Cribbs Causeway situated on the outskirts of Bristol is the largest out of town retail centre in the South-West and one of the largest in the country. It started life over 20 years ago when it was just an Asda (then the largest hypermarket in the land) and has steadily expanded until recent times when in 1998 'The Mall' was opened marking it as a spectacular shopping experience. Usually these huge shopping centres leave a sour taste in the mouth, Bluewater in Dartford, Meadowhall in Sheffield and Metro in Gateshead all have massive problems with regard to traffic and amount of people wanting to visit. Does Cribbs Causeway fall into the same bracket ?

~How to get there~

Cribbs Causeway is situated just off junction 16 of the M5 motorway. It is a couple of miles outside Bristol and is signposted for miles around so it's not hard to find. Many buses flow freely from the surrounding areas all day long and stop right outside the main entrance or alternatively you can travel by train and get off at the Parkway station and catch a shuttle service to 'The Mall'.

In all there are 7000 free car park spaces serving Cribbs. In my experience this is adequate although peak times can produce restrictions in traffic-flow and hard to find parking spaces, in fact very busy times such as the lead up to Christmas can result in tailbacks right back to junction 15 of the M5!

~Opening times~

10:00 am - 8:00 pm (Monday to Friday).

9:00 am - 7:00 pm (Saturday).

11:00 am - 5:00 pm (Sunday).

~The Shopping Experience~

The Mall opened in 1998 is an indoor shopping centre housing 135 different names in the world of retail. All the big names are there including a massive John Lewis, a Marks and Spencers concept store, Boots, Virgin, W H Smith and the rest. As it is still new, the design is very modern including glass roofs, tall elegant Victorian style ceilings and fountains. At the centre of
The Mall is a 1200 seat food court encompassing 18 different fast food restaurants. Also dotted around The Mall are further restaurants so you shoudn't find it hard to find a bite to eat to go along with your shopping spree. Since it's opening The Mall has welcomed 35 million visitors and has taken over a billion in takings and has taken the prestigious title of 'Shopping centre of the year' on one occasion.

Cribbs Causway isn't just The Mall, you will also find all the out of town shopping names you would expect to find in a business park such as M.F.I, PC World, B&Q, Comet, Argos, DFS, Toys R Us, TK Maxx and Allied Carpets to name but a few.

On top of this are Asda Wallmart and Morrisons which have massive hypermarkets situated in Cribbs Causeway.

Dotted between the retail outlets are various food chains such as TGI Fridays, Chiquitos, Mcdonalds, Burger King and Harry Ramsden's.

Leisure time isn't excluded, a huge multi-screen Warner Bros cinema is here as well.

And if that's not all you can buy a car at Cribbs Causeway, motor dealers for BMW, Mercedes and Peugeot are based here and there are plans for another to join them soon.

~Other Information~

The Mall has a whole host of cashpoint's situated at various locations catering for all the well known Banks and Building Societies.

The creche is a very useful facility, you can leave your kids at the creche where they will be supervised while you can enjoy shopping, hassle free.

There is also a free outdoor childs area where the kids can run amok to work off their energy.

The Mall is disabled friendly offering convenient car parking places, lifts aplenty etc.

The toilets which are situated in 5 different places are all clean and checked at hourly intervals, the toilet areas also have baby changing facilities.

~My overall impressions~

In the past I havn't been a
fan of out of town shopping centres which have caused untold stresses and are killing town/city centre shopping but I have to admit that they are incredibly useful as they offer the ultimate shopping experience all within a stones throw of each other. As far as they go Cribbs Causeway is the best example of an efficient shopping centre, it suffers at incredibly busy times which of course is frustrating but even then it runs smoother than any other Shopping centre I have visited. I would recommend Cribbs Causeway to anyone who enjoys shopping as it has something for everyone.


Thanks for reading !!

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WormThatTurned2004