The Roman Town of Staines (Staines in General)

Member Name: jaylad

Product:	Staines in General
Date:	13/05/01 (664 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Many pubs/restaurants, Easy parking

Disadvantages: Roadworks seem to never end!, Traffic in rush hour, Leisure centre badly run

Staines is a medium sized market town located in the Surrey borough of Spelthorne.

Staines being not too far from me, is quite a pleasant place to shop and go out in the evening. It was established as a Roman settlement many years ago and is today one of the largest towns in Surrey.

There are many listed buildings around the town, especially in the high street and this - together with River Thames location -helps make the town more attractive, fighting against the influx of office complexes being built.

There is the Elmsleigh shopping centre right in the town centre and this is not the newest of shopping areas but is home to many shops including M&S, Bay Trading, River Island, Our Price, Dixons, Orange Shop, and a few sports shops.
The recently completed Two-Rivers shopping complex is a outside large retail area with shops like Currys, CarpetRite, First Sport etc. There is also a mega-store Boots and smaller shops like Toni & Guy and Thorntons ice cream. Staines must be the best place in the area if you are after card shops and sports shops as there are so many of them its crazy!
The next stage of the new development will be completed soon introducing the Warner Village 10 screen cinema and Holmes Place health club with indoor swimming pool.

In the evening, going to this town is more relaxing than nearer towns and offers a modest amount of entertainment including over 10 pubs in the town centre, a nightclub, and a few restaurants.

Because of its location, about 10/15 mins drive of Heathrow airport has made Staines very convenient for large companies to locate there. Mcvities, Courage and Del Monte all have there UK headquarters in Staines and Bupa, British Gas, and North Surrey Water all have major offices there.

Living in Staines is somthing I cant comment on because I dont live there and I dont even live in the borough but the house prices are very high, taking into consideration London being nearby, t
he mainline station also going straight to Waterloo and near the M25, so its hardly surprising. I found the average price of a 2-bed flat about £140,000 (my own estimate) and that was in the not so nice parts - of which there arent too many of. People tell me the nicer areas are around Spelthorne Leisure centre, also the new estate by the old station is nice and of course towns nearby like Shepperton and Wraysbury go even more upmarket.

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