Warrington seems to have a good number of retail parks, and Riverside Retail Park is one of them,…read morejust outside the town centre, it has a couple of large stores and brands, including Sports Direct, Home Bargains, B&M, Next and a drive-thru McDonald's, with a couple of empty units with other stores either closing or moving to other retail locations across Warrington. I did find a lack of lighting and a dead atmosphere around the retail park, making it feel slightly run-down, especially compared to JunctionNINE and Gemini Retail Parks, which seem to offer a better selection of stores in the same town. There are only two hours of free parking here, and you will be fined if you overstay that welcome, so do tread accordingly, two hours is more than enough time as there isn't a lot of things to do here anymore, but those looking to spend any significant length of time in McDonald's and then one or two shops, may feel rushed. There always seem to be plenty of car parking spaces here though. 2* - Only useful for a handful of stores, which would probably be better located in the town centre's other retail parks, seems like an unnecessary burden to have this additional one that doesn't offer a great deal to the town.

Laura Ashley can have a bit of a chintzy reputation howevr some of the interior designs in this…read moreshop are fantastic. This store has a fantastic mix of everything you could want for your home, and good quality fashion pieces. I have a stunning leather handbag from here, and some beautiful rugs, lamps and curtains. I think it stocks something for everyone, young and old alike. The staff are extremely friendly and definitely happy to help. The layout of the store is beautiful and gives lots of inspiration for how to decorate your own home. If you are visiting Riverside retail park, this is a shop that is definitely worth a visit.

This shopping centre is ok, not the greatest amount of shops here but that's fine as the town…read morecentre is a right next to it. Its a pity about having to pay parking fees to go and buy something from Argos or Staples etc.. maybe Argos should consider doing ticket stamping like Asda do.. but make it 'within 10 minutes of stamping' instead of Asdas 2 hours. Asda make a lot of money out of people going in to buy £5 worth of shopping to get their ticket stamped .. most people stay longer and buy far more shopping. haha ;-) Needs more parent and toddler parking spaces too!!!

Cockhedge Shopping center is a shopping center in Warrington town center, to use my Manchester City…read moreterminology, it is a bit like the Brian Kidd of Warrington, the Assistant, the deputy, I'm sure many people will agree that this is "the second" shopping center in Warrington, due to its size and number of shops in comparison to the larger Golden Square. I'm going to start with the parking situation which was a bit poor, they is an entrance here with a sort of pay station on your way in and out, on my visit it wasn't manned and the shutters were up to just come in and out as you please. They was a parking sign which looked pretty old and suggested Cockhedge did not actually own the car park, and the prices looked rather expensive too and they contradicted the sign in the window that mentioned Cockhedge had 2 hours free parking. I found this to be rather misleading as they were 2 different parking prices, they really do need to get rid of one sign, as it will confuse most people, especially people (like myself) who are not from Warrington. They is only a few shops here, and most of them seem to be your typical discount stores, such as Wilko, Pound world and B & M, Gala also have a large bingo hall here, Greggs, Argos and Superdrug finish off the list of big names here, which just proves they isn't a lot here and it isn't really worth taking the trip in, unless you do need to go to ASDA. This shopping center didn't have a good atmosphere to it too, with lots of small shops, some with probably are very local stores, and mainly discounters, which made me feel like I was in a market as well, and with music playing and it being very quiet, It just didn't feel like a city center at all, and felt worse than that. When considering the lack of shops and parking situation, I wouldn't bother going out of the way to come here unless you do need to go to Asda, as it is in general sadly a very poor shopping mall, and probably the stores here would be better transferring into the newer, larger Golden Square or on the street level.

The Golden Square is quite a nice shopping center, especially for a small town like Warrington. It…read moreis Warrington's main shopping center alongside Cockhedge, which is mainly there just to house an Asda store. As you can tell by its name, Golden Square is basically a large, indoor "Square" of shops, with 135 shops in total according to their website, all over one floor. I dislike the approach of it all being over one floor, being used to seeing shopping centers on multiple floors, which also allows room for more shops, but Warrington's Golden Square also has a few stores in an outside square to it, which is also quite nice including Rhode Island Coffee and a Post Office, which is a nice area. The Shopping Center as I said is quite nice, both inside and out with a good range of shops, including WHSmtih, EE, Starbucks CEX, JD, 3, Waterstones and Vision Express, just to name a few. Due to the shape of the mall, it is quite easy to navigate around. This mall is quite nice for a small town and although it isn't somewhere I'd recommenced you constantly go out of your way to go here, it is well worth a look in if you are in the area as it is a nice shopping center, with a good range of shops and is great for a small town like Warrington, hence a solid 3 star rating.

A shopping centre in the centre of Warrington town centre with all your usual high street shops -…read moreBoots, WHSmith, Next, M&S. Its all under cover so the potential bad English weather won't be a factor. According to their web site, there are 135 stores inside. I went recently a few days before Christmas and it wasn't too busy - nothing like shopping centres like Arndale Centre or Trafford Centre (actually never normally go to Trafford Centre but especially near Christmas but I think I can safely say its crazy busy!) Didn't stay too long but went to Boots and also went to Debenhams for some food - which was actually pretty good. There is multi storey car parking but unfortunately it is not free. For under an hour, its £1. It goes up to £5.50 if you are more than 4 hours. Between 2-4 hours is £2.20 which is not too bad I guess.

An upgraded rating for this branch of Superdrug, as many of the things which made my last visit to…read morethe store unpleasant such as the compact nature of the store, to the smell seems to have gone. They do have a satisfactory selection of items and some good prices, the beverage section is a little smaller compared to other Superdrug stores and the staff didn't seem overly friendly (Still, they didn't seem to annoyingly oversell me on every item like their Ashton-Under-Lyne branch) 3* - Nothing too special or out of the ordinary, pretty average, it also has a small Pharmacy area which is handy.

This is a lovely big superdrug with a proper perfume counter at the back too. Its got everything…read moreyou could ask for - perfumes, make up, pharmacy, health and beauty, gifts. And in January and July they have amazing sales but you have to get in quick because I think the secrets out! They're not the cheapest as a rule but they are well thought of and consequently stock nearly everything. I have noticed that their nappies are rarely as cheap as the supermarkets - sometimes i've been caught short in town with my toddlers! - but thank goodness there was a place in town selling nappies or I'd have been stuck. They're clean and the staff are friendly enough. No immediate parking - you'd have to use the multi-storey. There are other superdrugs which are more accessible but this is useful being in the middle of a shopping mall, so if you're spending a day shopping then they're there.

The idea was a good one. Get a few really high class shopping experiences together in a Victorian…read moreArcade and let people have somewhere to get all the unusual gifts and nick-nacks they didn't realise they wanted. Unfortunately, whether through greed and high rents or just simple economic incompetence, the shops and galleries soon closed. The upstairs terrace is impressive, but doesn't really achieve any other purpose. This could do with a single owner to take over and stamp a personality on it.

Elegant surroundings - pity most of the other shops have closed possibly due to Council…read moreincompetence? The cafe is a welcome oasis - friendly service, fair prices, cakes and snacks. No piped 'muzak', access by lift which is generally working - it was bought on the basis of cost rather than quality. Quiet room at the far end where writers and the like can work in peace. Two minutes from the 'bus station & five minutes from Central railway station.