More shops than you can count, so many places to eat you must be able to please everyone, and more car parking space than my home town put together. And yet it's not all that good.

I used to go there as a kid. And it was one of the most exciting things to look forward to, then. And it may still be for kids. Apart from the rather limited amount of toy stores there, there is the "almighty" toys 'r us. and yes it is a huge store and has nearly anything a kid could want. But as I grew up the whole place not only lost it's magic, but its appeal.

I recently went there and I felt the same as the time before that, disappointed. The fact is that I could not find what I wanted. The selection of men's clothes stores was unsurprisingly poor (see my Anti-men article under fashion shops). The Audio and visual selection was just as poor (CD's and Vids), we never got to stop for a bite to eat because we were bored of the place after 1Hr 30 Mins. I was meeting someone and had finished looking and wandered round for 20 mins bored with no decent shops to look in, I had finished looking in 10 mins.

The fact is despite the size and range of the whole place that does not apply to the store size. Compared to Newcastle the book stores were small, as were the electrical stores. The only place that was bigger was the HMV and yet go into Newcastle and there are more than two places to buy CD's and Videos.

What the main message for those of you who live near by (well within Tyne and Wear) is that your best bet is to just go to Newcastle. There is a greater selection of all stores, food places as well. The stores are bigger, and there's alot of Info places to help you. Admittedly there are troubles getting parked but the Metro stops in 3 places in town, and there are more buses going in there than the metro centre.

However if you are visiting the area or have kids its worth a visit. Atleast the
n you know. Plus you can get the 100 shuttle bus into Newcastle, so you don't miss that out.

It may be big and it may have a good collection, but when it comes to range of goods it does not compare with Newcastle.

Ridme