Come shopping in Narrwich! (Shopping Areas in Norwich)

Member Name: thebigshowgt

Product:	Shopping Areas in Norwich
Date:	02/08/04 (150 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Most shops here, Good location, Clean, Tidy etc

Disadvantages: Claire's, New Look, And all the rest I get dragged into....

The Castle Mall in Norwich is so-called as it is a shopping mall built underground, beside the Norwich Castle. That’s your geography lesson out of the way!

~ Where is it?

Are you not taking any of this in? In the City Centre beside the Castle. The Mall is mainly underground but with ground-level entrances including those at Cattle Market and just off Gentlemen’s Walk. Being pretty centralised, it’s not hard to find by car, public transport or foot.

~ Car Park

There are two car parks for the mall, prices as follows:

Less than 2 Hours is £1, 2-3 Hours is £2, 3-4 Hours is £3. Get the idea? Hit 6 Hours though and you’re heading for a £10 charge. Free parking is available every Thursday after 5pm (open until 8pm).

Not the most expensive car park around but there is free off-road parking not far away if you know where you are!

~ When’s it open?

Not with the trend of most of these shopping centres, The Mall closes at 5.30 every weekday, apart from the 8pm Thursdays previously mentioned. Saturdays is a 6pm close while Sundays (along with those much loved Bank Holidays) is 10.30 to 4.30. Oh, they open at 9am.

~ The Shops

In alphabetical order I will list all the shops: Argos, No. I’m kidding. That wouldn’t earn me a Very Useful, surely! The Mall has been about for roughly about 10 Years now and I cannot remember it being completely full (shops, not people!). Although the fact of that is heavily disguised with painted boards/walls so the casual visitor would be none the wiser. It beats empty and dirty units. And it looks it will always be that way with a new retail area being opened on St Stephens 
3;treet (The main Shopping Street in Norwich) which is only a 10 minute walk away.

So what is there? You have your large Argos store, H&M, Boots, ELC and Mothercare. Also other stores such as Clintons, Bay, Claire’s Accessories (Boo-Hiss), Superdrug and Disney appear.

~ How large is this Mall?

I think there are 5 levels although most of it is on just two of them. There are escalators and lifts to all floors although the layout is slightly strange, especially for the Food Court. You have to go down a level then onto a separate set of escalators to go up onto the same level.

~ Décor

Clean and white. Where there are units empty there are hand-painted pictures. There are sufficient litterbins but not too many seats on the shopping levels. The seats are also hard metal, which aren’t too nice.

~ Other than Shopping?

~ FOOD

Well, there are more than enough places to eat. Typical fast food can be found on the top level in the shape of Burger King. If you eat on the other side, McDs is just outside the Mall close to BK. There is also that difficult to find Food Court. It has a selection of counters that sell Chinese, Jacket Potato, Snacks and English Meals. The Food Court opens earlier than the shops for Breakfast (8am). I also realised on my latest visit, Subway has a takeaway bar near one of the entrances.

~ CINEMA

Ster Century is the cinema on the top level. Your typical multiplex showing all the latest blockbusters. 8 Screens with over 2000 seats. There is also a bar there. I have only been once and it was average (Both the film and the Cinema). O
ne thing I do not like, which I guess is a national company thing and not limited to this company either, is that your tickets have seat numbers where you must sit as opposed to where the hell you like.

~ Customer Service.

Apparently there is a Service Desk in The Mall. According to the website it is located beside the Car Park. I have never seen it so cannot comment on it. Not too helpful for those customers (like myself) who do not usually travel by car. The City Council have also recently introduced Park-and-Ride so less people will be travelling by car. Very strange location me thinks.

~ Events

As I do not visit regularly now I am unsure of the events that take place. However in the past in the main square beside the staircase there has been face painting and activities for the kids. Also during the School Holidays you can visit the Norwich City Club Shop (wow, it’s taken me 675 words to mention it) where you can find players signing autographs and the like.

~ Facilities

~ TOILETS

There are a couple of sets of toilets in The Mall. They always seem to be clean and tidy and in general good condition. There are also Baby Change facilities available.

~ DISABLED ACCESS

There are lifts on all floors and the whole centre is pretty wheelchair friendly from what I can see. Disabled toilets are beside the others.

~ Verdict

Clean (virtually litter free and no-smoking), Safe (Abundance of Security and CCTV) with a wide selection of shops. You can come in and pick up everything from CDs to Mobile Phones, to Clothes and Toys to Furniture.

W
;orth Visiting if in the area.

~ Contact

www.themall.co.uk/castle

Thanks For Reading

©tbsgt

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