What an amazing place. Built in the 30's and closed as a trader's market in 2006, this amazing open…read morespace has been re-opened for arts fair's and installations, musical performances and more. Run by the progressive Northampton Arts Collective who have given Northampton new cultural standing, promoting artists, photographers, musicians, performers and many more, giving them a bandstand such as the Fishmarket allowing the public to see local works that may not have seen the light of day. Simply goto the Fishmarket and broaden your horizons.

Fot the weirdness of it, the girlyness of it, the fetishness of it, this gets a 5. (and they do…read moretouch on fetish in the exhibition). There are other things in this museum but you don't really notice. The largest collection of boots and shoes in the world. Includes Elton John's huge Doc Marten Boots from Pinball Wizard. Little Titch, Music hall artist, boots recently seen on QI. Exhibits at the gallery include shoes for animals - from horses, dogs and even elephants! Northampton was/is a shoe making town. Their Life and Sole (oh haha) galleries are the place for all dedicated followers of fashionoooer ark at me..burst into song there.

The shoe museum in Northampton provides a history of shoes in a town famous for its cobbling. There…read moreare a large collection of shoes though the ages, including some very scary looking shoes for bound feet. There are even some roman sandals as well as much more modern footware. The gift shop sells a number of suitably shoe related items along with the standard postcards, erasers and pencils. The exhibition is good for the serious shoe lover but is worth a few minutes of your time even if you only own two pairs of shoes yourself. The Shoe Museum - does exactly what it says on the tin!

The Hayrack is a source of constant fascination. Rob who runs the place is a great photographer (we…read moregot him to come along to our wedding and take some pics for us), but he also has a keen eye for what is interesting, not always selling for huge money, but always shown with passion and sparkle. I have bought loads of stuff here and indeed I am looking at some of it as I type. The art is vivid, the textiles are wild, glasswork is inspirational, ceramics are perfect. There are cards and postcards, small framed prints, portraits, landscapes, big original art of all sorts and all manner of other ephemera, not to mention Rob's theme nights in the nearby Barn Restaurant. Highly recommended - superb place and such a lovely guy!

A great place to meet up with friends over a cup of coffee, lunch or afternoon tea. Pleasant staff…read morewho have never made me feel rushed and who are willing to assist when asked.

When I got there I found out it shuts before the advertised time on the web. When I pointed this…read moreout the waitress didn't care a jot even though I pointed out this could be very disappointing for customers coming from out of the area. I have several food intolerances so when asking about the ingredients in their homemade cakes I got a message back via the waitress that she can't guarantee the cakes were free from what I was intolerant to. As people with food intolerances are always ending up having to go without gorgeous food, I asked if I could have more detail of what was in the cakes so I could make a decision on what it was I could or couldn't eat, just in case there was something I could have. This was very obviously an inconvenience to the waitress and the manager who had baked them. She tried again to say she couldn't guarantee anything because obviously this was the quickest way to solve the issue for herself, but after explaining that I'd like to try to see if there was something I could eat, it was again very plain that I was wasting her time. It was late afternoon and they weren't busy, so I would have appreciated a couple of minutes of her time without the attitude. After finding out there was indeed a piece of cake I could eat, I sat down to enjoy it only to be served it with more attitude by the waitress. If she could have got away with grunting at me I sure she would have! I unfortunately had to ask for a pot of hot water as the tea didn't come with one, and AGAIN got a look saying 'are you bothering me again?!'. Cleanliness was also not great with tea-stained table clothes, dying roses on the table, and also dust on the teapot holding the roses which was next to an open sugar bowl which no doubt had the same amount of dust in it! Also, amazingly, a dog walking around the kitchen area with it's bed behind the serving counter!! (Yes, I am about to inform environmental health dept!!) Lastly, my table was being cleared before I had finished. I did notice however, that the other table still in there didn't have their table touched, so I'm guessing that was a touch of nastiness from the waitress also. I was there looking for a place to take 18-20 friends for my birthday which is coming up soon as we fancied a gorgeous afternoon tea, but we will definitely be going somewhere else after that experience!