Profil von JCapulet77

I popped into this Thorntons outlet for the first time this morning and was pleasantly surprised. It’s quite small and is mixed in as a Hallmark type card outlet also, but it’s quite spacious and well set out. I didn’t even know that a Thorntons existed in Mold until I did some research on the internet and it’s probably because it’s away from the main highstreet and situated in the precinct down New Street, past the main highstreet.
The shop was clean and spacious and the lady who worked there was very friendly, helpful and cheerful. There’s also 3 for 2 on Christmas gifts in Thorntons at the moment too, yum !!

My daughter dragged me into this New Look outlet at the weekend and was pleasantly surprised. We used to shop at the one along Foregate street but since the weekend this one is one of the must visit shops for any teenage daughter now. There are a few levels though. The ground floor is female adult clothes and on the left there is an escalator for mens and adult shoes. Be warned !!! It’s a high escalator and quite steep so if you don’t like heights I’d use the lift !!!! The lift is the only way to get down by the look of it, but it wasn’t too busy even though the shop in general was so you don’t need to wait long at all for the lift.
If you want the teenage/generation clothes you’ll need to go up the stairs that are near the back of the shop on the right hand side. There was a huge collection of clothes and my daughter went a bit mad and spent a fortune but since we were struggling to find decent clothes for her elsewhere for her in Chester I didn’t mind. They also sell teenage underwear, footwear, nightwear and accessories too. The staff were really peasant and curteous and we’ll be back there very soon.

All in all, if you have a teenage daughter you MUST visit the New Look ( Eastgate street outlet near Thorntons and Next ) as Chester does seem to lack many outlets with a decent teenage range and head upstairs, making sure you’ve either your credit card or plenty of money as you’ll need it ( not because it’s expensive, but because there’s so much to choose from !! )

I used the Chester train system for the first time in ages at the weekend and was pleasantly surprised at the changes. The main foyer has been completely refurbished and there stands a Costa Coffee, a decent customer service office and finally an arrivals/departure board to replace the TVs that used to flicker and have many periods of being tempremental to say the least. It’s quite light and airy now and they’ve also introduced a barrier system which I’m not too keen on however. During the busy periods this would slow down the traffic through the station and trying to fumble and reach your tickets during the busy period that I did wasn’t very relaxing or helpful. However, I guess in the long run it is there to deter non-paying passengers since you can’t enter without a ticket. I didn’t get to use the restroom which is usually clean but not the most welcoming or sweet smelling if you catch my drift so I’m not sure whether these have been refurbished either.
All in all, I like the electronic announcement board which has has a smaller verison on the platform that I was departing from, which again, was a huge improvement on the dodgy TVs. However, the little screen on the platform has a digital clock included and the other clock on the platform was covered up, therefore what happens in a powercut or during a software glitch will be interesting to see with no other clock now available for passengers. Perhaps the train companies are hoping that it will bring people closer if you need to ask other people the time during such a time…. lol
My daughter and I were rather excited at seeing an old fashioned steam train parked there on Saturday though and I have seen other such trains pass through Chester station too so it’s a great station for train spotters I’m sure !!

PS: I did notice that they still had the over-priced, but handy in an chocolate/light reading emergency, shop at the entrance and the taxi rank was still directly outside which is always handy. There are still buses but the one you want may be at the bus-stop across the road now, either outside the pub on the right or the hotel on the left.

Myself and my daughter actually really enjoyed the aquarium, but then we didn’t have long as we were passing the time until our London Eye flight. However, if you go expecting something amazing along the lines of Sea World then you’ll be disappointed. It doesn’t take very long to get around so I guess for the price it isn’t that good value for money as it wouldn’t really take up much of the day, so for a large family there are probably better alternatives for those on a budget. However, if you sea creatures then you’ll probably really enjoy it and the best exhibit is probably the sharks which is an impressive sight. If you have children who love animals in general also try out London Zoo and the Natural History museum too. Whilst it’s not the most entertaining of places, you will all coming away knowing something that you didn’t know or haven’t seen before. We went quite early after it had just opened and so it was really quiet and we therefore had the run of the whole place almost !!

I wasn’t too sure about spending a fair amount of money for what seemed like a glorified fair ground ride, but I’m so glad I did the whole 'tourist’ list as there’s a few things that I wouldn’t have tried otherwise and am glad I did. I pre-booked and had the tickets sent to me at home, however, you can also pre-book and go to one of the ticket machines and pick your tickets there if you so wish. The queues in the summer are a tad ridiculous so if you don’t like to queue I’d pay extra for the fast pass tickets. In the queue you will be security scanned and as the eye comes back around ( it never stops so the security team work quickly ) and as the passengers leave their pod, the security team goes in and scans the pod quickly and then the next group of passengers are allowed on. You can book a private pod if you wish, we didn’t, but if I had the money I would as there were always people standing in the way of the best views !!
I have a friend who is afraid of heights and this is surprising fine !! I think it may be because you’re so busy looking at the amazing views that it takes your mind off the fact that you’re high off the ground. I think the whole time in the pod lasts about 20 minutes or so, so it moves quite slowly and even those such as my daughter who suffers from motion sickness, she loved it and didn’t feel at all ill afterwards.
If you arrive rather early I would recommend a visit to the acquarium down the road first !! Next time I’d love to book a night flight and see the sights of London at night !!

