My old school friend text me to say that he was up for Christmas from Manchester. He asked if was I…read morestill kicking about Blantyre and I sure am so he suggested heading to Asda Blantyre Cafe. When he came to my bit he had fortunately changed his mind and said 'Howsabout EK instead?' Yay, you betcha! I love the East Kilbride Shopping Centre or it's more the Centre West bit that I like best nowadays. It's actually split into several shopping malls, Prince's Mall and The Plaza were the first then they linked up The Plaza to the Olympia with the ice rink and cinema. I loved that part when I was younger. Then they covered up Prince's Square to become a mall then recently added on to The Plaza, Centre West. If you enter from the bus station it is a bit grim but keep heading through and it does get better. I normally park at Centre West but my friend likes parking at the Olympia. We still don't know how you can park in the underneath car park. Hmm?!! Anyhoo it was lovely to grace this entrance, it was completely mobbed, lovely to see the ice rink still as busy as ever. *Flashback* First time I was ever on an ice rink with my mum. Did witness someone fall and have their hand slashed though. I remember the paramedics and blood on the ice. Fortunately it didn't put me too much off ice skating. We mostly window shopped as we didn't see much we fancied in the sales. We decided to stop for a wee coffee at Costa in The Plaza. There's plenty of food courts and coffee shops about in all the malls. I love the food court in Centre West best. The one at the ice rink not so much nowadays, if you saw it you would understand why. It's great to come here especially when it's raining as everything's all under one roof and it's call Toys R er maybe not. Did most of my Christmas shopping here as there's a great variety of shops. There's still empty lets in the various malls but there's still plenty of shops to make you drop.

East Kilbride shopping centre elicits a mixed opinion from me. If you'd shopped here 5 years ago,…read moreit was a plethora of shops and you were able to get absolutely everything you were looking for. Today, it's a bit pathetic and every second lot seems to be lying empty. There's everything here you'd expect in a shopping centre; Topshop, a huge Debenhams, Waterstones and a selection of others. There's also a couple of cafés, a McDonald's and a decent sized food court. There's also a huge ice rink and upstairs there's an Odeon cinema and a library. It has a lot in it, it's just a bit depressing to walk through and see most of the lots lying empty.

This is a good sized shopping centre with a few car parks. The centre is split into different…read morenames, plaza, centre west etc. The shops that can be found here range from debenhams, bhs, marks and spencers to primark, card factory, pound shop, so something for every budget. There is a libraray and ice-rink and cinema. There a few pubs and plenty of places to eat with a choice of the pubs or two food courts one at either end of the centre. The centre is clean as are the toilets and they have a customer service desk located in the middle of centre west.

Good shopping centre, very clean and a good variety of shops (over 200). I don't like that you have…read moreto pay for parking (except on Sundays when it is free). They have some one-off local shops as well as big chain stores. There is a big Debenhams, a past times. For food there is loads of places, McDonalds, Pizza Hut, Burger King and Shenanigans pub for pub lunches etc.

A lot of people HATE this car park, but you know, I feel just a-ok about it. It's handy for…read morevisiting Clarkston Toll where there isn't amazing parking nearby, and yeh, it's paid for BUT it's actually really cheap. 50p for 2 hours is good value and for me, I'm normally visiting for a meal or some shopping and don't need to stay longer than that. It's easy to get to - it's up a ramp by the train station, and because the locals seem to hate it, it's never full. There's foot-exits at either end and meters, so it works out pretty well. Just be careful as it can be narrow for parking when it's busy. When you pay at the meter you need to enter your registration and put it on your dash, which I think is excessive. But I guess they're watching you on CCTV so it makes their lives easier. We once parked here and Graeme got our registration wrong, but thankfully they never fined us so obviously there's a human in there somewhere. All up, this is a pretty good car park for Clarkston Toll. If you're looking for other options, there's also parking at Clarkston Halls and on nearby streets. Be careful parking on the main road as there's often wardens out.

Wee village post office with lots of extras. I bought a card and a newspaper whilst in to post a…read moreparcel. If we dont support theses little independent post offices they'll all close down 30 minutes free car parking in the village too ... so no excuse!

don't shop at this retail park. You will get an £85 fine if more than 4 hours…read more My wife was shopping for clothes for holidays and was at Next,TK maxx Adidas and sainsburys and was 4 hours and 15 mins.

I love outlet shopping and I ain't afriad to admit it. Having lived in Houston for years, my family…read morehad no qualms about driving to the nearest outlet center to pick up some bargains, after all, it's still branded stuff and the companies still list these shops on the website. I am also a massive Nike fan girl. I go to the gym a lot, bordering too much, so I need a fair amount of sports leggings/tops/bras. Basically, paying a little bit more of good quality, works for me as endless washes doesn't wear through the fabric resulting in see-through tights (my BIGGEST pet peeve at the gym) . The Nike shop in Kingsgate, isn't the biggest shop, but don't let that full you. There is a mens section on the left, womens on the right, kids in the middle and the shoe wall at the back. All the sizes available and all the colours are out for display, and at the very back wall, even further reductions. I picked up some Nike Free Runs for 55, which are normally around 100 in store. The staff were really helpful, even with half an hour to close, and suggested I do take the bigger size as your feet sweat. He also said if I wasn't happy with them after wearing indoors only, to come back and they'd trade sizes. I really appreciate honest staff, and saying this persuaded me to make the purchase as I did have the guarantee of being able to return. The clothes stock can be hit and miss, they didn't have the specific leggings I like, but they do get stock in 3 times a week, so its just a luck game! A great little shop, credit to the Nike brand and well worth the drive. Open till 8pm, Mon-Sat. Thanks to the friendly staff :)

Largest main bus station on East Kilbride . Has a booking and information office, handy if you're…read moreheading to pastures new. Has been totally refurbished recently but nearby toilets leave a lot to be desired.

shocking garage made 2 appointments for a repair each time when I went to my appointment he…read morecancelled it saying he hadn't time to do it would not recommend this garage