The security guards and cameras area, which is so big that it has bikes and a Brand Max bag Index = Argos (now closed forever, mentioned before) Jill Edwards (mentioned before) = Fighting Words NI Next = Poundland and Mens Fashion (I think it was called that) Mens Fashion = Savers Karine & Co. (mentioned before) = Halloween and Christmas shops which never opened Lifestyle Sports and a Behind the Movies thing = Arts Care Unknown restaurant = Chicking Hungry Gull = Harland and Wolff Chip restaurant Danske Bank = PLATFORM Yangtze = Super Bowl H. Samuel (mentioned before along with Schoolbags) = Schoolbags and the Arts Care office Thomas Cook = Hays Travel Clarks = East Belfast Men's Talk Now, for the ones in the retail park. The original Lidl and Harry Corry = Home Bargains The original Lidl and Dreams = Halfords Lazer = Poundworld and HouseProud (two now closed forever) American Golf = Specsavers Gilpin's = The original Halfords (now closed when it was merged with the vacant JJB and CarpetRight units to make Lidl) The original Halfords (now next to Home Bargains), the original CarpetRight and JJB = Lidl Pizza Hut = Rigin and Starbucks Xtravision = CarpetRight and Tim Hortons Bensons for Beds = Restore Maplin = Restore and Jollyes Budget DIY = B&M FitnessFirst = Better (leisure centre) Vodafone, Brand Max, Sports Direct, GAME, all the four cafes on the ground floor, Sky, Argos, Specsavers, Eason, Tesco, Dunnes Stores, Optical Express, re:beebies, the Harland and Wolff restaurant, Chicking, Internacionale, Early Learning Centre, Shoezone, EE, Mens Fashion, Karine & Co, Ski & Sports (aka the Canterbury shop), Carphone Warehouse, TUI, the original men's talk which is replaced with storage, The original Lidl, Harry Corry, Dreams, Poundworld, Lazer, the original Halfords, JJB, the original CarpetRight, Xtravision, CarpetRight, Pizza Hut, Rigin, Bensons for Beds, the original Restore, Schoolbags, H. Samuel, Danske Bank, Zodiac, Pickwicks, Shopmobility, HouseProud, FitnessFirst, Budget DIY, Next and the unknown restaurant are still abandoned and some of them have been taken over. The Range, Boots, HomeStart, Arts Care, Vapourette, Mobile & Tablets, East Belfast Men's Talk, PLATFORM, Peacocks, the security guards area, Poundland, Savers, The Works, Bonmarché, Blue Inc, The Arts Care office, The Perfume Shop, Hays Travel, East Belfast Men's Talk, New Look, Poundstretcher, O2, Halifax, Holland and Barrett, Card Factory, Claire's, Netra, Burger King, Super Bowl, Subway, Lidl, Home Bargains, Halfords, Better (leisure centre), B&M, Specsavers, Ulster Bank, McDonald's, Jollyes and Restore are the remaining units in the shopping centre and retail park. Remember, 40 units + 53 empty units = 93 units altogether. THE END, AGAIN.

Standard shopping centre really…read more Shops are forever changing in here. The place is kept clean. Has decent parking.

As far as the ubiquitous shopping center and relaxed "shopping experience" goes this is one of the…read moremost humane and practical in Belfast. Great car parking and easy access to other neighbouring shops and outlets. Slightly presumptuous and inverted but I can overlook that for it's relaxed and easy access.And with its variety of shops, doggy friendliness,it gets a thumps up from me & Ben!

It has happened to us all. Sometimes you just think you've nothing to wear for a night out halfway…read morethrough that afternoon and you cannot be bothered to make the trek into town. At these troublesome times, thank flip for Forestside. Bright and clean with loads of handy parking, this shopping centre has really upped it's game over the last while. The selection of stores is great, mostly all your usual ladies high street names like Next, New Look, H&M and Oasis. Now I write this I realise it does feature the ladies heavily, but there is always a big M&S for the boys to buy a pair of slacks or whatever it is you buy. Also at either end there is a Sainsburys or M&S food and a large off licence, so along with a new top you can get a bottle of wine and a load of tasty nibbles to accessorize it with. A perfect look for any evening ;-)

