============================ Braehead Shopping Centre and Retail Park ==================================
I live about 20 miles or so from this huge indoor shopping centre. I done most of my Christmas shopping here and it has a warm and welcoming atmosphere.
Braehead first opened its doors to the public in 1999. It also cost approximately £285 million to build! It is the largest privately funded waterside regeneration project in the country!
There is over 1 million square feet of shopping and leisure facilities and there are more plans for the near future to build over 2000 new homes, a riverside park, new offices, and another 470,000 sq ft of retail and leisure space!
========== Getting to Braehead ================Now I don't drive but I am on good terms with my ex who fortunately does…I hate travelling on public transport especially if I am planning to buy a lot! First of all It is very easy to get to Braehead by car, train, bus, even by boat if you so wish.
By car - It is based on Junction 26 (eastbound) of Glasgow's M8 motorway, Junction 25a provides dedicated westbound access roads to the centre and the eastern link road connect to the A8 dual carriageway. It is well signposted from all directions.
There are over 6500 FREE car parking spaces so you can spend more money on the things that matter hehe.
By bus - where I live there is a bus service
of one an hour going and coming from the centre, but there are many buses coming and going from many destinations…see your local bus company for details…or see www.arrivabus.co.uk
By train - The nearest train station is in Paisley - Gilmour St station. There are bus links to Braehead from the station regularly!
By boat - You can get to Braehead by boat too, The Clyde waterbus service is superb I've heard….I haven't used this yet but may take advantage of this in the summer months. You can even have a drink on board as you enjoy the journey between Glasgow's central station bridge and Braehead!
This costs £4 for an adult single and £7 for a return. An OAP or child can travel for £3 single and £5 return. For more information on this you can visit www.clydewaterbusservices.co.uk
=========== What's in Braehead? =================
Well I won't go into detail about every single shop as I'd be here all day. But there is something to cater for everyone here I am sure!
Clothes stores such as - Ladies - Monsoon, New Look, Next, Kookai, Jane Norman, Topshop, Oasis to name a few!
Gents - Bank, Burton, Topman, Officers Club, USC.
Kids - Gap, Mackays, Next, Sphere.
There are also great sportswear shops such as - JD Sport, Freespirit, Sports World, Trespass.
Ladies? Fancy some new shoes? Try these out for size - Barratts, Clarks, Dune, Qube, Ravel, Timpsons. The one shop I love which is missing from here is Schuh!
There is also the cheapest place in town…Primark! This is a store I love to visit for all my little bargains.
If you are a fan of Glasgow Rangers football club then there is a store here you can buy all your footy memorabilia. Unfortunately there is no Celtic shop which my son is a fan of, although I'm quite happy about that as we would never get out of it lol.
Oh and not to forget the more risqué Ann Summers which every woman should visit at least once… ;-)
There are lots of health and beauty stores like The body shop, Boots, Superdrug, The perfume shop, But…..NO LUSH???? Why not I ask? Hmm need to ask lush that one I think!
Jewellery shops and card shops are here too along with many others, If you check out their website (details at end) You will get a list of all the shops available.
If you have little ones or are just a big kid at heart then pay a visit to The bear Factory where you can choose your own personalised bear to be made on the premises…I have 3 of these and I always pop in to buy a new outfit for them every now and then.
======= Feeling hungry? =============Try visiting the many eateries available in the centre, there are so many to choose from -
(mmmm chicken mozzarella melt) Pizza Hut, Rollover Hotdog (not one of my favourites) if you want fast food. Also give Di Maggios a try for delicious Italian food.
Now you cannot leave Braehead shopping centre without buying a few of Millies Cookies! Mmmm the double choc chip is outta this world!!!
In the nicer summer weather the café's spill out onto the boardwalk for a beautiful view of the riverside, whilst you eat!
======================== What else is in and around the centre? ==============================
Braehead boasts it's very own Maritime Heritage Centre - Clydebuilt. This takes you through 300 years of the life of the River Clyde, From the early days of the Glasgow tobacco lords through the shipbuilding's heyday and right up to present time. Here you can try your hand at being a 17th century trader and have a go at piloting a ship in the interactive display. I have never been to this but my kids have with their dad and loved it. It is situated on the boardwalk near M&S.
