'Every woman should have 4 pets in her life - a Mink in her closet, a Jaguar in her garage, a Tiger ...
'Every woman should have 4 pets in her life - a Mink in her closet, a Jaguar in her garage, a Tiger in bed and a Jackass who pays for everything' - Paris Hilton
Member since:17.02.2005
Reviews:59
Members who trust:30
I remember the day when the Trafford Centre - one of the largest shopping centres in Europe, opened. There I was, stood outside this magnificent building that looked far too posh to be a shopping centre, hoping that the shops inside wouldn't be all designer and that I would be able to afford to buy something from there.
I'm lucky really - the Trafford Centre (from now on I will refer to it as the TC) is literally 5 minutes drive away from my house - and 2 minutes away from where I work. I visit the TC at least once a week - sometimes not to shop at all, but to have a walk around, get some lunch and generally window shop for a full hour. Anyway, before I talk about the TC nowadays, I want to take you back……..
The Beginning The Idea of the TC was conceived in 1984 by Peel Holdings, who are the largest privately owned landowner in the North West. Another one of peel Holdings more popular 'buildings' is Liverpool John LennonAirport. The idea was approved by the House of Lords in 1995. Building started near enough straight away and 27 months later, on September 10th 1998, the TC opened to its expectant public.
The Building The TC is surrounded by attractive landscaped areas, consisting of woodland and well kept grass verges. Walkways to the actual building, from the car park, are lined by trees - even the walk in is pleasant!
Upon waling into the TC, via the main entrance of the Orient, you are greeted with granite
floor and large 'Roman' looking pillars.
It is clear to see that lots of attention has been paid to the building and design of the TC. There are a number of themes running through the TC. However, the main theme is to give the feel of 'shopping streets' and 'Town squares'. The centre of the TC is a large Dome which is a sort of meeting point between the shopping streets and the leisure area.
The leisure area in particular - the Orient - is based upon an Ocean Liner and even has 'decks' at the top! There is a 'false sky' with stars that twinkle at night.
Each theme - one being New Orleans have their own set of murals, pictures and statues.
What is the Trafford Centre? The TC is a huge indoor shopping centre jam packed with popular High Street and Designer shops (details of shops further on in the review).
The site on which the TC stands covers 150 acres on contains over 118,700 square metres of retail space and over 29,900 square metres of catering (i.e. Restaurants) and Leisure (i.e. Cinema, Bowling) space.
The TC is located in an area locally known as Trafford Park (one of the largest industrial estates in the UK) in Manchester. It is about 20 minute's car drive away from the centre of Manchester.
The TC is, as well as being a shopping centre for locals, a Tourist destination, attracting visitors from all over the UK. Regular coach trips visit the TC and many a people are seen taking pictures of their family members in front of the picturesque interior of the TC.
Over 6,000 people are employed at the TC.
What can the TC offer me? The TC attracts millions of visitors per year - in fact nearly 30 million people visit so it must have something!
To start with, before you even get into the shops, there are 10,000 free parking spaces. All car parks are constantly monitored with CCTV to protect shoppers and prevent car theft.
The TC features Europe's largest Food court with seating for around 1600 people - this seating is provided for people attending the Fast Food restaurants in the Orient food hall, such as McDonalds, KFC, Shere Khan Curry house, etc.
There is then a further 6,000 seats available in the 36 restaurants in the upper half of the orient food hall. Restaurants such as La Tasca, Shere Khan and Pizza Hut feature here.
A wide range of food is available from the restaurants, such as Chinese, Organic, Tapas, Indian, as well as your 'traditional' English food.
There is then the 20 screen UCI cinema showing up to date movies until around 2am in the morning (far too late for me, though!).
There is a Namco Station for the kids which features a multitude of Arcade games, Laser Quest and Bowling - children's parties can be held here at around £7.00 per child (from what I can remember).
Finally, there are currently around 280 stores - heaven! There are many designer stores, such as Selfridges, Designers at Debenhams, Reiss, Morgan, Elle, The Pier and now John Lewis which opened in May 2005 (I can't keep out of here at the moment!).
