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...

It would be pretty easy to just throw a catchphrase at this place but to be honest, they're great…read morerivals Specsavers are much, much better in my experience and that is why I would only really head in here for a quick look and to compare it to Specsavers. Anytime I have been into Vision Express I have found it a bit too corporate and the staff far too focused on sales. This is pretty bad as, at the end of the day, this is a place that is offering a health service and should be focused on that rather than selling stuff. The shop itself is nice. Its clean and tidy and you can usually get good parking in and around it which makes it convenient. But, to be honest you should just go to Specsavers.

Now, don't get me wrong, I know Birthdays is a chain store. There are tons of them all across the…read moreUK, and, as Barbara Dickson and Elaine Paige once said, "We know them so well" (well, almost - they said him instead). However, a recent visit to Birthdays in Lisburn unleashed a pleasant surprise... Having chosen a card for a friend from their newly reduced range (cards from 59p allegedly), I decided to take a look around the store to see what else caught my eye. Plenty of cards, balloons, badges (plus a few Aleksandr Meerkats)... And there they were. In all their glory. A spec-tacular (unfortunately I can't take credit for this - its says on the pack) range of comedy glasses. Champagne glasses and beer goggles (both quite literally), sparkly specs (complete with disco balls), extravagant and colourful glasses, guitar shades, footie specs...you name it, they had it. At £2.49 a shot they'd make an hilarious addition to a fancy dress outfit, or a hen party, or even just for the banter. And you thought Birthdays only did cards. Twas too good a secret to get keep to myself. Off you go, buy a pair, and make a spectacle of yourself...

Cards and balloons etc. Lots of funny and tacky present stuff. Also good for stocking fillers.read more