A few years back we spent a night at the Crowne Plaza between
Christmas and New Year. It was a nice
hotel, but I can find it really hard to sleep in hotels. The breakfast was nice, but we were overrun
by a coach party of OAP’s who were hogging the breakfast buffet. The best thing was seeing Chester dusted in a
light coating of snow, which made it look even prettier.
Parking in Chester is a major poo – this is why they have a
park and ride service. If you take the
Hoole Road route there is an open air car park near the Hoole Road
roundabout. It is cheap, but always
busy. There is also pay and display
parking near the council flats – again always busy. Stupidly we went to Chester on a race day so
it would be wasting our time trying these places. In the end we parked in Pepper Street Car
park and paid about £7 for 4 hours parking – very pricy if you ask me.
Chester is always a good shopping experience. Not only does it have your usual high street
chains but also a good selection of independent shops. We noticed there were a couple of vintage
shops this time. Penny Lane is near the
centre of Chester. I have to say whilst
it does sell vintage items, its main trade is selling new clothes which have a
vintage feel. I had to leave Neil in
there browsing the racks of second-hand records. There was a more interesting shop on Brook
Street called Becnicks Wonder Emporium, which
was more interesting and had a little café.
I loved the scary knitted cats and the furniture in the shop. It definitely had more of a vintage feel than
Penny Lane.
The charity shops in Chester have gone downhill since our
last visit. There are simply less
charity shops and with the growth in vintage shops there is just less decent
stuff available. The Oxfam on Bridge Street is now seriously lacking in music
and that was always a good place to go. Then again the Oxfam on Frodsham Street is
always worth a look for books. In one charity shop I overheard one of the
assistants saying some charity shops had closed due to high rents. I had noticed where there used to be a
vintage book shop on Bridge Street had now turned into Jigsaw. I would take a guess the rents had something
to do with that too.
In Age UK we witnessed a crazy incident. Neil was browsing through the vinyl records
whilst I was perusing the books. A
couple of girls aged about 10 started yelling at each other. One girl had picked up a bright orange gorilla
and the other girl wanted it. It was
getting heated and the screaming girls began to wrestle with each other to get
hold of the £1.95 gorilla. Their Mums
were just ignoring them, so the shop assistant had to intervene and take the
gorilla off them saying only one of them could buy it. One girl ran off to her mum to get the money,
whilst the other was busy counting out her pocket money. Obviously the girl with the pocket money got
it. As I was leaving the shop, the other
girl stormed out in a diva huff when she found out the other girl had got
it. I wish I had filmed it as not only
would I have got £250 from You’ve Been Framed, but also it was genuinely funny
and would have been a You Tube classic.
Whilst the centre of Chester is a standard shopping
experience, I found that Faulkner Street and Brook Street are more interesting as
it reminded me of the Northern Quarter in Manchester. I was pleased to find Abakhan, a cheap
haberdashery shop that sells fabric by the kilo. Sadly with my repetitive strain injury I
can’t buy wool any more. There’s a
growing multicultural community in Chester which is shown by the number of ethnic
food shops that have popped up along here.
There’s a tanning salon that does spray tans that were medium, dark or
double dark. Surely they could have said
light, medium or dark instead? A shop
assistant in a mini supermarket was discussing with her colleague that she
didn’t mind lone working on a Saturday night as she always had her under-the-counter
panic alarm if there was a robbery.
These two streets may not be the most glamorous places in Chester, but I
certainly find them the most interesting.
As it was the Chester Races we found lots of people dressed
to the nines looking glam. Although once
some of the ladies opened their mouths their accents betrayed their Liverpool
heritage and the glamorous illusion was shattered. It was quite funny as the day wore on as the
suited and booted blokes got steadily trollied with alcohol and their smart
appearance descended into a beery messiness.
If I haven’t convinced you to go to Chester, then try
Chester Zoo. I know some people aren’t
keen on zoos, but this is definitely the best I’ve seen. The chimps are always happy, the penguins do
jazz hands to visitors and most importantly the elephants are content. The elephants are incredibly gentle in how
they relate with their family group.
They are so hypnotic I could watch them all day. It’s always best to come at feeding time to
see the animal interaction.
Chester is a very pretty city with the black and white Tudor
style architecture and Roman history. There is
the river and park on its banks if you want to take a break from shopping. You can also walk round the city walls or pop
into the Cathedral. The opportunities to
do stuff here are endless. No wonder we like
taking a trip to here, although the parking is pants.
For those who love photography you really can’t get enough
of this place as there is a photo opportunity on every corner. Although for architectural photography 6am
would be the best time in this city as the city is pretty busy during shop
hours.
So how shall I end this blog? I’m sure I’ve not even got everything in as
there is so much to write about. So let’s
finish on these five words - Go to Chester, its great!
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