Staines is a town to the south west of London situated on the river Thames. I have lived near this town for my entire life so I have seen it develop from a pretty rundown and exhausted looking centre to a far more modern and cosmopolitan town with a good number of facilities for visitors. Staines has recieved a makeover in the last decade in the form of the Two Rivers retail park which includes large national retail shops such as Next, Waitrose, HMV, TK Maxx, JD sports and more along with a better selection of restaurants such as Ask, Nandos, Pizza Hut and a selection of nice cafes. The Two Rivers spreads over a fairly large area and has been nicely landscaped with the river Colne cutting through the area in a couple of places. The other shopping centre in town the Elmsleigh has also recieves a makeover and although small for a shopping centre it looks much better than it used to with a glass ceiling allowing light to flow into the building which creates a nice effect. Both shopping centres combine with the high street shops to make Staines one of the best places in the area to visit for shopping. However despite all the changes made in Staines one thing that will not change is some of the people that frequent it. Going into Staines on a week day can be a somewhat demoralising experience as youths, single mothers and the unemployed roam the streets and at the weekend there is often still a number of the local chav brigade out and about. This makes Staines for me a place where you come in and get what you need but the atmosphere of the town itself isn't the best and this is why I wouldn't be particularly happy whiling away an afternoon here sitting in cafes or such like, its just not that sort of place.