Advantages: see op
Disadvantages: see op

...Basildon, a "new town" in the heart of Essex. Famous on election night because Basildon votes count, whichever way Basildon votes you find the country follows and that party wins the election. In the run-up to every general election you find the town busy with camera crews and opinion pollsters trying to gauge the Basildon vote. Oh and we always get visited by top politicians from each party. But we didn't get Johnny Two Jags starting a fight though. Generally Basildon is an ordinary town with a few misconceptions which I hope to lay to rest here. ~~~ History ~~~ Basildon is situated just 30 miles outside London and is a "New Town", like Milton Keynes. Although the Basildon area has been populated for a long time, I can't tell you a lot about the towns history, except what I remember reading on the walls of one of the pubs... Read review

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Advantages: Right in the middle of Essex's hottest nighspot.
Disadvantages: None. Everything is perfect.

...Well... As you may know. All premier Travel Inns are really much of the same standard. This particular hotel is situated ideally in the middle of a large leisure complex. Known Locally as "Bas Vegas". There are maunt restaurant, a multi screen cinema, trendy bars and nightclubs, all within a square mile or so. Its brilliant if you want a fun packed weekend away with your girlsfreinds, for example on a hen night. But not so good if you want a quiet relazing weekend away somewhere. You have probably guessed, from reading some of my other reviews, that I do live in Basildon, Essex. When I go to the Festival Leisure Park, I plan on getting a cab home with some freinds. But you know how hard it can be to get a taxi on a friday or saturday night, so we end up usually asking if they have some rooms available for the night. where we manage... Read review

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Advantages: Disabled Friendly Buses, Some Friendly Drivers
Disadvantages: Unreliable, Expensive, Dirty

...Where I live, Basildon, we don't have a lot of choice of which bus company we use. We either use First or we walk. True, there are couple of independent companies, but they run just one route, and it's not one I ever use. So much for de-regulation increasing quality and introducing competition. So now you know why I use First buses, maybe you want to know what I think about them. The Routes *************** First covers pretty much the whole of the Basildon area, with one notable exception. We have a large, out of town Leisure park, which contains the town's only cinema, but there are no buses to serve it !!! Which means that my family can't go to the pictures, as we don't have a car. There are, however, buses from Basildon to Southend, Lakeside and Chelmsford, so we're not entirely isolated from the rest of the world. All other... Read review

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Advantages: Clean spacious rooms, freindly staff.
Disadvantages: none really.

...actually be seen from the beer garden. When you stay in the hotel, the restaurent is where you would go for your breakfast. The hotel has many facilities such as, satelitte Tv and a telephone/modem socket. which is available in all rooms. Recently, i'm sure that there has been some upgrade in the hotel, which allows high speed internet access in the hotel which is by the means of wifi. There is free car parking on site so you don't need to worry about where you are going to put your car. If you don't decide to come by car, then the public transport isnt that good in this area. But- if you are willing to walk a short distance of around 5 minutes then you have a whole choice of bus stops to go to various places such as the town center (Basildon) Lakeside shopping center or one of the nearby neighbouring towns. The Hospital is a 10 minute walk... Read review

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Advantages: Free Unmetered Access
Disadvantages: Slow Service

...Telewest charge. So, its nothing to do with over subscribing - maybe their new high speed internet service is better (Blue Yonder). I checked out to see if it was, and the findings are in my next report, in the High Speed section. Thanks for reading, Mark Crosby Basildon Networks... Read review

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Advantages: Top Service, Professional
Disadvantages: None

...Toni & Guy I have visited a few of Toni & Guy salons, so I now feel that I can write this review. In 1963 Toni & Guy first salon opened in Clapham London. From there on in, there was no stopping them, nearly every big town has one. If I am correct they also have or are expanding abroad. If you have visited 1 or more Toni & Guy salon’s you will notice that they are all the same, from the chairs to the sinks, the walls to the floor. Each salon is identical, being the inside. They have a uniform of Black and White. Black bottoms with a White top, they do have their own logo t-shirts in which some staff do wear. The salons I have visited – Chichester in West Sussex, owned by a man called Jeff. Basildon in Essex, owned by a man called Billy. This opened in August 1999. Billy is sponsoring Miss Essex at the moment. Bournemouth in Dorset... Read review

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Advantages: ummm...Fun Factory
Disadvantages: rubbish food, expensive, Very Slow etc

...This is a copy of the letter I have just written to Brewsters. Today's meal was in Braintree in Essex. I have also been to one in Basildon (The Honeypot) which is just as slow, and even dirtier. I had promised myself I would not go in the one in Basildon again. I should have extended that to all Brewsters.Dear Whitbread, I am writing to tell you about the very disappointing experience we had today at you Brewsters pub, The Mulberry Tree, Braintree. We had just finished shopping in Freeport Braintree and thought it would be nice for us to round off the morning with a lunch in the Brewsters, particularly as we have two young children who would enjoy the Fun Factory. We expected it to be reasonably busy as it was a Sunday. However, we did not expect to have to wait over an hour for our lunch was markedly different from what we had... Read review

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Advantages: Good range of products, reasonable prices
Disadvantages: Endless queues, Poorly trained staff

...Like many other people whenever I need a present for my young son or a niece or nephew I always find myself padding around my local Toys R Us. Not because the prices are great and certainly not because of the helpful staff, but becuase of the massive range of products they stock. The level of staff training at either of my two local branches (Lakeside or Basildon) is absolutely terrible. I have lost track the amount of times that I have found myself waiting at a checkout because an item is priced incorrectly or wont scan or because the till roll has run out... Read review

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Advantages: Large indoor/outdoor pools. relaxed friendly atmostphere. Lots of equipment and staff to help you use it.
Disadvantages: general upkeep of pool area. outside pool closed often. cleanliness of changing rooms

.... Excess weight, spare tyres, love handle's, porky bits! Call them what you like, they had to go. Enter David Lloyd. My partner was already a member of David Lloyd in Basildon, and after looking at prices and offers available at the time; we upgraded his membership to 'Couple'. This costs us £92.00 a month, and gives us unlimited access to the Gym and Pool, although we are not able to take part in any of the racket sports. I have visited the David Lloyd club previously, as Christmas of last year, as a member, my partner received a free pass for 2 weeks, which he gave to me. So I had sampled the facilities and knew what I was buying into. But this didn't prepare me for the disappointing service I received when we went to sign me up. Prior to arriving there, my partner had phoned in advance and told them he wanted to upgrade his... Read review

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Advantages: It gets you from A to B quickly
Disadvantages: overcrowding, dirty trains, no guard, CAN be hard to buy a ticket.

...C2C is definitely one of the best railway companies, but not quite as good as South West Trains, not everything can be perfect. C2C is run by Nationan Express, between London Fenchurch Street and Southend and Shoeburyness. There are effectivly 3 lines here, mainline from London Fenchurch Street to Shoeburyness, via Basildon. The Tilbury Loop is from Fenchurch Street to Shoebury once again, but this time via Tilbury. For the third time there is a line from Fenchurch Street and again the Shoebury, this time via Grays. HOW EASY IS IT TO BUY TICKET? There are ticket machines at all C2C stations now where you can buy the basic tickets for travel on the same day only. All stations also have ticket offices which have varying and restricted opening hours, where you can buy the whole range of tickets - from standard day returns, to travel... Read review

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