Super Shopping! (The Harlequin Shopping Centre)

Member Name: SomethingToBe

Product:	The Harlequin Shopping Centre
Date:	21/04/09 (419 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great variety of shops, good for families

Disadvantages: Lack of eating places

The Harlequin Centre is the main shopping precinct in Watford, Hertfordshire (NOT where Watford Gap is!!!!). Being Watford born and bred before heading to uni as well as an ex-employee of the centre, I thought I would share some of my knowledge!!

Where is it?

Watford is situated to the north of London and the Harlequin is in the town centre. To get to the shopping centre you can take junction 19 or 20 from the M25 or junction 5 from the M1 and follow the road signs to the town centre. The shopping centre is near to both Watford Junction and Watford High Street Stations, however is slightly closer to the High Street stop.

Parking:

Watford ring road surrounds the centre and there are 6 main car parks- Palace, Kings and Queens which are attatched to the centre and also Sutton, Church and Gade nearby on the High Street. Car parking is fairly expensive although there is a long stay option for £5 for the entire day. Car parks can get busy on a Saturdays, particularly if the football team are playing at home, so it can be difficult to get a space.

Each car park level is a different colour, which is handy if you tend to be quite forgetful! Each car park also has two lifts, however these tend to get very busy and often aren't worth waiting for!

Shops:

There are two levels in the centre, the upper and lower malls. The website claims there are over 140 stores in the Harlequin Centre, which I have summarised below:

Fashion- Ann Summers, Warehouse, Oasis, Envy, Blue Inc, River Island
Department- M&S, BHS, Boots, WH Smith, John Lewis, Superdrug
Gadgets- Sony, Carphone Warehouse, O2
Misc- Past Times, Lush, Jewel, HMV, Accesorise, Hotel Chocolat

For a full list of shops, see the website- www.theharlequin.co.uk

The variety of stores is pretty much the same as on any town's high street, although the major chain stores do tend to have bigger shops than in other towns. there are also a couple of stores independent to Watford such as Heaven, a women's fashion store. There is a good range and you should be able to find what you are looking for, especially once combined with further amounts of shops on the high street! I would have to say I feel Watford is missing a Debenhams, which would be nice!!!

Places to Eat:

In my opinion this is where the Harlequin falls short. When I was growing up it contained a food court, however they scrapped this for more shops. There are plenty of restaurants on the high street, however the centre itself merely contains a few cafes, such as Pontis, Cafe Italia and BBs Coffee and Muffins. There are no fast food places in the centre itself and if you opt to buy a sandwich from M&S or something, there is limited seating to eat. The best bet for food is to go to a restaurant on the high street, however if you fancy something quick, you will have to chance grabbing a bench!

Other:

The Harlequin centre also contains two hairdressers- Rush Hair and Supercuts- a newsagents and a Post Office. There are toilets at each end of the centre, both with disabled facilites. One of the toilet areas also contains lockers, which charge £1 to use (you don't get this back!) and vending machines.

Regular events are held in the centre, including fashion shows, kids activites, dance displays and magasine promotions. These are good to stop and watch if you are shopping but get really annoying if they take place outside your place of work!!!! The fashion shows are good as they show off clothes from the stores in the centre, and tend to take place twice a year over bank holiday weekends in the spring and autumn.

There is a customer service desk in the centre where the staff will answer any queries. I have always found the staff on this desk to be friendly and helpful. At the customer service desk you can hire a kiddy cart to stop your children getting lost, shopmobility scooters for the disabled and you can also purchase gift vouchers. These vouchers can be used in the majority of shops in the centre, and I think are a really good gift idea if you don't know the person too well!!

In Kings car park there is a creche for smaller children.

Opening Hours:

Mon-Wed- 9am-6pm
Thu- 9am-9pm
Fri- 9am-6pm
Sat- 9am-7pm
Sun- 11am-5pm

In December the centre is open 9am-9pm every weekday until Christmas. The car parks shut one hour after the centre shuts.

Recommendation:

I probably take this shopping centre for granted now as I have been there so many times, but taking a step back, it is a really good precinct. I don't like the fact that there aren't that many good places to eat, but as a shopping destination, it can not be denied that there is a great variety of shops to while away the time! It is good for families due to its childcare facilites.

The centre can get really busy, particularly on Saturdays and in the run up to Christmas, but it is worth battling the crowds to get in a good shop.

Summary: A really good place to shop!