If I have the transport then this is my cinema of choice. It’s huge, has plenty of screens, plenty of room to spread out a bit with plenty of leg room and plenty of tills to cope with the demand. I tend to pre-book as I like to be organised but quieter times you should be OK. It gets quite busy and like with most cinemas these days, it’s not the cheapest place to purchase your maltesers and popcorn but such is life.
If you don’t drive there is a bus from the Chester bus-station that goes to Cheshire oaks and even stops off at the zoo on the way, but don’t tell the kids that or you’ll have an extra expensive day out in the end !!
It’s not too far from Chester and the estate is really handy for shopping too and has some decent nightlife on there too. All in all, one of the best cinemas I’ve been too and this one is more preferred choice (now the Odeon in Chester has closed. Although if I don’t have time to travel I make due with cineworld on the Greyhound retail park which is a decent cinema too. )

Toys r us is a great place to take the kids to get a good idea of what they’ll actaually play with as opposed to what they write down on their gift lists !! It’s huge and is on the greyhound retail park opposite McDonalds. It sells the baby r us products too and on a whole sells a massive variety of products to choose from, but the staff seem a little unconcerned at times. I’m sure it’s not a nationwide problem or even a general issue with the Chester outlet in general but the times I have approached a member of staff they’ve been less then helpful and for a toy shop which needs to be family friendly you wonder whether they’ve ever encountered children before !! So shame about some of the service I’ve had there, as it’s potentially a great place for the kids to see and touch products before you decide what to buy them or what you think you’re wasting your money on. It’s not the cheapest shop ever, but they do sell some decent priced console/game bundles around the Christmas season and their online website has always been reliable for me. So perhaps the way to go is use the Chester store for trying out items and for purchasing what you need without much hassle and perhaps leave any further shopping for their online website if you’re not receiving the help in the Chester store itself.

I love bowling and as far as a bowling alley goes, this is a great one. A couple of words of warning however, if you’re hoping to turn up on a whim and book an alley on a weekend don’t bother ( you really need to book in advance ) and if you’re hoping that the kids won’t want any of their fast food you’re probably going to be disappointed !! As soon as they see someone walk past with fries and a burger you’ve had it, so I’d budget for things like that just in case.
This is on the greyhound park, next to cineworld, again, if not all the family wants to bowl then they can always pop next door to watch a film. They offer the alley-buffer things for the less confident of bowlers and they offer the use of the contraptions that help little ones get the ball down the alley correctly too, but you need to ask for those especially. The only thing I would say is that the computer system whilst really clever, needs a specialised mind when it’s your first time so I would ask for help from one of the employees or the dad in the alley next door for help or you’ll have some very frustrated kids waiting for you to set it up and mess it up too if you’re anything like me.
So, all in a ll, a great bowling alley. Helpful staff and you can even book parties too which are great and great value also considering how much you’d pay booking a hall etc anyway !! I would always pre-book to avoid upset-children-syndrome and make sure you budget for the kids ( and probably the adults too ) sniffing the food and wanting some too. However, if you’re on a budget they do have little can machines too and there’s a bar for any evening visits too.

Since the Odeon closed in Chester ( I’m still too upset to talk about that ) this is one of the main cinema’s left in the Chester area. It’s a fair size, on the greyhound retail park next to the tenpin bowling centre, so there’s plenty for families to do if not everyone wants to watch a film.
As with all cinemas these days the sweets and other confectionary are SO expensive but they’re getting more strict on what you try and sneak in these days so you either need to be more careful, go without, or hope the kids pick the cheapest sweets available.
As stated, it’s a fairly big cinema with plenty of screens so you tend to find a decent amount of showings for the more popular and newest films. However, in doubt i would pre-book !! Whilst their little automatic pre-booking machines don’t always work, the staff are really helpful to try and sort out any problems. These days for an adult and child’s ticket it is £10 unless you are watching an evening movie and then it’s an extra £1 for some reason. They only have two people on tills at the entrance which isn’t enough for just before the films start since they’re so busy and everyone seems to pay with cards these days so that takes even longer.
However, the cinema itself seems fairly clean and tidy and offer various things to help the kids and adults pass the time until the next film, and they also have booster seats for those times when the little ones need a little boost or when an adult comes and sits in front of a 3 year old, even though there are plenty of other seats available !!
All in all, it’s a decent cinema considering the Odeon has now closed and there’s not much else, but unless you drive, know the bus timetable or are willing to pay for a taxi it’s a bit of a pain to get too since it’s out of the main city centre. That said, there’s a park and ride down the road which helps if you like to travel into Chester on public transport.

I love Next, but since the new one opened on the Greyhound park I tend to find that I spend more of my time on that one, unless I’m in town and don’t want the hassle of travelling to the retail park. The only reason I prefer the other one, apart from the fact that it’s bigger and offers more choice, is because it gets SO busy that at times you can barely move and the room between clothes rails to move around shop is really tiny. There’s two floors to this one, women’s clothes and children’s clothes with shoes downstairs and men’s clothes and home accessories up stairs. I wish there were more tills as it tends to be the queues that take up a lot of space when you’re trying to pass, although the children’s section at the back is a lovely area and a bit better spaced out and not as busy.
When it comes to their clothes and quality however, you can’t go far wrong and the staff are really helpful. It’s a just a shame that the shop is so small ( but then lots are in certain areas of Chester city centre due to the old Roman shop sizes, so it’s something you have to give up to keep the history in place. ) Therefore if you like more space I’d try the Next on the Greyhound retail park instead, but the staff and products themselves are great in this outlet in the Chester City centre also !!