We've taken to going to city centre M&S cafes for great coffees and cake rather than the Starbucks…read moreand Costas on our month long tour of England. M&S provides comfort, complimentary iced water (Starbucks take note) fast free WiFi and clean toilets so it's all good. It's buy 6 get one free if you use their app. I mean there's no downsides and M&S pay tax and are a decent company that we trust. Our tour is going well with the only downside being the weather is lousy.

This is a nice Marks and Spencer location, it is located on Bridge Street and is one of the larger…read morestores in the historic town centre, despite being in a fairly attractive and old building, they have done their best to make their store look fairly presentable, modern and similar to any other Marks and Spencer store inside. The store was reasonably stocked, and although I couldn't find my usual brand of milk, I was able to find a reasonable alternative, while also being impressed with the gluten-free sections, including items they had reduced due to nearing their expiration date. The checkout process was simple using the Marks and Spencer app, which allows you to scan items as you walk around the store, pay on your phone and leave. The store was easy to follow and find what I was looking for, without the assistance of a staff member. I would prefer this store be open slightly longer in the day, I find their 6:30 pm closing time to be too early for my liking, but sadly this is in line with other shops nearby and they must have decided to follow suit. 4* - A nice Marks and Spencer location overall, while I do prefer the visual appearance and actual selection and unique offerings of their newer and refurbished Food Halls, this is a nice location nonetheless.

This M&S is huge and offers food, clothes, electrical items and home furnishings…read more The staff are all very polite and helpful and everything is of excellent quality. The customer service is brilliant. They are more expensive than other places but it is certainly worth it: their food tastes amazing and their clothes will last you a long time. Keep a look out for offers in the press, as there are usually some about. They also have a restaurant and a quick stop coffee bar, which is all very nice. This is a really nice and modern M&S and it is an enjoyable place to shop.

This M&S is quite a large store, not one of the big outlet stores you get, but big for being in a…read moremall. They have a decent sized grocery store downstairs, a good selection in the shoe department, and a big housewares section. Make sure to take advantage of their 2 can dine in for £10. It's a great offer, and much cheaper than a meal out on the town. And often just as tasty! Also, if you're hosting a party it is definitely worth coming and getting some ready made food. The staff are all really helpful and there's a good feeling about the place.

I lik it ppl There is Frick all of the timeogether was in box and grows in a lot of gaysread more

This Marks and Spencer's really does not have much wrong with it. Within the town, there are two…read morestores - this one with the household goods, children's section and food department, while the one within the Priors is exlusively men and women's clothing. While this particular Marks does everything you need, and the food section clearly offers a really nice array of food for those on a more upmarket budget, I always find the store really busy and sometime this is offputting. The queues always extend into the aisles, but apart from that, the product quality never diminishes and this Marks provides a nice treat for those who need it.

Situated in a superb shopping center, this debenhabs offers great service with some great quality…read moreproduts available. During sales you get some massive reductions on lots of products in the debenhambs store. The staff are friendly and helpful which is always good, and the store is always clean and tidy and well organised, which makes it much easier to find what you are looking for. The returns policy isnt great so be careful with that. Also, the service can be poor when busy and the prices can be quite expensive compared to other places such as on the internet, so dont expect it to be the cheapest place to go to, because it isnt. Apart from that it is very very good.

We opted to come to this Debenhams rather than go into central Birmingham and were glad we did…read more It's right by the car park to the Kingfisher Centre and is really big, set on 2 floors. We went there to spend wedding vouchers and were pleased to find it had a big range of products ranging from electrical goods to clothes and jewellery. It wasn't too crowded and the staff were really helpful in sorting out transferring our individual wedding giftcards on to one card. We will definitely go back to this Debenhams as it was so easy to be able to shop and then nip back to the car to drop the goods off before continuing shopping elsewhere.

The cafe upstairs in Fred Winter has really loveely food (and that includes the vegetarien…read moreoptions). the man and lady that run the show are lovely! They really make you feel welcome. But beware if one of the young 'n's serves you! They forgot our order meaning we had to wait over half an hour for a sandwich and when they brought it it was the wrong stuff as they had obviously just made it up to cover us the fact they forgot the write it down! Nice food though.

