Thorntons in one word rocks! They do the most amazing chocolate! And something I never knew, until…read moreI received one, is that they will inscribe names or messages onto things made out of chocolate, to give them that personal touch! I received a chocolate campaign bottle with 'Happy Birthday Magz!' written on it-so thoughtful! They do chocolate bunnies and Easter eggs too during that time of year! The newest thing which makes Thorntons even more amazing is their chocolate fountain! Oh Yes! You can have it poured over strawberries and ice cream or have marshmallows dipped into it! It is too good!

Thorntons is a cracking shop. This one in Castlecourt is probably the first one I ever went to and…read morestill is my regular stop when it comes to gifts that don't really need much thought! It's a deceptively big shop, as it stretches far back into the walls of the shopping complex. The best thing about this store is its chocolate fountain. For a small amount of your hard earned cashed you can get a box of choc covered strawberries which are always welcome in the part of the world known as my belly. The prepacked selections are a perfect gift if your in a rush.

I have never left Stewart Millers empty handed. I'm not kiddin', honestly. It's like some kind of…read moremagnetic force which leaves me completely helpless and powerless, removing all inhibitions and barriers which prevent me from purchasing extreme numbers of goods from this fave store of mine. Or maybe that's just me shopping normally... Anyhow, Stewart Miller is a bargainous store which is primarily a newsagent and confectioners, but is also a bookshop, cardshop and toyshop. I've found books for peanuts, excellent sweetie deals, and, when I was younger, it was my first stop for TY Beanie Babies (remember those?! I still have an absolute ton of them stashed away in my wardrobe...couldn't bear [excuse the pun] to part with them quite yet). The Holywood store is undoubtedly my favourite. The toy section is huge, and they are genuinely well-priced (not always super cheap), top-quality playthings. The card section is extremely well-stocked, with a huge variety to choose from, and at reasonable prices. The book section is my favourite - I've gotten presents for my mum and dad for next to nothing, and even picked up a football book for £1.99 from £12.99 today, and I've found travel books for a fiver. Oooh, its a good 'un.

I'm lovin it. This gem on the Holywood main street has some of my favourite everyday treats -…read moreglossy mags, cold drinks and chick lit style books at very good prices. It also keeps the kids very happy as it has the best selection of football trading cards I've ever come across. My favourite thing about Stewart Millar is the magazine and comic selection. One whole wall of the front section is given over to mags and comics which means that I can happily browse Marie Claire and 25 Beautiful Homes and the kids can look at the Beano (yes it still exists) and Shoot! before making our choices. And there are none of those shouty 'This is not a library' signs either. At the back of the shop are the toys - good selection of lego- and books. The books are worth a particular mention as the prices are great. Some of the not quite latest releases can be snaffled at Tesco-esque prices which certainly floats my boat. There's a good selection of kids books too, especially quite unusual activity and pop up books which are always good for Christmas presents. All I need to do now is stop accidentally calling it Stuart Little which makes the kids fall about laughing every time as Stuart Little is of course a talking mouse. It's happened, I've become an Embarrassing Mum.

This is a great wee place! If you're a cookie fan and love a bit of variety you will love it! They…read moreoffer a wide variety of cookies and they're priced at a moderate £1.19 each. Or you can buy 5 fro £4.95 or toe for £8.95. Tempting! They also offer a huge range of over 100 milkshake flavours from the traditional such as chocolate or strawberry to the wacky such as cookies and milk! So far any I've had have been great! The place itself is aptly named as it really is just a box with no seating so definitely a eat on the go kinda place. But worth a visit for the cookies which are fab and big! Its situated on the door of the new Victoria Square so really is at the heart of the hustle and bustle and favoured by shoppers galore! I love popping in and getting a bag of cookies to take home for later...always eating at least one on the way!!

There are some places in the world that guarantee you will want to visit them at some point in your…read morelives. Sydney Opera House. Eiffel Tower. London. The Cookie Box. You just have to. It's got cookies, and milkshakes, and coffee, and tea, and milkshakes, and cookies, and milkshakes. Ok so the selection isn't huge. And if you are mad after a slice of pizza or a forkful of lasagne then you won't get it here. However, if you want the finest milkshake in Belfast, this would be a good start. I remember making them with a blender back in my day and there began my craving for milkshakes. As I was on like a year detox, I came across this place and thought "you know what? I can do this". I had one. And another one. And now I want more. I'm not quite going to go on a rampage, but I'm not far off it. The cookies are nice, soft and there is a massive selection. There is an even bigger selection of milkshakes. And if it becomes my goal in life, I will try to finish this entire menu. Despite it's hideous location down a side-street, it is fantastic.

Really poor customer service. Waited more than two months for my delivery to be shipped and never…read morereceived anything. Despite two phone calls, three emails and multiple messages with the owners... I never got my order. Lots of empty promises and ridiculous excuses. I'm sure there's a decent business here, but I did not experience it. I was never even got a refund and had to complete a chargeback request through PayPal myself.