You can also visit the oldest clyde built ship still afloat - the MV Kyles, which is permanently moored at the River Clyde at Braehead.
Don't forget about the Ice rink situated next to the café's and restaurant section of the centre, This is open 7 days a week and as well as an open skating session there is also opportunity to book skating lessons and individual lessons with qualified instructors. For prices and opening times please see the website (below)
There is also an 8 sheet curling rink, if that is to your liking…not to mine I'm afraid, so have never been.
There is also the Braehead Arena. This includes a live music arena, sports arena, business arena, ice arena and exhibition arena, again I've never been here so if you need more information please see website.
=============== Facilities within Braehead. =====================Now the thing I love about shopping in Braehead is the stress free shopping! Eh? I hear you say…what's so stress free about dragging 2 kids around a huge centre screaming I wanna new toy screeeeechhhh!!!!
Well… You can pop the kids into the playgroup! Kids between the age of 3 years and 7 years can play away whilst mummy shops and my 2 kiddies fit in here just perfectly and love it! The staff are lovely and I've never had a single complaint. This costs £2.50 for an hour and £4 for 2 hours. To contact the playgroup for more details you can call them on 0141 885 4610.
Toilets - These are situated near the café's the downstairs one is beside Millie's cookies and the upstairs one is beside Rollover hotdog. These have always been clean and tidy and comfortable whenever I've visited, and according to my son and ex partner the Gents are just as nice!
There are also a few cash dispensers within the centre should you find the need to get more cash at hand! As I regularly find, But be aware at peak times the queues for these are quite long and a pain. ================== My overall opinion of Braehead ======================== I love going somewhere where I can get everything under one roof, and Braehead fits the bill nicely, I can spend hours and hours just browsing the shops….but more often than not I spend a small fortune!
The bonus of shopping somewhere like this is not having to go in and out of the cold in the winter, the only problem I have found is it can get a little warm and stuffy especially in summertime and I often find myself popping out into the fresh air for 5 minutes, and no not for a ciggy as I don't smoke lol.
This shopping centre also caters very well for less abled people with shopmobility wheelchairs available for loan FREE, but please phone ahead to book as you may get there (especially in peak times) and find there's none left.
The majority of the shops have wide aisles and are easy to manoeuvre with pram's and wheelchairs with the exception of one or two.
I will continue to visit Braehead for all my shopping needs in future as I enjoy getting away from my own local town centre mall which I have to say is pretty poor compared to this one.
Also one little note about Christmas 2005 at Braehead....The Santa's Grotto display was fantastic, I unfortunately forgot to take a photo of it :-( But for my 2 children to visit Santa Claus in the middle of December on a Wednesday evening about 6pm we only waited in the queue about 20 minutes and it cost us £3.50 per child and a further £3.50 for a photograph taken with santa. The children received a book and not a toy and were a bit disappointed as they were looking forward to a little toy! We did of course make it up to them by taking them to McDonalds and getting happy meals lol.
Braeheads own website - www.braehead.co.uk
I hope you have found this review helpful. Thanks for reading! Michelle x
A woman in a big shopping centre..... hope there is a book shop with a cafe there as well as your driver will need somewhere to spend the 7 hours while you are shopping :op
Majiggy 16.01.2006 06:08
Fabulous review! Sounds like a great place to shop! If I'm ever in Glasgow I will definitely take a look, though I am a Scot, I do live quite far away from Braehead. :O) xxx
RICHADA 10.01.2006 20:35
This is clearly my ideal shopping centre a) No lush and b) arriving up the Clyde by river boat! Oh yes, such a shame it's 400 miles away! Richard.
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Advantages: Get all your Christmas Shopping in one mall Disadvantages: No car park attendants to ensure noone parks in disabled spaces unless they have a disabled badge
Advantages: Get all your Christmas Shopping in one mall Disadvantages: No car park attendants to ensure noone parks in disabled spaces unless they have a disabled badge
Advantages: Beautiful scenery, lovely people good base to visit other cities Disadvantages: Scottish parliament let the area down in terms of funding, despite it's heritage value
Alslad36 19.09.2006 ·
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