A History of Fred Winter Ltd (https://sites.google.com/site/fredwinterltd)…read more Fred Winter was a 23 year old Suffolk man who described himself as a draper and auctioneer when he opened his first store on the 25th June 1858. The store was located at 17 and 18 High Street Stratford Upon Avon, and sold general drapery, haberdashery and high quality outfitting for gentlemen. By 1881 Frederick, his wife and a family of five daughters and three sons, shop assistants Clara Cowles, Frank Gibbons, William Potter and James Thornber, and two servants Mary Lively and May Morris, lived above the shop in what is today Marlow's restaurant. This was to be Stratford first real department store [the Shipston sheep farmer JC smith didn't open his store, now Debenhams, until 1870] and was a huge success not only with the towns growing population but also with customers from far and wide as is the case today. Frederick Winter died in 1897 aged 62 leaving the running of the business to his 31 year old son Fred. Fred was a skilful retailer and businessman who by 1908 had incorporated the spacious premises at 14 High Street and turned it into a thriving business. In March 1917 Fred bought the freehold to Reynolds grocery store at 30 and 31 High Street and for the next seven years the company operated from both sides of the street selling everything from reels of cotton, luggage, straw boaters to Aquascutum coats. The lease holds of 14, 16, 17 and 18 High Street were relinquished in 1924 and the Fred Winter store operating solely from 30-31 High Street, became a limited company. By this time Mr Fred Winter had become a local dignitary serving as Mayor on more than one occasion and was responsible with 'Marie Corelli' in uncovering and restoring many of the famous half timbered buildings in Stratford. He died aged 71 in 1941. The business then passed to his 43 year old son Frederick Charles [Eric] Winter who instigated many innovative retailing changes plus the modernisation and enlargement of the store with the building of Bell Court in the 1970's including a large modern extension on the back of the existing Fred Winter Ltd Frontage in High Street. Frederick Brian Winter, the great grandson of the founder took over the business in 1973 and under his skilful guidance achieved unrivalled success over the next 25 years. By the early 1990's Brian's son Guy Winter was in the business and the store became renowned for selling an ever increasing range of merchandise that included furniture, carpets, furnishing fabrics, dress fabrics haberdashery ladies fashion, bed linen, gifts, china and glass. By the late 1990's Bell Court had become run down and a decision was made to build a brand new store behind an existing building in Henley Street. The large and stylish building was completed in 1999 and has undoubtedly become Stratford's premier store. After Brian Winter's retirement a few years ago the company is now under the overall direction of Guy Winter. Steve Newman

The Next store is located at the upper west end of the MK Centre mall. It is a small store…read moreoverlooking an area of the mall often used for promotional events. Typically, the area outside of the shop is very busy. The window displays ar always brilliant in this store and make me want to go in. Inside I find it very stuffy and disorganised though. The space seems almost too small to fit all of the stock and consequently the clothing stands feel too close together. It is a squeeze to move around the store especially during busy periods. This means it is not a pleasant shopping experience here. The clothes here are often highly priced but have a lot of detail and a designer look about them. Next cater to trends and what they sell is always at the height of fashion. I find the staff here very helpful and polite. I do think that they have a difficult job running a store that seems to have more custom than it's size suggests it should have!

My favourite shop. Sells great and affordable fashion for all the family. Layout spacious and…read moreattractive. Big fan of their perfumes also. Changing rooms plentiful and readily available. Staff helpful. My only negative point is that sometimes, especially on busy Saturday afternoons, not all the tills are open therefore abit of a queue sometimes.

Appalling customer service by this well known company, because they know their going out of…read morebusiness they have no concern with appropriate customer service. I ordered some shoes for delivery and they arrived damaged, tried to contact them but no chance, no number to call just an email address, contacted them on 23 April and to date (12th June) I have had no reply, iv chased it 2 times already. Almost 7 weeks being ignored, what a disgrace of a company please beware this once decent well loved company are now a bunch of scamming cowboys

Of all the department stores in Milton Keynes, for me this one is the worst!…read more I really hate it. It's not the products, it's the attitude here, and the lack of consideration for anyone who is not walking along without any encumbrances. This store is laid out so badly in places that it's inaccessible to anyone in a wheelchair, or with a pushchair, and in some places it's so bad that if you even have a bag that you're carrying you'll have difficulties accessing things. The section by the main entrance isn't too bad, it's where all the concession stands are, and they're fairly easy to access and there's space around each one which is fine. It's when you go deeper into the store that the problem starts. The display units are shoved so closely together that it becomes impossible to get between half of them, and the staff here don't seem to care and aren't interested in helping either.

This is one of the smaller branches of a quality chain of department stores…read more Beatties has recently been taken over by House of Frasier, but I don't know if this store has yet been re-branded. Layout, selection, displays etc are the high standard you'd expect of a quality department store; unfortunately selection is very limited due to it's size Has the best stocked habidashery department in the whole of Northampton

Beatties is a really nice department store that sells good quality items and has a really good…read morerange of products. They sell similar ranges to BHS and Marks and Spencers such as clothing and accessories, homewares and soft furnishings, gifts and seasonal items, but they also have fantastic cosmetics and perfume counters where you can get advice on skin care and make up and I believe that they do some demonstrations too. They often sell gift sets that are unavailable in other stores. The clothing ranges are split into departments for differnent ranges and designers and they offer clothing designers suitable for all age ranges. The store is a large one which has two floors accessible by an escalator. There is free parking in the Grosvenor centre where it is situated and the store can be accessed through two separate entrances. The store is nicely laid out and although some of the items may be a bit more expensive than smaller stores, they often sell things that you cannot get in other stores and it is a great place to pick up a variety of goods, so fantastic for Christmas shopping.