I lived in Derby in the inner city for 5 years.
The city while on a much smaller scale than Manchester and London does have the familiar very poor and rough areas as well as some very nice areas.

This review of places I have visited within the time I lived there.

Activities for young children.

there are a few activities for pregnant women

Aqua natal run at the queen's leisure centre by midwives but very limited places
Yoga
NCT prenatal classes

As it is a city there are quite a variety of activities for the pre school children

Jo Jingles- music and movement group
Mucky pups- an art group
Water babies-a swimming group
Baby signing for young babies.

There are also sure start centres that have free activities such as baby massage, mother and toddler groups and drop in sessions with health visitors

The shopping area

The city itself has recently been redeveloped and the eagle centre has now been renamed the Westfield centre. It has involved knocking down quite a few buildings including the registry office.

Within the Westfield are the old area previous shops such as a large boots store, the eagle centre market, and pound shops.

The new area is higher price range such as the swarovski crystal, next, Debenhams and many coffee shops. It is rumoured that Primark and McDonalds wanted outlets in this new development but were refused as they wanted higher class shops.

The development also has a ten screen cinema and a food court which has a wide range of food from Chinese, to KFC and hot pies.

Some stores have moved out such as Argos, Wilkinsons and there stores are actually larger than before.

Parking in the city can be busy especially on a Saturday. If you part in the Westfield parking you can have your car valet while you shop.

Places to go

Markeaton Park

Markeaton Park often has activities on but still without here is plenty to do. The are two play areas one for younger and one for older children
They have a boating pool where young children can paddle a boat on a nice day.
Mini go karts
And I have seen donkey rides.

There is a mini train that goes round the park.
There are a couple of places to eat here one by the boating pool and one in the formal gardens.


Darley Abbey Park
This is much bigger in comparison to Markeaton Park and is much better if just going for a walk as it is runs along side a river

Swimming pools

There are two pools in derby
Queens's leisure centre
And moorways leisure centre

The Queens is a smaller pool and right in the city centre
The Moorways is in Allenton it has a large pool and toddler pool.
The parking at motorways is free.
The Moorways do under fives swimming Monday to Friday from 12.15 to 1.15; this is in the small pool with lots of toys to entertain little ones.

Other leisure activities

The main private Gyms in Derby are

LA fitness
Virgin active
JJB

These are as well as the council gyms that are located throughout Derby

I guess I couldn't write a review on Derby without mentioning the pride park stadium the home of Derby county football club

There are three cinemas, the one in the Westfield as already mentioned
The Odeon
And the showcase cinema

There is also ten pin bowling
Laser quest
And roller world.

Supermarkets

Within the derby area there is a choice of all the supermarkets. Asda, Tesco's, Morrison's and Sainsbury's are all within the city area.

Sunday car boot

There is a weekly car boot that runs at the cattle market and as it is on concrete runs throughout the winter. I don't enjoy this car boot as there are lots of people not prepared to pay reasonable prices and badgering sellers rather than a bit of haggling. I only went once and one example would be good quality winter coat was for sale for a £1 but a customer spent 5 minutes trying to get the coat for 50p.

The hospitals

There are two main hospitals in the city the Derby royal infirmary which is due to be closed down in the future and the derby city hospital which is in the process of been redeveloped to become a super hospital.

I have now moved out of Derby. I enjoyed my time there but am happier living in a smaller community