When I accidentally stumbled across this fab wee sweet shop a few months ago, I wondered how on…read moreearth it had been kept secret for so long (from me anyway). Where there's a sweet shop, I'm honestly not far behind, and Curious Candy was no exception I'm horrified to say I'd almost forgotten about it, but I remembered just in time, and made a mental note to pop in the next time I was down in Bangor. Which just so happened to be today. Yippeeee. Located off the top of Main Street, Curious Candy is your typical old-school, walls-lined-with-an-enormous-amount-of -sugary-delights sweet shop. It is indeed 'wee' as we say in these parts, and with the customers in front of us consisting of a lady, a buggy and a child, it was a squeeze. Especially when they tried to get out, as you can imagine. Thankfully, said lady with buggy took quite an age selecting her choice of confectionery (I think she bought at least six bags), so I had a chance to scour the walls. I'd suddenly gotten a notion for Millions, and was slightly gutted not to have discovered any. Surely every good sweet shop does Millions? As I searched for a backup sweetie choice, lady and buggy moved, uncovering seven jars of Millions of the bottom shelf. Phew. I chose Bubblegum (always satisfies the sis...she seems to have a fancy for blue sweets), Blackcurrant (my fave flavour of any kind of sweet) and Raspberry (second fave), plus some Jellybeans for my dad. 100g of each of the above came to £3.16, which wasn't bad at all. Happy days. Pay the lovely people at Curious Candy a visit. You know you want to...

I was told these were the best brownies in Belfast. Holy muffins. They were right. They come as…read morethin slices, maybe 1/3 or 1/4 what an American assumes a brownie to be in size. Maybe that's why I'm fat. So maybe order a lot, and you can be fat too.

We love this place. Honestly the best hot chocolate and chocolate in general I've ever had. They…read moreremember you when you stop by and service is quick. It's hidden downstairs but it is perfect. The coffee has been great as well. It is a quaint little shop but we will be ordering for shipment soon. Owner is a great guy and gave us many local recommendations.

Great chocolates and other sweet treats! Very nice selection and customer service. It is too easy…read moreto get to from the office. They really need to add a moat or a wall of fire to make it more difficult to get to, the chocolates are nearly impossible to resist.

Delightful, delicious, scrumptious, yummy, heavenly, divine, flavorful, flavorsome, good-tasting,…read moreheavenly, appetizing, delectable, delishok - now I'm running outta descriptive words and have broke my thesaurus!! Anyhow - I am a self confessed chocoholic - therefore I love this shop! If you are you will too - #ChocolateHeaven #LoveIt

The Candy Box is Millisle's lifeline, because it is one of those wee shops that are totally taken…read morefor granted until we run out of something at the last minute. It is an aladdins cave inside , no matter what it is that you need this we shop will have it from sweeties to dog food and washing powder to gift bags , it really has an amazing stock of everything. What is also very commendable is that the prices are not over the top they match that of the high street stores. So this may not be the biggest store in town but it does have everything thar is needed including very pleasant staff who are more than helpful. They also have everyone's favourite for summer the good old ice cream cone with trimmings!

Sometimes I say to my dog, "I'm going to take you to The Candy Box, would you like a walk?"…read more Of course I am referring to a Newsagents, Tobacconist and sweet shop located on Millisle Main street. This wee shop is a jack of all trades, Milk is 99p for 2 litres and you would be hard pushed to beat or meet that price anywhere. It also doubles as ice cream seller, sometimes the dog and I sneak a cheeky Ice cream on our way home from getting the Sunday papers. This leaves both of us with a bit of a brain freeze but the ice cream is so good it would be hard not to rush it. The Candy Box is a favourite with people visiting the seaside, Millisle must be the only seaside town on the Ards peninsula without a dedicated Ice cream parlour, so The Candy Shop makes a bit of a killing with its cones. Whether it is a paper, a packet of cigarettes or North Downs famous Poor Bear ice cream you should pop into The Candy Box if you are passing. Also try the Fresh Dulce and yellow man, these are specialities of the region.

I was attracted by the PV deal on the board on the street as I was wafting by, oblivious to most…read morethings around me. It was early, bright and warm and my initial focus was Hotel Chocolat for a great flat white. All the staff there are charming. Now, like it or not, as a customer I do like a tad of courtesy and an occasional smile when I'm out shopping - and especially in hospitality. Not much to ask for, I'm a please and thank you shopper and when I don't get it I usually brush it off but here irritated me yesterday (12 August 22). As I said the free pastry deal required £3.45 for the offered coffee and my choice of an almond croissant but I wouldn't return here. M&S do a far better almond croissant for £1. So the PV coffee was good but not great. 3 star. The PV almond croissant was a doughy 2 star and would benefit from lightness and more almond it's more a croissant that may contain almond. The server and service were both grim and minus 5 star and no one should need training to be courteous and mannerly. I stood inside for a few minutes. the only customer, I could see the young lady who was doing something several feet away. I expected her to come along to serve me but as I stood and waited she continued whatever she was doing. So I cleared my throat and coughed and my my dimensions I'm not quiet and at 6' 4 I'm hard to miss. But no reaction and no service so I coughed again - a real bad flu type but nowt. After several minutes coughing and throat clearing I just said loudly hello. It worked but as she approached she offered no greeting, no smile it was simply what do you want, so I chose my pastry and she made the coffee and bagged to pastry all while looking around and it was as if I wasn't there. I paid and she returned to what she was doing and here's what bugged me and tipped it over. I walked to a table to put the bagged croissant into my rucksack and she loudly snarled at me to tell me I'd ordered takeaway and had to go - that's how it came across - as if I was stealing the sugar. I simply noted I was bagging up the croissant and she did not say anything more. I left thinking wow that's not acceptable and downright ill mannered. No wonder I was the only customer there for quite a time. I went into Hotel Chocolat a few minutes away joined a queue and got a great coffee and a warm welcome. If you like ill-mannered, unpleasant staff and shoddy treatment this PV store will be right up your street if your not asked to leave oh and if you don't the good news Is there's an alternative is two minutes away.

Decent service. Decent food. Clean bathrooms. Very good value…read more I had the ham and cheese baguette. She had the mozzarella and tomato baguette and an eclair. All was good.