Presenter: In today’s programme, David Green has come along to tell us all about Waterside Shopping Centre near Northport. Good morning, David.
David: Good morning. Well, I visited Waterside last week and I think it has something for everyone and I would recommend it for a day out. It’s taken three years to build and finally opened three weeks ago, two months later than planned.
Firstly, getting there; there are organised coach trips from most towns in the area but they leave early and come home very late, so I drove. There are 12,000 free parking spaces, so parking is no problem. You can also get there by train, but the station is 15 minutes from Waterside by bus, and the buses are really crowded so you sometimes have a long wait.
Presenter: And what about opening times?
David: Well, one thing to remember is that the shops don’t open till 10.00 in the morning except on Saturday when they open at 9.00. So don’t get there too early on a weekday. They close at 8 o’clock every day except Friday when they’re open until 9 pm.
Presenter: Can you tell us some more about the facilities at the shopping centre?
David: Yes, it’s arranged on three levels. You’ll find all your favourites here. In fact if you want to buy a pair of shoes there are 15 different shops to choose from on levels one and two. When you run out of money there are seven different banks, but collect your money before you get to the third level as there aren’t any banks up there. On that level, however, there are several restaurants as well as a cinema with seven screens. And don’t get lost like I did, go to the information desk on the first level and get a map.
Presenter: What else can you do at Waterside?
David: Before you go back to your car or the bus - and in fact it might be better to do this before you go shopping and have too much to carry - go and see the lake. Take a walk or have a go at fishing, sailing or wind surfing if you have time. Or you can rest your tired feet and watch the birds and ducks, but you are asked not to feed them.
Presenter: Was there anything you didn’t like about the shopping centre?
David: Oh. Well, although I had a good day I would complain about one thing, but not the usual thing - the service in the shops was good and I had an excellent lunch in a cafe. No, the silly thing was that everywhere was quite clean but people were dropping their sweet papers and empty drink cans on the ground because there wasn’t anywhere else to throw them Apart from that I would recommend it.
Presenter: And so that’s all for today’s programme ...