A circus without a soul (Cabot Circus Shopping Centre (Bristol))

Member Name: Ally-doo-lally

Product:	Cabot Circus Shopping Centre (Bristol)
Date:	15/02/09 (97 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good shops and restaurants a lot of which bristol didn't have before

Disadvantages: no unique one off shops, all big chains making it feel a bit soulless

After living in Bristol as an actual building site, stunted traffic and anticipation for god knows how long... The arrival of le cirque cabôt! - was it worth the wait? Well its very swanky and posh looking and has a strange mixture of indoor and outdoor in fact I still haven't worked out which it is. I guess it's kind of a semi heated outdoors with a hood and an upstairs but i'm not overly thrilled.

I was very excited about it but to be honest it's not that special - don't get me wrong, I love all the new shops we didn't have before like Urban outfitters, Zara, American apparel and Cult. And of course the array of new restaurants, but it all strikes me as a bit soulless I guess, it has no really personality or uniqueness. I'd much rather go to bath and trundle round it's one off shops - as well as the big chain giants.

I also think certain shops, although I love having them in Bristol, they seemed much more special and unreachable to the unwashed masses when I had to travel to London to access them, now they feel somehow more 'common'. I do think it's given Bristol more status as a city though because now people travel to us as well as London.

The building however architecturally impressive, has no atmosphere to love - it's just sort of cold and clinical. The cinema is massive and swanky but walking around in it I felt like a sim in sim city! Although saying that, it is better than what Bristol had before and I must say I rarely venture out of cabot and over to the 'old side o' town' not unless I want debenhams really so it can't be all bad.

I guess it just never could've lived up to it's two year drum roll!

Summary: worth a visit but slightly dull