COLCHESTER TOWN (Colchester in General)

Member Name: nayland

Product:	Colchester in General
Date:	10/09/09 (95 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Lots to do and see whether it be traditional or modern, lots of history here

Disadvantages: THE PARKING FEES!!!!

I thought I would give you a brief tour of Colchester Town, as this is somewhere I have been visiting for over 20 years. Sadly it is not somewhere I choose to go to as often as I used to as with the last few years it has suffered a downward decline.

This used to be a very busy bubbly town with a great atmosphere, but today it is a sad shadow of it's former self. One of the places for shopping is known as Culver Square. This has a lovely water fountain in the middle with stone seating around the edge. Children love to climb up onto the seats and throw in the odd penny or two and make a wish!

This was the home for Woolworths, Virgin and Adams not so long ago with it going round in a circle and all it's entrances opening into the square. Sadly no longer as these stores have had to close down so the square looks pretty lonely with Debenhams, TK Max, Clarkes Shoes and Costa. Costa's have tried to make the most of the space and have a selection of tables and chairs out the front, which is lovely to sit on a nice hot summers day. This is the meeting area for most of Colchesters many students that gather there in their lunchtime. Many coming from the 6th Form College and Colchester Instituite.

You then have two different ways to go on through to the rest of the shops, I personally always choose what I call the back way as this leads you into Sir Isaacs Walk. This feels like you have stepped back in time here as the street is quite narrow (room for one car only) and has a cobbled effect to it. The shops down here tend to be different and individual with a tiny Teddy Bear Shop that sells all sorts and sizes of teddy bears and a wonderful old fashioned sweet shop that sells quarters of sweets from years back and has been designed to look like a shop in Dickens day.

There are a few quaint restaurants and tea rooms to stop for a break, which I've heard nothing but praise for. These being the The Lemon Tree with it's huge outside Gazebo to sit under, this is a more modern restaurant. It is best to reserve a table here as it gets very busy. Next there are Nibbles, Poppy's Tea Rooms and many more scattered throughout Colchester, The town has of course got it's own Wetherspoons which is particularly worth a visit as this was a former theatre many many years ago. It has been kept in the original form of this and on entering you step back into the old theatre with many old posters and programmes from many years back covering the wall On walking further into the pub you go up a couple of steps and it has been converted into several booths to sit in with a huge roaring log fire in the winter. This part is the former stage that you sit on and on turning around you will see the circle seating area upstairs as all old theatres had.This is not accessible to the public, but has had life size dummies put up there including the Queen, Prince Charles, and many many more. There is something a bit eerie about that part and you imagine them coming alive after everyone has gone home!!

Of course Colchester is a Garrison Town and you will always see the soldiers wandering through town when not being sent on their tours of duty. Colchester also has a well known Castle which is situated in the towns park. This was built roughly in 1070.There is still a large park of it remaning in which you can go and visit for a small fee. There is also talk of a Roman wall that went around Colchester that was said to be over 20 feet high and 10 feet thick. This was built afer the Romans had defeated Boudica to keep all their enemies out. I beleive that parts of it still exisit now.

There is a story that goes around here that the nursery rhymne Humpty Dumpty was originally from Colchester as this was the name of one of the largest cannon about and one day it got fired on and fell of the wall and crashed. Thus being "All the kings men couldn't put Humpty together again!"

Colchester has it's far share of pubs, bars and clubs which brings in all the youngsters for the nightlife. A lot of these are in the main High Street, but again a lot of the shops are boarded up due to having to close down. I personally do partly blame Colchester Borough Council for this as the price they charge for parking is absolutely disgraceful. I can't actually quote an exact price but it is in the area of £2.50 per hour. Where my son has gone to Huddersfield, in the main part of Huddersfield town it is £2.50 for 5 hours or £1 on Sundays thats more like it!!

There is an area known as The Hythe which sits on the River Colne you will find this is where lot of the big DIY shops tend to be and other out of town shops. Colchester is very well known throughout the world for it's Oysters and every year has a big Oyster Feast in October with the Mayor toasting and officially opening the Colne Oyster Fishery for the next season, this is said to date back to the Roman times.

There is lots more to say about Colchester, so I hope I have covered a small part and given you a slight insight to this lovely Town, hopefully soon the shops will start to reopen and become the thriving town it used to be. So if there happens to be any Colchester Council People reading this PLEASE PLEASE bring down the parking fees!!( I know that if you go into the NCP before 9o'clock or something it has a set fee for the day, but a lot of people can't or don't want to get in at that time!!)

Hope you have enjoyed reading this!

I will have to give this Town a 5 star as in the summer on a lovely day a walk around the lovely park, with the bandstand alive with music and people dancing what more could you want!

Summary: Has a lot to offer for a day out be it a piece of History, Shopping or General browsing around.