As a former resident of North-East Cheshire, I use to frequent the Trafford Centre regularly and it must be my favourite thing about Manchester. It is a huge retail park all undercover and designed in a pretentious grand manor with marble floors and golden statues everywhere, with lots of restaurants and a large cinema. The Trafford centre also has several huge car parks holding thousands of cars all free of charge, but even with this capacity, at Christmas, the motorways backup with queues of cars trying to get in. In the next few paragraphs I'll try to describe it the best that I can.

~~Location~~

It can be found just off the M60 Manchester Ring-road, between junctions 9 and 10. There are several signs for it as you approach it from around 2 junctions away, as well as on the M62 approaching the M60. For those who need to use a Sat Nav unit the postal code is M17 8AA. The Site also has several retail shops surrounding the centre such as B&Q, Comet, Asda, etc. As well as the indoor artificial ski centre Chill Factor-e and a golf centre. There are also a few hotels in the local area, including a Premier TravelInn and a Travelodge both within 10 mintues walk of the centre. During peak shopping times though, i.e. Bank holidays, Saturdays and especially the Christmas season the M60 can have huge queues of traffic building up, taking over an hour to reach the car park in my experience, so try to avoid these times if possible.

~~Layout~~

The Trafford centre is surrounded by its several car parks and is set-up as the main centre and an additional unit called Barton Square which was opened just prior to Christmas last year. The main centre is designed with an East and a West wing, both set over 2 floors, and a central food court and cinema in the middle. Each wing has a large shop at the far end, the West wing being Debenhams and the East being John Lewis, and several shops on both floors throughout each wing. There is also a large Selfridges store in the centre of the two wings.

Barton Square is an additional complex found off the East wing, which is a new open-air construction, housing several large furniture stores. During the Christmas period, this is where they house an Ice rink and Santa's Grotto.

The Food court located in the centre has two routes to gain access from the top-floor, the first being designed like an indoor China Town, with several Chinese restaurants, and the second like a street in New Orleans with American restaurants and bars. The central food court has several fast food outlets circling a large eating area with hundreds of tables and chairs. These outlets include Subway, McDonalds, KFC, Pizza Hut, Harry Ramsden's and many many more.

The Odeon Cinema can be found just off the food court and houses 20 screens. There is also a laser-quest and paradise island adventure golf found in the same area.

Having had a disabled parent, I always pay particular attention to the accessibility, and the Trafford Centre is well designed for the less able shopper with lifts located in almost all the locations of stairs for moving between floors, all toilet facilities have an accompanying Disabled facility connected as well.

If you also have young children, there is a fantastic Creche and Play area located in the centre while you go off shopping. They take children from 2 years to 7 years, and costs a small fee from £4.00 up to £8.20 depending on the length of time, which is a maximum of up to 2 hours 30 minutes. The opening times are 10am - 7pm on Weekdays, 9am - 7pm on Saturdays and 11am - 5pm on Sundays.

~~Shops~~

East Wing - Ground Floor

John Lewis, The Gift Co., Vivienne Westwood, Games Workshop, Sports World, Bon Marche, Halifax plc, Marks & Spencer, JJB Sports, Ann Summers, Vision Express, Game, O2, Suits You, Caffe Nero, Republic, The 3 Store, Free Spirit, Optical Express, Clarks, Birthdays, Beaverbrooks, Fossil, Faith, JD King of Trainers, Quiz Clothing, Evans, H Samuel Timberland, Henleys, Superdrug, WH Smith, New Look, Vodafone, H&M, Boots, Holland & Barratt, Calvin Klein, AIX Armani, DKNY Jeans.

West Wing - Ground Floor

Debenhams, Jessops, T.Mobile, Thomson, Next, USC, Build-a-bear, Baron Jon, Sunglass Hut, Bhss, Thomas Sabo, Waterstones JD Woman, JD Sports, Bench, Wallis, Planet, La Senza, Fraser Hart, Aldo, Zara, All Saints, River Island, Virgin Cosmetics, Carphone Warehouse, Lloyds TSB, Leslie Davies, The Disney Store, O2, Clinkards, Footlocker, Thomas Cook, Castle Galleries, Regis, Sony Centre, Jacques Vert and The Pen Shop.

East Wing - First Floor

John Lewis, Early Learning Centre, Sports World, Blacks, Marks & Spencer, Currys Digital, phones4u, Puma, Ann Harvey, O'Neill, Orange, Dr + Herbs, F.Hinds, Thorntons, Claires, Ax-Paris, Boss, The Perfume Shop, Envy, Moss, Vestry, Fat Face, Blue Inc., Burtons, Clinton Cards, Apple, HMV, Dorothy Perkins, Carphone warehouse, Bay Trading, Game, H&M, Boots, Swarovski, Molton Brown, Millies Cookies and Starbucks.

West Wing - First Floor

Debenhams, Model Zone, Claires, Subway, Coast, Bank, Next, Monsoon, Accessorize, Tie Rack, Miss Selfridge, TopShop/TopMan, Boost, Schuh, Warehouse, Karen Millen, Oasis, Gap, Jane Norman, Scotts, Levis Store, Reiss, G Star, Cecil Gee, Skechers, TM Lewin, The Body Shop, Goldsmiths, Pineapple, Aspecto, Dune, French Connection, Ben Sherman, Mango, Next Kids, Lush, Ernest Jones, Sole, Geox and Whittards.

Barton Square

British Home Stores, Marks & Spencer Home, Dwell, Moben Shaps Dolphin, Laura Ashley, Natuzzi, HomeSense, Next Home and Habitat.

~~Overall~~

The Trafford Centre is a fantastic shopping centre, with all the shops you could ever need all under the one roof. Its free parking unlike most if not all of the city centres you would go to do your shopping in these days. It is a place you can spend the whole day in, especially when you have a wife who likes shopping as much as mine, but with the several coffee shops and restaurants, and the Cinema, a great day out can be had by all.