To think Bluewater is a very Hell on Earth!

[OraProNobis]

Although the reason I had to go there was nice - was lucky enough to win £1000 of Bluewater vouchers so went to spend them at Thomas Cook - I was blown away by the sheer size of it! I couldn't get my head round it either - perhaps it's just too huge and I'm just too menopausal! Does anyone use it frequently and actually understand it?

It is my spiritual home. I could smash Mastermind.

NPBS (non professional Bluewater shoppers) should be banned though except Saturday it's why the sensible people go on Tuesday which is also delivery day You cannot all park within 15 feet of JL or M&S and frankly you're just getting in our way.

On a not really I'm just pretending to be nice more helpful note go on a weekday between 10-1 and 5-7. It's shopping Nirvana. And spend some time looking up they spent a lot of time on the roof

And Lakeside is beyond shite unless you have a penchant for spraying yourself orange and walking around in your rollers.

Floral the one time DD and I ventured to White City, we had such a crappy experience in M&S , I complained to one of the store managers.

It has not inspired me (the whole place not just the M&S there) to make a return journey TBH.
The Stratford one is actually really small, just many levels high.

I was at Lakeside today, I;m not orange, and I've never seen anyone in rollers there.

Lots of people who don't own a mirror though

Leggings aren't trousers. Repeat 100 times.

70 the leggings blinkered you to the orange and rollers. Look past the initial obstacle young Lakesider.

Bluewater is a lovely place to shop. It's clean, light, spacious and free parking.

Bromley Intu is having a big makeover at the moment. Carluccios, Hema and The White Company have both opened and The White Stuff is due to open soon. There are plans to open terrace restaurants opening on to the gardens at the back and also to develop the top floor.

I uses to love going to lakeside. Bluewater, not so much because they tried to be too posh and put in loads of random shops.

I now go to Westfield Stratford, as it is the closest to me - until Westfield croydon is built, which I'm really excited about.

My tips:
Plan the shops you want to visit and target those, instead of wondering aimlessly around.

Go at quiet times eg Westfield Stratford is quiet 10-12pm and lakeside was (not sure about now) quiet 8-10pm.

Make a note of where you've parked.

70 I just think that the Shepherds bush one has a nice variety of different shops although there are some new things moving into BW of late . I'm not a great shopping fan in general but BW is easy parking and all under cover so it works .

I like bluewater, there are lots of coffee shops, it's a triangle so hard to get lost, you can park easily for free, and it doesn't have the shiny floor issue that I found in Meadowhall hell (where the light shines back up up again so is coming at you from 2 directions and gives me a headache). But yes, it's heated, I guess people who are used to shopping outside do tend to turn up with coats, you will just be inside, so dress for it !

I do think some people arrive thinking any shopping centre will be hard work and get themselves all worked up. (I used to be like this).

It's just a place with shops together, there are maps around the place, coffee shops and easy to nagivate.

And yes, for children there are 2 (or is it 3 now?) playgrounds, a soft play, a cinema, mini golf, and lots of restaurants aimed at children, it's not just a place to go shopping.