I love these old House of Fraser stores - they're just so dated inside, it reminds me of being a…read morekid and getting dragged round by my parents, and the old fashioned lifts which had an operator in them! Sadly you have to press the button yourself now, and there have been some half-baked attempts at modernisation in places but on the whole, this is the nearest thing you'll find in town to a traditional department store. This store is a step above Debenhams, and a step below the proper designer stores but a good place to look if you're searching for something nice. Their sales are good, and their own brand, Linea, is generally good quality. Parking is non-existant for this shop, you've got to find a space on street, or in one of the car parks and it can make it more bother than it's worth so sadly it's a shop I don't visit as often as I would like, but if you're in town anyway and feeling flush it's worth a look.

Debenhams: the shop that you walk through to get to the car park! But they really do try their…read morehardest to make the most of that status, as there are heavily painted ladies at each corner ready to spritz you with any number of fragrances, and big promotional displays as far as the eye can see. If you do venture further into the store, it's actually quite good, especially if there's a sale on. They've got loads of concessions instore and many of what I call almost-designer brands such as John Rocha, Jasper Conran, Ben Sherman and the likes. These are definitely overpriced, but when they've knocked the obligatory 50% and 20% blue cross discount on top then they're not bad at all.

Debenhams is one of my absolute favourite shops in Doncaster as it sells so much and every so often…read moreit has a sales event where everything is up to 20% off, a huge saving on some of the more expensive items like occasion wear and shoes. I purchased my bridesmaids dresses from there, originally £80 each picked them up for £32 each, total bargain as well as shoes down from £90 to £40. There is a lovely cafe called style cafe which does meals and there are some great jewellery and cosmetics counters to browse and try.

Frenchgate Shopping Centre is a modern-day "Fawlty Tower's" and is one of the worst indoor shopping…read morecentres, I've seen serving a large town or city. The mall had a kind of sad atmosphere, many units were left empty or abandoned, with many of the store's that remain being small/poor stores, such as a Sainsbury's where I couldn't find anything which I needed. The security staff seemed unhelpful and lazy, they didn't care or stop children running around and playing ball games, shouting and screaming around the centre, it felt like a place for unruly troublesome thugs than a place to shop. The mobile signal in and around the centre is also non-existent, despite Doncaster having 5G, and my iPhone 12 Pro Max supporting this, I was barely able to access 3G! I also think it was frustrating that the majority of stores within the mall close at around 17:30, which is pretty early, even Sainsbury's shuts at 7 pm. There was some construction around the mall, which seemed unsafe and many lifts were not in working order. They did have a small number of eateries, but a lack of big brands in that regard, with Nando's and a pizza joint (such as Pizza Express) missing. 1* - A big letdown for the people of Doncaster, if you need a shopping centre in Doncaster, head to the train station outside the mall and head to Meadowhall, which is a twenty-minute journey.

The Frenchgate centre was revamped and massively extended a couple of years ago, and the difference…read moreis enormous. There's loads of parking (although it is a little on the pricey side), good access to the railway and bus station and loads of the usual High Street names. It can be a bit confusing to navigate around - I still get a bit confused as to which way I'm heading when I'm in there, and take careful note of where you've parked as if you go back up the wrong stairs you may never see your car again! There's not much of a foodcourt but right at the end of one of the sections there are several eateries - you need to be looking for it though, you won't just find it as you're passing as you'd expect in most shopping centres. Watch out for the loos - last time I tried to use them they wanted to charge for the priveledge! Not a chance!

I was visiting my parents in Doncaster for the Weekend and we decided to visit the local Outlet…read moreshopping centre, It has all the usual Outlets from M&S to NEXT, It also has a Costa Coffee shop which gets really busy as this is the only Coffee shop based here, Its a pretty nice place to just stroll around and take a look in the many shops what it has to offer. There is also free parking.

This is a fantastic place to shop if its clothes you are after,theres not much choice if your…read morelooking for anything else,if you have children then the clarks shop is ideal,you still have the expertise of trained staff measuring and fitting their shoes,but the prices are usually at least half price and quite often you can pick up top of the range shoes for a fiver,sometimes there is not a lot to choose from in some sizes but usually there is plenty,it depends on the day. For adults there is loads of designer shops which all have top quality clothes for a fraction of the recommended retail price .its a pleasant place to shop,with a huge free car park I would definatly recomment anybody wanting kids shoes or clothes to try here first

This is a M&S Clearance store, so totally different from the normal High Street branches…read more Everything instore is discounted - often heavily, and it's a bit messier than a normal store, but that makes it all the better for bargain hunting in! Some items are pretty poor, either with very little discount or really badly designed and you can see why they're cheap. But there are some real gems there and you can get some complete bargains. I got a gorgeous pair of chocolate winter cords the other day for £2.99, a kids hoodie for £1.99 and a bra for 99p. Look out for the rails of final clearance stock - these are the best value. They have fitting rooms like normal M&S stores, and the staff at the checkouts are always very friendly and polite as you'd expect. They mainly have womens clothing, with different ranges including Per Una and lingerie. There is a decent mens section as well, and a small childrenswear area to the back beside the fitting rooms. They so sell some homewares but only minimal and it is mostly towels, pot pourri and that sort of thing. This shop and Next clearance are the main reasons that a lot of people bother making a trip to the outlet in the first place. If M&S wasn't there I know I wouldn't bother half as often. Highly recommended for bargain hunters!

My wife is always dragging me to Lakeside (the Yorkshire Outlet) just to go to this shop. The 5*…read morerating is therefore based more on her opinion than mine! It's good mainly because it's cheap. There's nowhere near the selection you get in the normal M&S stores, but what they do have is discounted quite a bit off the normal store price. They also have 'special purchase' items which are only sold in their outlet stores, sometimes because they're slightly lesser quality, other timesjust because! The best bit is the clearance section that you find at the back of the store. I got a pair of work trousers in there for £2.99 that had originally been £45, and they're really good quality. Also lots of kids things in there for 50p and £1, so it's well worth a good look. Great for pressies for elderly aunties!

This Matalan is pretty big and has a really wide range of stuff…read more It's on the Wheatley Hall Road retail park, so it's generally easy to park and there have been recent improvements so there's less congestion in/out of the car park (although I'm not sure how much of an effect that's had), and this store is the only one that I know of on the park with toilets! I'm not the biggest fan of the own-brand clothing in Matalan - I think it is a bit cheap and nasty, but they also sell brand names too, not designer, but generally good quality. These are discounted a bit and although probably not the cheapest they're generally good prices. Good for homewares although better if you're just browsing and picking up the odd thing than looking for something in particular as they have a wide range of products but very little choice in each category.

Matalan is a bit of cheap-man's Marks & Spencer. They have the same departments, but at lower…read moreprices and usually lesser quality. They also sell so-called 'designer' brands, but these are generally just High Street names which had over-inflated prices in the first place. I bought a suitcase from them a few years ago which promptly fell to bits first time it was used, so I avoid their luggage like the plague now. Their homewares are ok, not bad prices, and the clothing is not too bad for the price you pay. Good retail park, lots of parking, although it is a bit of a bottle neck at busy times.