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. ;)

I'm a passionate Bristolian. I love everything about Bristol and every inch of this beautiful city…read more However, every time I go through Broadmead I can't help but ask: what happened? What went wrong? I know that the high street has been in decline for a while now, and that it's not only Bristol that has empty shopping centers, but that doesn't make it any easier watch. When I was a kid I used to love going into town and going to the galleries to by someone a birthday present, or go to choose my own. But now broadmead and the galleries are a non-event. There's not really anything there apart from boots and a few discount shops. Saying that, every christmas the German markets come to town and liven the place up with mulled wine, bratwurst and some much needed christmas cheer. It's a really nice place to go on your lunch break or to start a night off. Without it, this would be a 2 star review!

This is Bristol's main shopping precinct, complete with a mall, two cinemas and various department…read morestores. It's always felt a bit tired and run down, with too much concrete and boarded up windows. They've taken a step towards dealing with a recent refurbishment - cleaning the brick work and stuff like that. It's still a bit crap to be honest, especially next the brand spanking new Cabot Circus next door. There's everything you'd expect from a big city's main shopping area. They've got a Marks and Spencer and several McDonald's - it's pretty much a clone of what you'd find in somewhere like Southampton or Wolverhampton. Everyone says Bristol can do a bit better - I suppose that's what Cabot Circus is all about. It's got a quite a Bristolian feel to it, which makes it feel a bit less soulless. Staff are a bit more likely to meet your eye than London and there's quite a friendly atmosphere. Anoyances include charity muggers and men standing around with microphones decrying your sins, but nothing too bad. Broadmead isn't flash, or even very smart but has everything you'd want when you go into town.

Ok, now for a little history lesson (sorry I wouldn't do this unless it was very interesting). The…read moreClifton Arcade, a beautiful Victorian version of a shopping mall, was buried under 60 tonnes of debris (including a caravan) until just 20 years ago. The story goes, when a builder was working around the site twenty years ago and started drilling into a wall, his drill went all the way through, meaning it was hollow inside; he made the hole big enough to look through and saw this beautiful old Victorian parade of shops, untouched for decades. Now I don't know how much of that the complete truth, but pretty cool is nonetheless. As far as shops go, they are suitably useless but fit in with this special building. They are lovely little independent businesses. There is an amazing little Mexican shop that only sells, well, Mexican things. Like wrestlers masks. Nacho Libre!!! There are art shops & a really cool vintage clothes shop (woman only, dam!). The biggest shame is that the brilliant little record store that used to be at the far end has now closed. Dam, now this arcade really is only suitable for woman, mothers and grannies who can literally get lost in their for hours. Some peace for the rest of us.

This is kind of symptomatic of everything that's good and bad about Clifton Village. You enter by…read morethe Promrose Cafe and stroll through this beautiful arcade, though I have to say, I'm struggling to think of a time that I've ever bought anything here. Pretty much everything in here - bar the music store - is high end, which means, especially in this day and age, that it's all a little rich for my blood. Always worth a quick stroll when you're in the area, but you may want to encase your wallet in concrete before you enter.

Lovely shopping centre! Perfect to drive a piano around in while playing the Coconut Mall theme…read moresong.

The Galleries shopping centre was THE place to shop to avoid the grim main strip of Broadmead…read morebefore Cabot Circus opened up a couple of years ago. Unfortunately, the new and popular Cabot Circus has meant pretty much the end of the Galleries. Many shops have closed down or moved out of the Galleries in hope of a better future in the new shopping mall. A few shops have stayed though, which means that the Galleries is still worth a browse. For chain essentials such as Boots, WHSmith and Burger King, you will find all these under one roof. There are a few non-essential and pointless shops which are still quite overpriced considering they are on their last legs. You will find Hawkins Bazaar here, which gives the Galleries a thumbs up from me.

Prepare to be confused. The Mall is what used to be called The Galleries. Why the name The Mall is…read morebetter than The Galleries, I've got no idea, and quite where that leaves The Mall shopping centre out in Cribbs, I'm not sure (suffering an identity crisis to go with its Circus-induced financial crisis, I would suspect). I walked through here the other day, and it was actually surprisingly busy post- Circus, with no shops boarded up as far as I could see and all the big players (Boots, Smiths, Waterstones) staying put. This isn't to recommend this massive anachronism, though, which is, let's face it, something of a ghost town waiting to happen.

Before Cabot Circus opened The Mall was the centre point for Bristol. I was ashamed to invite…read moreanyone to visit for this reason! It was really small for a main shopping mall, and only has a few decent shops in it. Now that Cabot Circus has opened, most business has relocated and nowadays there seems to be more and more of these tacky, cheap clothes shops popping up inside which all sell the same things. As Mark very well said, one of the sole uses of The Mall has to be the escalators to the top meaning you don't have to walk up the stupidly steep hill to Castle Park and St Nicholas Market! I don't ever really visit the Mall, only for TK-Max and the use of their lifts. Press onwards the Cabot Circus in my opinion!

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!

Sells some good things, although they are too on guard as me and my friends all got stopped while…read moreleaving for "stealing" they searched us and still found nothing. Most things are one pond or just over so I would say that it is overall okay other than them making some mistakes.

I actually really like coming here. The draw of things in a store that only will cost you a one…read morepound coin is quite strong. Whether it's washing up liquid, shampoo, batteries, cat food, assorted peanuts, or even milk, you name it and they probably have it here which makes it great if you're in a rush and need a random list of things. You of course have to choose carefully about what things are value for money, but for example, 12 AA batteries for a pound is pretty good. There are so many things here, and with staff that are actually surprisingly friendly, it's a shop I first think of going to when I need something. The only time I didn't get what I needed was when I was looking for a big round screw bulb - they had all other kinds of bulbs though. So next time you're in a rush and are racking your brain for a shop that might have a random item that you really, really need.. maybe give Poundland a go.

Shops like Curry's have moved out refusing to pay the raised rents. They have recently put in Zebra…read morecrossings with cars either side blocking your view of pedestrians. In the car spaces are below your eyeliner barriers which often get hit damaging cars. There are no litter bins only Mc Donald's and Greggs' which everyone uses to overflowing over the paths. Avon Meads suffer from lack of thought and seem only interested in taking the money. The car barriers are totally unnecessary and expensive to hit even gently. Apart from good entertainment centres the low stars are for the above mentioned problems which I doubt will be resolved until someone gets hurt.

Don't you just love these ugly out of town meccas to all things capialist? No, me neither but I…read morestill seem to go to them every now and then and sometimes I even buy stuff (sometime stuff I even like!). This one sits in their usual habitat (a massive concrete car park), though it does boast a flyover arcing overhead (classy). Contained within are the usual suspects - cinema, bowling alley, McDonald's, Pizza Hut, Chiquito - plus a load of warehouse sized shops (Boots, Comet, Currys, Brantano Footwear, JJB Sports, The Range and, er, a small Marks and Sparks for some reason). These places usually get the single star treatment though this receives an extra one simply for being the one that's near my house.

The Gatehouse contains luxurious little shops that you never knew you needed but can find no reson…read morenot to spend when you're there. And to top it off you can do it while the children attend the nursery located inside. The nursery boasts some of the happiest people I've ever met; and my son will agree with you! They provide everything a child from birth to school age could need. You can pamper your outter self in the hairdressers and your inner self in the health food shop - alternatively you can treat yourself to a cake in the café. You can check out some of the finiest woodwork in the Gatehouse workshop or shop for the home in the carpet warehouse. If you want to feed the mind then why not find out about a course? Its conveniently located, though a little bland to look at from the outside.