Deepdale Shopping Park, often styled as just Deepdale Shopping is a large retail park in Preston,…read morelocated on Blackpool Road it is basically opposite Deepdale Football Stadium, home to Preston North End Football Club. The location of Deepdale Shopping is good, it has a large amount of car parking too, and the location makes it a good spot if you want to spend some time after the match, perhaps to get a drink or something to eat while waiting for traffic to die down a bit, I've never attended a game at Deepdale but as a 25,000 or so capacity stadium, it must be quite hard getting in and out of the stadium and surrounding area on a matchday. Shops here include Sports Direct, TUI, O2, WHSmith and JD Sports, although one thing I dislike about this retail park is the overall layout, it makes certain stores hard to find and some of which seem to be slightly just outside the retail park, and closer to Blackpool Road its-self, examples of this include Starbucks and Currys PC World, I must also add the Starbucks branch here is a franchise store (and quite a poor one - there is a seperate review for that if inteested) so do be expected to pay higher prices if visiting that one! In terms of food outlets, there is only a small selection, yet this includes one of two Nando's branches in Preston, this one (in-fact both of them) serve halal chicken only, other restaurants here include Frankie and Benny's and Pizza Hut. KFC and Subway also have bases here. Interestingly, the Starbucks doesn't seem to be classed as inside the retail park although it is basically right next to it and requires little walking to get there from the retail park, depending whereabouts in the retail park you are of course Like most retail parks, parking here is free and you should be able to park relatively close to most shops, depending on demand, although this probably might be tricky at peak time and Preston home match-days. Due to certain issues with the overall layout and feel of Deepdale Shopping, I feel it only deserves a two-star rating.

Avenham Car Park is a multi-storey car park in Preston city centre, within a few minutes walk away…read morefrom the main shopping streets and malls in the city. I hate to say it, but in terms of overall setup layout and signage it is one of the worst car parks I have used. The pricing, in general, doesn't seem too bad: up to 1 hour £1.30 up to 2 hours £2.20 up to 3 hours £3.00 up to 4 hours £3.80 up to 12 hours £4.50 up to 24 hours £8.00 The first issue I have is the disabled parking, they do offer free disabled parking but you MUST be parked in a disabled bay, considering there is only 3 and these are hidden, it seemed like they made them so few in number and so hard to find, that they might as well not have had them at all, it became just too frustrating and inconvenient. As you enter the car park it was also strange to not be given a ticket, you instead have to go to machines which once again is really confusing for a multi-storey car park, where you don't have to be given or hand in a ticket to get in or out. Avenham Car Park also had a lack of signage to get in and out, and the pedestrian way into the car park also was not very accessible, it was bumpy and felt just old and in need of maintenance as a whole, overall the car park wasn't the nicest of places to be, even the location seemed to be in the middle of nowhere, to the point it could be frightening to be there in the dark, especially with a lack of signs at the best of times to find your way into the city centre. Like the three wise men did with the star, I followed a sign, a very distant and faint Boots size to find my way, which wasn't even that easy to spot, while considering the issue with the overall feel of the car park and confusing set-up and pricing, I really do feel Avenham Car Park sadly deserves a single one star rating.

Deepdale, home to Preston North End FC is one of the oldest football stadiums in the world, opened…read morein 1878 it is often regarded as the longest continually used stadium in the world. - signs of its age can show such as the construction of the stadium being rather strange which includes a built-in walk-in/doctors surgery as well as an old-fashioned, strange enterance to executive areas which at times look like houses. The stadium also remains pretty difficult to navigate - it also didn't help that a steward sent me the wrong way meaning I had to pass thousands of Preston fans, before getting into the game where I'd watch my Manchester City defeat Preston 3-0 at an almost full capacity ground (the stadium holds just over 24,000) Away disabled supporters are located at pitchside in a ditch area, which is lower than the pitch making it rather difficult to see action at the other side of the pitch - I even struggled to see if the ball had or hadn't gone in for some attempts, supported by only one scoreboard/screen which was above the away end meaning no away fans could see the scoreboard or watch replays which I didn't like - once again this shows the age of the stadium. I also couldn't believe my eyes when the match was playing that staff members kept walking past slowly, blocking the view (mainly of disabled supporters) including a program seller who wouldn't leave until he sold one - I mean come on, we're here to watch the game so what are you doing mate? The one good thing about the pitchside location is the fact the players can come over to greet you after the game, which Benjamin Mendy did - a fantastic player and person. The match tickets were pretty reasonably priced but it was a Carabao Cup fixture which is generally cheap anyway as it is a competition often used for big teams to give their youth players and B-team a chance, The stadium is pretty easy to get to with bus stops nearby although after the match the traffic is horrendous, often resulting in a two-mile walk back to the city centre and train station - I do feel the bus companies are missing a trick by forcing anyone heading from the train station to the stadium to change buses (an extra ticket) because many away fans would be reliant on public transport and most stadiums I've been to do have a direct route from the nearby train station including Liverpool, my Manchester City and of course Wembley, the national stadium - even teams around Preston's level such as Stoke City and Wigan Athletic do, so it's not just a divisional thing. Certainly not the best stadium in the country, and it is one of the oldest - I'd say the overall match experience for away fans is made pretty poor due to the difficulty and lack of signage getting into the stadium and then facilities such as lacking a view of the screen etc. 2* - Historic ground but pretty dismal for away fans other than being able to get closer to your players than most other stadiums.

