The area around the Abbey Centre has grown over the last few years to become as much of a draw as…read morethe shopping centre itself. My first stop is always the huge branch of TK Maxx. How I love that shop, with its shoes and home wares and clothes and jewellery and stuff, stuff, stuff. Always a bargain to be had - I even lugged a huge chest of drawers out of there once. After paying for it of course. Curse those efficient security guards. There is a branch of every high street shop you can think of - Mothercare, Pets at Home, M&S, Tesco, JJB Sports, Matalan to name a few. I always like a look around Matalan where there are some bargains in ladies and children's clothes and a selection of birthday cards and invitations which has to be seen to be believed. Make a quick pit stop in McDs and you'll be ready for round 2 in the shopping centre itself. The Abbey Centre is pretty big, with several different 'wings' coming off the central point. Highlights for me are River Island, the bargain emporium that is Primark, Top Shop and Wallis. Apart from clothes, I also like going to the Abbey Centre for books - Stewart Miller and Easons always have offers on new releases. Chick lit I'm afraid to admit but someone has to read them.

Ah, my good old friend, the Abbeycentre. How I love it…read more Just a short trip up the road from me, I have been shopping here for as long as I can remember, and take a browse around its' many shops at least once a month. There is a large amount of on site parking, so you can usually get parked with ease (unless you go stright after Christmas when the January Sales are in full swing) then its an absolute free for all! There are many shops here to suit all pockets, from sport shops, to fashion clothing, from banks to mobile phone and gaming shops, from card and gift shops to butchers, you will get pretty much anything you want at the Abbeycentre, without the headache travelling into the city centre can bring. There is even a new Poundland store for some of the old bargain hunting. And long may it continue!

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 ;-)

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.

For my 345th Yelp, I am sharing one of my favorite shopping places! I enjoy shopping at M&S,…read morewhenever I am in the UK or Ireland. I can count on them for clothes that suit both my style and my budget. Today they were short staffed. Very few registers open and no one on the selling floor to help when I needed it. This afternoon I purchased some jeans for myself, some toner and I grabbed my husband a few wee colognes from this place. The toner was a great buy for my travel weary skin. The colognes are outstanding, make hubby smell like the dashing Irishman that he is, and the jeans hit these curves correctly. Terrific food selections as well. Once I had them cater an entire Christmas Dinner. This was several years back. But again, Mark & Spencer's quality was evident; their prices are fair. Again...They never disappoint.

I was excited to visit a M&S while visiting Belfast and this particular location didn't quite live…read moreup to my expectations; as far as department stores go, this one felt like a basic Macy's back in the US. There was a major sale underway and the store was busy - but I didn't see anything that looked much higher end than an H&M.

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.

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 called in here a few times in the last year. Each time I wonder how much longer it can stay…read moreafloat. It still has a Primark and a Dunnes stores and I guess if they go it's dead. I remember a thriving food hall here with 6 or 7 purveyors when Harry Ramsden's deservedly did a roaring trade and I was a fan. No more, it's down to just one; a BurgerKing that opens at noon. It had M&S food and a cafe but not now. Our world is changing and not for the better. It's a harder world and shopping malls like this one reflect what's hidden in plain sight - increased poverty, cuts after cuts killing people, killing trade, shutting shops, putting folk out of work, who for the most part are the working poor. It's political ideology behind it for the most part - nutters who wanted brexit ironically the richest and the poorest; the former know they will make shed loads more money atop what they already have amassed with no threat to pay fair tax and the latter in the vain hope they'll escape their grinding poverty caused by 15 years of frozen wages, diminished services and the transfer of manufacturing overseas. They have no chance. The working poor will start to realise they were lied to but rising fuel and food will leave them still more desperate every day and there's nothing they can do. Half empty shopping malls will become three quarters empty in the next few months, recession will hit hard as hell. It's not that there's no money about as there more of it than ever it's just that the richest are not passing as many crumbs to the poor as they used to. And politicians don't do real politics any more - they talk and they lie and steal all round them while high streets will become wastelands.

Bow Street Mall...it's a mall (shopping centre to you and I) and it's in Bow Street. Clever, eh? At…read moreleast there's no chance of you forgetting where it's located... In all seriousness, Bow Street Mall is probably one my favourite shopping centres. Here's why... 1) It has sixty shops. Sixty! I reckon that's pretty impressive for a central shopping centre. It's not just the number which is impressive, either. The range of stores, including Primark, Tempest, Dunnes Stores, Dorothy Perkins, TK Maxx and Hanna and Browne, is equally impressive, considering most of these are fairly huge. And it's all under one roof! 2) The food court is consistently busy, and offers the likes of Burger King, KFC, O'Briens, Shanghai Express, Harry Ramsden's and Barnams. Located on the first floor, the food court is the only part of the mall which is not on the ground floor. Yes, I rather like this mall on Bow Street. Innovative name and all...

I have been doing my weekly shop here since it opened in Bangor. Today Wednesday the 14 July '21…read moreit felt like I was in i Iceland absolutely awful so cold. It was so unpleasant and even in the clothing area it was the same, I decided not to bother looking anymore. It was warmer outside and the sun wasn't even shining. Something needs to be done I really feel for the staff. I work in a large supermarket but it is certainly not cold. A discrase

Despite all my complaints about the other middle class shops and overall money wasting that goes on…read morein Bangor it is probably a bit weird to say that I like M&S so much, but to my shame, I really do. This place is massive, having recently been extended with a much larger clothes and home section added. This means that there is always something you can pop into get for a present for your parents or your girl/boyfriend. The food section in here is great and I'm a particularly huge fan of the profiteroles. The staff are always friendly and attentive and always on hand to help out. The parking here is amazing with plenty of free spaces. On top of that it is based in Bloomfield Shopping Centre which means it is easy to get to with lots of ATMs and other shops about.