Festival Place is a large shopping centre in the heart of Basingstoke, Hampshire. I visit here at least once a month. We live a 40 minute drive away and consider it to be the nearest place where there is decent shopping. In addition to this, Festival Place is all indoors so it is great for a rainy day.

*How to find it*
As soon as you enter Basingstoke from any direction, Festival Place is clearly signposted. If travelling by car it is easy to reach from both the M3 and M4 and it is also easily reached by public transport.

*Parking*
Festival Place has its own large multi storey car park and we always opt to park in here simply because it is the easiest option and easiest to get to the shops from here. The car park has over 2500 spaces and I have always found a space here, even the week before Christmas. There are also a number of other car parks in Basingstoke which tend to charge less. Festival Place charges roughly £1 per hour. However, if you park after 6pm it will only cost you £1.

*Shops*
There is a great variety of shops at Festival Place and there is bound to be something that suits everyone. There are a great deal of clothes shops such as Zara, Dorothy Perkins, Jane Norman, Topshop, Next, Monsoon, Oasis and Quiz.

There are also a number of shops for the men including Brother2Brother, Burton, Moss and Topman. Aswell as this there are a great deal of kids shops including Mama's and Papa's and Pumpkin Patch.

There are also very large branches of both Marks and Spencers and Debenhams which have a huge variety of clothes.

However, Festival Place is not all clothes and there are a great deal of jewellers, accessory shops, toy shops, electrical shops and banks.

I have found that I can find whatever I need in Festival Place and do not need to go anywhere else. My favourite aspect of the centre is the amount of womens clothing shops as I know that if I need some clothes for a night out I will certainly find some.

*Entertainment and Eating*
Inside the centre there are a number of places to eat and drink including Pizza Hut, Burger King, Cafe Nero, ASK, Nando's, Wagamama and Wimpy.

The centre is home to a large Vue cinema so you can easily make a day of the centre.

*Opinion*
I love this shopping centre and will continue to visit it because of the wide range of shops and the pleasant atmosphere. It is open until 8pm most evenings so is great to go to of an evening and is usually very quiet then. Even at weekends I havent found it to be too busy, apart from when its almost Christmas!