I'd rather see your south end than your north end, but let's get on with the review. See what I did…read morethere? I Preston with the review. I don't like that when you buy this team's kit, the numbers and name on the back are Preston instead of Sewnon. But it's ok. PNE stands for only one thing in my world. And that's' Post-Natal Ecstasy. Oh wait. Back to the football. First-Hand Experience: Absolutely adore PNE. Have seen them play at home, and also away against their hated rivals Blackpool. I don't know why they hate each other when they are both amazing teams. I support both of them fully. Well done to Preston for being promoted, absolutely delighted about that. I want to see them as a Prem team one day. I love going to Deepdale to watch them and will be going again in 2016. One of the biggest and best teams outside the Prem and an easy 5 star rating. Preston North End is one of the most historic and grand teams outside the Premier League. Based on size alone they should be back in it. They have a beautiful loud intense 25k seat stadium, but they just have been mismanaged for a long time. They have some glory days though. They were champions of England twice, in 1889 and 1890. They were runners up many times, including twice in the 1950s. They won the FA Cup twice, in 1889 and 1938 right before WWII. Wolves, Burnley and Preston are the only teams who have been champions of all four divisions at some time or another. They have also lost in the cup final 5 times. Definitely one of the classic teams of England, but all these reviews dedicated to the stadium should be moved to the new stadium listing which I created! :)

Preston railway station in Preston, Lancashire, England, is a major station on the West Coast Main…read moreLine, roughly half-way between London Euston and Glasgow Central - it is around 200 miles or 2 1/4 hours or so from both - that being said is right in the middle of the two, it is quite an important station, operated by Virgin Trains but I'd even go as far to say this is one of the worst Category B stations I've visited (On the contrast I find the likes of Brighton and Stockport to be the best) The station is mainly used by Virgin Trains who provide routes to destinations such as London, Glasgow and Blackpool but is also used by other services such as Northern (Slow train into Manchester and Greater Manchester towns as well as offering services to Blackpool, York and Liverpool) and TPExpress (fast services into Manchester Piccadilly in 36 minutes, Manchester Airport and Glasgow/Edinburgh. Caledonian Sleeper trains also pass through here, once per day in both directions (London/Scotland) For a nine platform station, it still feels pretty small, unlike virtually every other main train station which is the main one of a city/category B and above there isn't a WHSmith - nor is there much at the station nonetheless other than a few coffees stands with little seating, and a Starbucks which couldn't serve food OR COFFEE! (Come on... are they called Starbucks tea or Starbucks coffee?) The ticket area is pretty small and it does close even at busy times in the evening - meaning it can be hard to find a member of staff. When I did find a staff member they did seem friendly enough even though they had thousands of football fans singing after watching Manchester City defeat Preston North End 3-0 in the third round of the Carabao Cup. It is in a good location for the centre, being only a short walk away from the shopping area, and two stops on the bus from the bus station with cabs outside the station. 2* - Poor facilities in the station but a good location, with friendly enough staff for the extra star.

A great small railway station with a few open ticket offices, a spacious newsstand and a…read morerefreshment stand. Clear information boards which make orientation very easy. Going to work by train doesn´t necessarily mean you have to run straight to the cleaner´s the way you do it in the Czech Republic :D Prima malé nádraží s pár otevřenými pokladnami, prostorným novinovým stánkem a stánkem s občerstvením. Přehledné tabule, snadná orientace. Jezdit vlakem do práce neznamená skočit šipku do čistírny tak, jak je to typické v Česku :D

St Georges Shopping Centre is one of the few shopping centres located in Preston city centre, it…read morehas had various names over the years including The Mall of Preston, since it opened in 1966 which was the year Geoff Hurt's hat trick won the World Cup for England in a 4-2 win over West Germany after extra time. Away from my talk about football, this is probably one of the larger one of Preston's malls, which does have quite a few shops in the city centre on its main shopping street as well as various other small malls. Brands here include Ryman, Burger King, Costa, The Works and Superdrug while also including CeX, Clintons, Marks and Spencer, O2 and The Perfume Shop so the overall shop selection is satisfactory. The selection in terms of food and drink here, I sadly found to be quite bad, with the selection being just a few fast food places or coffee places at best, with brands here including Burger King, Subway, Krispy Kreme and Costa who do very little (if anything) for customers following a gluten-free diet, which I need to do for health reasons. The staff around the mall seemed friendly enough, but they didn't seem too helpful sadly. The layout of the mall was okay, yet it wasn't the best nor clearest either. This mall is satisfactory at best and is mainly let down by lack of places to eat and drink and as well as other factors mentioned in my review, I feel this mall deserves just a two-star rating.

Just like fishergate I very rarely use this shopping centre. The main reason for this is very few…read moreof the main shops are actually in this centre. I also find the layout incredibly disorientating with there being no clear 'route' through it. Although renovation has been taking place over the last couple of years I can't really see the benefit or improvement this has had. If it's not the best shopping day and the rain starts in earnest I suggest you make a bee line for fishergate instead - at least it has Debenhams to keep you busy!! The only shops in st georges worth visiting all the gallery and the bodyshop luckily they are near the same exit!