For me, Ards Shopping Centre isn't the kind of shopping centre you go to for a premium shopping…read moreexperience - it's more of a Bon Marche and Claire's Accessories kind of place. There are a couple of redeeming shops - River Island and McGees Butchers are worth a visit as is Belleek Living which is upmarket and a little out of place. Looks like it's showing off a bit with its luxury ceramics. I am also a bit of a Primark bargain hunter and while the branch in Ards is small, it seems to have some of the better bits you find in the bigger stores, particularly PJs. For a Primark raid, park behind the centre rather than in the car park and nip in the back door. If you do, you'll pass a line of cafes which are dated and forlorn but seem to do good business nonetheless. There are a couple of nicer places to grab a sandwich like Esquires coffee shop and the juice bar next door. There is a really big branch of Asda which does a good range of ladies and kids clothes and I've picked up a couple of good bits and piece for the kids there. All in all, Ards is somewhere for a functional shopping trip rather than a leisurely browse. You'll get your groceries and maybe pick up something in River Island or Primark. Or a fancy ceramic vase in Belleek Living.

About time I updated my review for Ards Shopping Centre from 2010 - so, what's changed? Much like…read moreother shopping centre's this one has a whole load of vacant/closed shops which is always sad to see. But let's focus on the positives. Ards has a good amount of big brand stores - River Island, Asda, Primark and a Boots store. One class addition to this centre is a soft, FREE children's play area - a perfect place to leave the kids or appease them after shopping. One thing Ards has abundance is parking - you won't struggle to find a space. There's also a Burger King and a Movieland cinema on the grounds so if you want to make a day of it you can. I'm taking a star off Ards for the amount of empty stores - perhaps give the empty units to independent retailers - it would definitely take the bad look off the place.

I have driven past City Side Mall thousands of times over the last year but I never feel the need…read moreto pay it a visit. Yesterday this all changed when I went in to pick up a few bits for Friday nights dinner. City Side Mall is always busy and the parking spaces are at a premium! It's a deceptively large mall with a cinema, Burger King, New Look, Sport shop, Bargain stores, Tescos and many others. As the name suggest it is just outside the city but still walkable. It really is a jack of all trades and I'll definitely be paying it another visit. Nothing too special and nothing awful, so that makes it okay in my book.

City Side Mall (previously known as Yorkgate shopping centre) is conveniently located on York…read moreStreet. This shopping centre has a variety of different shops - Tesco, Tescos Petrol Station, Poundland, Home Bargains, Burger King, Pound Stretcher, a Movie House Cinema and much more. Parking is free at City Side Mall however the car park is managed by UKPC so make sure you not illegally parked as you will end up with a fine.

I left Castle Court with my hands full at Poundland, Superdrug, Top Gift Outlet No. 92, and Bargain…read moreBooks in Belfast, UK. The assortment was impressive, offering excellent value for the items. The service was both professional and efficient. I bought birthday gifts, toys, adapter that can convert for U.K. to U.S. plug and other useful things.

It's nearly a year since I was last here. I was unimpressed last time and I felt this time that it…read moresure hadn't improved any, rather if it was to close I sure wouldn't miss it. The Wu flu has sure turned things upside down in retail with many retail companies that were barely holding on pre Wu flu were decimated through lock down. I went to Starbucks on the first floor and I had to wait for a seat as most seating has been removed or blocked off. Their service was real friendly for folk denied a living wage. The store was kept properly clean too. The coffee was darn good and it came in a real ceramic cup as for the last 15 months these chain coffee companies - the few that were open - have only given out paper cups with those nasty plastic lids - in this part of the world customers usually can't refuse the plastic lid - the elf & safety police - so 1 maybe 2 green stars for Starbucks. I took a walk to Yangtze to consider lunch; this place used to be a real highlight with darn good salted chilli prawns and squid, yeung chow fried rice (char siu pork; cooked shrimp; scallions, chopped; eggs yolks; peas; carrots) but these delights are all gone. They were going pre Wu Flu but it accelerated the decline. Instead, and just like my last visit, I watched staff placing big steel containers full of cooked food into a bain marie hot water bath, sweet & sour chicken, black bean chicken at 11am - even chips, chips in a bain marie for over an hour. The lights weren't even on, service was an hour away. So here it's all pre cooked chicken. No pork, no prawns and if there's beef I couldn't see it. Now take sweet & sour (just like black bean) the sauce is meant to be a coating on the meat. It's not stew like this place serves. The sauce isn't intended to constitute over half the served dish. The vegetables in these dishes, like peppers and carrots are meant to be stir fried and crisp - not stewed and limp like here. This is a perfect model of how to destroy a perfectly good business.