High Street stores feature highly at the TC - Top shop and Miss Selfridge are very popular as well as Boots, Marks & Spencer, New Look and Next.
There is a wide range of shops from jewellers - such as Beaverbrook's and H Samuel to book shops such as Books Inc and W H Smith.
There are also many Ice Cream 'stations' situated all around the TC, supplying ice creams and drinks to thirsty shoppers!
I don't feel it is appropriate for me to list all of the 280 shops, for fear of cluttering my review - I feel the best way to explore the stores more is to visit the TC website - traffordcentre.co.uk
What else The TC is constantly winning awards for their shopping experience. Such awards are 'Secure Car Park Award', Positive about Disabled people Award, Safer Shopping Award and the North West Tourism Award.
Their Customer Service, which I have had to use on a number of occasions (when I got lost!) are extremely helpful. As well as having people on hand to help, they also provide a range of services, such as Crèche, Children's Pushchairs, Bottle warming facilities, etc. A full list of services is available from the Customer Service Station, currently located outside Selfridges, downstairs.
The TC is well known for shopping but also has a brilliant (if not sometimes rowdy!) nightlife - there are a number of pubs in the Orient and two restaurants - Tiggis and American Exchange Bar & Grill change in to clubs at night. They are usually open until around 2am.
Disabled Customers are looked after well at the TC and there are special car park facilities for disabled customers as well as battery operatedscooters and wheelchairs which can be borrowed from the mobility shop next to John Lewis.
Opening Times The TC is open Monday to Friday from 9.30am - 10pm. The Restaurants and Bars in the Orient are open much later - the TC state 'Midnight and beyond' - far too late for me!
They open from 10am - 8pm on Saturdays and 12pm - 6pm on Sundays.
How do I get there? The TC is easily accessible by car, coach and public transport, with its very own bus station situated within its grounds.
If travelling by car/coach: Situated at Junctions 9 & 10 on the M60 If travelling by Bus (from Manchester City Centre): The 250 and 251 go to the TC from Manchester City Centre every 15 minutes or so. If travelling by Metrolink Tram (from Manchester city centre): Trams from Piccadilly to Stretford Tram station are around every 10 minutes. Shuttle buses will ferry customers to & from the Centre & Stretford Metro link station every 15 minutes. The total journey time is only 11 minutes.
Overview The TC is extremely convenient for me and when it first opened, I was overawed by it - it seems to have every shop within its walls. It has a nice happy atmosphere and has a number of bonuses that other shopping centres locally do not: Free parking Exclusive shops otherwise not available in the North West Late opening hours Children's facilities Undercover Pleasant environment Clean
I must admit that the TC gets VERY busy in the school holidays and have recently had their fair share of 'hoodies' invading the gaming part of the Orient but there are redcoats on hand to deal with any problems and offenders such as there are told politely not to come back.
I would generally stay away in the School holidays and around Christmas and Sale time - not only does the TC get very busy but Traffic Jams build up very quickly (I'm only telling you that cause the traffic jams stop me from getting home from work on time!).
It's a great shopping experience and a good day out - you definitely do need a full day top get around all of the shops.
The Trafford Centre Manchester M17 8AA
Tel: 0161 749 1717
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Its a great place to shop, but if you come to manchester don't forget the Arndale! Ps. Nice review!!
kibou 12.08.2005 22:23
only been once but any place with loads of shops is great for me! and when I went, i was looking at the same top as another woman, then I noticed people were coming to talk to her and asking autographs...didn't know who it was until a friend told me I was gonna buy the same top as...Posh Spice (really she didn't look that great!!! ;-)
funkyjo 12.08.2005 14:22
Great review, sounds like a really nice place, we have nothing like that in Guernsey. Jo x x
NH Hotels, the hotel chain leader in Europe, with more than 300 hotels in 20 countries in Europe, Latin America and Africa. Enter into our web site and find the best available tariff at all times
Jun 14th, 2005
exceptional by (31%):
very helpful by (69%):
