There's something for everybody here (Lakeside Shopping Centre)

Member Name: karalouk

Product:	Lakeside Shopping Centre
Date:	20/05/09 (497 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good selection of shops and restaurants, free parking, lots of carpark spaces, lifts

Disadvantages: Gets crowded, feet will be sore

Lakeside Shopping Centre is situated in West Thurrock, Grays, Essex.

It can be reached off junction 30 or 31 on the M25 and is only about a mile away from Dartford bridge/tunnel which seperates Essex and Kent. Lakeside can also be reached by bus and train (the station is called Chafford Hundred).

There are 13,000 free carpark spaces which means you can always find a space, although quite often it seems rare to get a space right at the front of the shopping centre. There are under cover carparks aswell as open air carparks, they all lead into the shopping centre through different entrances (there isn't a 'main' entrance as such). When the carparks are full a barrier comes down and a 'full' sign lights up so you don't have to waste your time driving around looking for spaces which aren't there. Disabled and parent and child parking is also available.

Lakeside Shopping Centre is open each day from 10am until 10pm or 9pm on Saturdays (11am - 5pm on Sundays), which is great if you like a bit of late night shopping, which I do! Also very useful if you work in the day time and don't get much chance to shop.

To avoid crowds, ques and problems with parking I would advise going on a weekday morning or early afternoon if you can. This is when I usually visit and seems to be when the shopping centre is at it's quietest (probably because all the adults are at work and all the kids are at school). Things also seem relatively quiet during weekday evenings. Friday, Saturday and Sundays always seem to the busiest and quite stressful at times.

Lakeside has 3 floors. The first and second floor are shops and the third floor is restaurants and places to eat (also known as the food court). The shopping centre is totally accessable for wheelchair users and pushchairs. There are 3 big glass lifts in the middle of the shopping centre and escalators throughout, aswell as a lift at either end.

There are a number of clothes and shoe shops (mens and womens) such as Topshop, Topman, River Island, H&M, Miss Selfridge, New Look, All Saints, Next (2 floors), Debenhams (2 floors), House of Fraser (2 floors), Select, Bay Trading, Warehouse, Primark (3 whole floors and the biggest Primark that I know of), Republic, Base, Barratts, Wallis, Foot Locker, Baron Jon, BHS (2 floors), Ben Sherman, Clarks, Blue Inc, The Vestry, Burton, Zara, Envy, Shoe Zone, Ann Harvey, Choice, Dorothy Perkins, Ann Summers, Coast, Evans, Lacoste, Hugo Boss, Jane Norman, Yours, Lipsy, Punkyfish, Jeneveve, Madhouse, Mr Shoes, Sole Trader, La Senza, Oasis, Monsoon, Levis, M Butterfly, Dune, Peacocks, Marks & Spencer (2 floors), Oxygen, Paper Sun, Pineapple, Phase Eight, Osaki, Quiz, Stilo and Schuh.

Jewellers and accessory shops include Ernest Jones, Accessorize, F Hinds, H Samuel, Goldsmiths, Claybrooks, Links of London, Claires Accessories (2 seperate stores), Sunglasses Hut, Warren James and Swarovski.

Sports shops include JD Sports, Lillywhites, Sports World, West Ham United Shop and Millets.

Childrens clothes and toy shops include the Disney Store, Build-A-Bear Workshop, Early Learning Centre, The Entertainer, Little Labels and Soul.

Heath and beauty stores include Superdrug, Boots (2 floors), Lush, The Perfume Shop, Holland and Barrett and The Body Shop.

Other shops include Waterstones, WH Smith (2 floors. Celebrities often make appearances here to do book signings), Birthdays, The Works, Hallmark, Clinton Cards, O2, Orange, 3 Store, Carphone Warehouse, Vodaphone, T-Mobile, Virgin Mobile, Phones 4 U, Sony, HMV, Apple, Game, Currys Digital, Argos, HSBC, Barclays, Halifax, Abbey, Vision Express, Optical Express (laser eye clinic), Thomas Cook, Thomson, First Choice, Hotel Chocolat, Thorntons, The Whisky Shop and Sweets From Heaven (sells lots of sweets and chocolate which are hard to get hold of).

In the food court is a Harry Ramsden's (does a blinding portion of chips), Pizza Hut Express, KFC, Healthy Eating Diner, The Italian Kitchen, Pasta Italia, Quiznos Subs, Spice One (sells Indian takeaway food), FJ Cools (specialising in ice cream and cold drinks), Cafe Giardino, Fat Jackets (yummy jacket potatos), Feast Food Fast (sells Chinese takeaway food). The food court has a big, shared seating area where you can always find a table, high chairs are also available. Also on the third floor are toilets and baby change area. There are a few places to eat and drink on other floors which include Pizza Hut, McDonalds, Burger King, Yo Sushi, Boost Juice Bar, Wimpy, Wagamama, Shakeaway (specialising in milkshakes), Millies Cookies, Starbucks, Krispy Kreme (best doughnuts in the world) and Greggs.

In the middle of the shopping centre is a walkway called Broadwalk which takes you to an escalator (and lift) which leads outside. As the name suggests, Lakeside is situated on the side of a lake. The lake is huge and you can even visit the Diving Center where you can scuba dive, take part in various watersports and take peddle boats out on the lake, which are in the shape of giant swans. There are a strip of restaurants which overlook the lake that include Nandos (specialise in spicy chicken but do a mean vegetarian burger), Bella Italia, Giraffe, Gourmet Burger Kitchen, Las Iguanas (Latin themed), Spur steak and Grill (South African restaurant),
La Tasca (Spanish tapas bar and restuarant) and Old Orleans which is actually a boat which is on the river. Next to the restaurants is a Vue cinema.

Overall Lakeside is a great shopping centre and a good addition to the South East (better than Bluewater in my opinion). It has a good selection of shops and restaurants which should appeal to everybody.

Oh and don't forget to wear comfortable shoes otherwise you'll have sore feet by the end!

Summary: Where Russel Brand used to go on the rob as a child!