This mall is located very near the RISE monument and our tour bus stopped here for a comfort stop,…read moreso folks could stop for a loo break, and also pick up breakfast. We got about a 10-15 min break here and my impression of the mall was that it was very British and seeing all those sale signs with the £ symbol was a bit jarring, when just 2 hours ago, it was all € currency and signage. Anyway, there were 4 women's loo stalls and one was out-of-order. So long wait! I saw a person cleaning the main corridors of the mall (it was around 10am) and there was one tea & sandwich shop open which did a brisk business with our tour group. It looked like a nice mall, with plenty of free parking spaces, but I really don't have anything else to review, as didn't really avail of any services here apart from the loos. Yelp 128/ 2019

The Park centre is really handy from the motorway making it accessible from anywhere in the City…read moreand the surrounding area, it's just whether you actually want to go there that's the issue. the Park Centre has quickly become dated and is crying out for a facelift. It's full on pound stores and other bargain outlets giving it that really cheap feeling. Don't get me wrong I like a bargain as much as the next person but The Park Centre is bordering on depressing. It's only saving grace is that it has a good car park, if it didn't I don't think anyone would visit. Please someone invest a few quid (I said a few quid not more quid stores) in to the Park Centre, even the logo is dated!

Another one for all you shoppers out there. Once you've had your fill of shopping in the city…read morecentre (see my reviews on CastleCourt and Victoria Square), there's still a few places left to burn out the credit card. Just a five minute drive from the city centre, Boucher Road has quite a few shops in it, most of which are located in Boucher Crescent Retail Park or Shane Retail Park (see my review on Shane retail park). There are men and women's clothing shops (River Island, Next, Burton, the Jeanery...), a sports shop, HMV, Starbuck's, Boots... the list goes on. There's a hell of a lot of space dedicated to parking here, but it can still be very difficult to get a space on a Saturday or Sunday. It's not a mall type place where you can get lost in, it's one of those places where the shops are all lined up in a row and you come out of one shop and into the next one - good for methodical shoppers, or those who don't have a lot of time. The downside is that the traffic on the Boucher Road can be crazy between 4 and 6p.m. But, if you're a visitor and you're out for a day's shopping, get yourself a 'day ticket' (see my Translink review) and you can take a trip up here before/after shopping in the city centre.

Boucher Road Crescent Retail Park is a handy spot for shopping if you don't fancy going into the…read moreCity Centre. It has a huge variety of shops including River Island, Outfit, Lipsy, Newlook, Next, Boots and much much more. Oh and there's a few car manufacturers nearby if you fancy treating yourself to a new Audi TT

Cool store chain in Ireland. Think Walmart meets target then scaled down quite a bit. Clothing food…read moreand hot foods. Some delicious fresh breads. Staff were friendly and prices were fair.

A mid sized store divided into 2 main sections, 1 food and 1 home/clothing. It's quite anonymously…read morepositioned on the Ormeau Road and to be honest I find it the poor cousin of the other Dunnes that can be found in Forestside. The clothing range has always been a bit banal although of a decent enough quality and well-priced. Although recently I've felt that the prices have started to creep up without a rise in the general level of quality or overall style. I'm not really sure who is buying the food as I've always found that despite being quite big it doesn't really feel like the sort of shop you go to do your 'big shop'. Rather it somehow comes across a bit more like an oversized convenience store. The prices are a little higher than I think many would expect to pay too. Usually when you shop 'convenience' you're just getting a few things and you know you're paying a little more as the shop is handy, but here isn't really handy unless you already happen to live right beside it anyway. The finishing is a bit dull too, well maybe not dull.... Dated. All in all its just not that much fun to go into and really the other big Dunnes Store in Forestside makes this one look like the poor cousin.