Six-way sports has been around for donkey's years, and the owner certainly knows his stuff. You can…read moredrop in for everything from hockey sticks to swimming goggles, rugby shorts to cricket balls, and he's almost certain to know exactly which item will suit your needs best. The prices are very slightly higher than you might find in a big chain store, as there are less "three for two" type gimmicks, but the service more than makes up for the difference in price. The shop stocks an excellent selection of running shoes and football boots, absolutely essential for any active youngster. My parents took me here for all my school sports kit, and I still have most of it, because Six-ways only sell items of genuine quality. Children are welcome here, if kept under control, but it's most often the adults you see acting childishly, unable to resist bouncing footballs down the aisles or pretending hockey sticks are lightsabers. A place for the energetic child in all of us!

Contrary to all the high end bike shops that cater to those who want to buy flashy gadgetry bikes,…read moreFred Baker Cycles is such a breath of relief. Relief that a normal, homely, down to earth cycle shop exists. The staff here are always friendly and they let you wander around the shop at your own pace, and are always happy to help you out with any biking issue you've got and can't get your head around! They also participate in the work cycle scheme. This shop is deceptively big - it is very long and goes all the way back, full of bikes and their spares. A great, family run business.

Fred Baker Cycles is a fantastic little family run bike shop on Cheltenham Road. It's a father and…read moreson operation, originally set up by the father, who now is getting a little too long in the tooth, and has handed over the reins to his son. It's a while since I chatted to them about the legacy f the business, but I think they have been going for over thirty years... or something to that effect. As you'd expect from a family business, the motivation to open the shop came from a passion about bikes, or perhaps more accurately, a passion for what bikes allows the rider to do. I pay regular visits to the shop and I'm offered as much of a welcome if I'm coming in purely for advice as I am to buy something. Obviously businesses don't stay in business if they don't make money, but everybody at Fred Baker seems to be able to somehow balance their passion for bikes, their willingness to be of help, and making sales s that they continue to succeed commercially, whilst at the same time being incredibly helpful. They do a lot to inspire people to take up biking seriously.

From Running to Rugby, and Badminton to Bouls, there is prety much any piece of sporting equipment…read moreyou could want from this shop (or the website if it's not in stock) I find that alot of the central sports shops only deal in the more mainstream sporting goods and equipment, more specifically football and semi casual sports wear. Doug Hillard is good if your after something that is a little bit more specialist. Also for all the budding and fresh new teams out there they also do a design embroidery service. So you can design your own team logo and email/give it to them and they can see what they can do in terms of creating it and placing it on some sports wear/equipment. Go on, get that proffesional look for your team!

I enjoy sports to a certain extent. I like a bit of squash or rugby for instance, and I don't mind…read morewatching a bit on the TV. An entire shop, however, dedicated to sporty stuff is a bit much for me. For those that aren't too overwhelmed and are in need of some good quality kit, head down to Doug Hillard's. From swimming to soccer to cricket all the kit, balls, bags and supplies you could ever need are all down here. They keep it local too supplying local teams with their kit and some Bristol Rovers merchandise. If it's kit you need they run a little T shirt printing bit on the side, make an already able store a little better.

This is a pretty good sized Matalan near Abbey Wood in North Bristol. It has tons of fashionable,…read moreaffordable clothes for men, women and the kids, as well as a limited selection of home wares. Matalan's clothes are generally pretty cheap, but the quality is pretty low too, so it's great for kids clothes (as they grow out of them so quickly) or for things that you'll probably not want to wear next year. The place is always busy, especially when they've got a sale on, or in the run up to Christmas, so be prepared to queue for 15 mins to pay for your items when it's really busy (we've had a trolley full of stuff and left it there, as the queue was so bad once!). Parking is free, and this is not usually a problem, except for the dreaded Christmas period when the whole retail park is mobbed.

This Matalan sells, children's and adults clothes, home wares, dvds, and books. when ever I have…read moregone there it seems quite well staffed and the items are reasonably priced. It is near, Woolworths, tTJ Hughes, Pets At Home, JJB, Brantanos, Next and Mc Donalds.

One of the best customer service I ever had! My partner…read morebought a shorts for me, and I ended up not liking it. Since it was a present, the receipt was already in the bin. She went, they promptly took the stuff back and instantly issued a monetary voucher. No fuss, no bull shit. Now with that, I buy her a T, she dislikes. They again take the stuff back and reissues,yes, another voucher! Liked a pair of biking glares, one of the staff, voluntarily came down to explain the specifications of the respective shades. When I downed on one, they even gave 10% student discount, without any hue and cry! These guys couldn't be more helpful. And, they really know their stuff. The quality of the products is excellent and the shop has got a huge stock! The shop, is definitely worth a visit, if you are an outdoor sports guy! Recommended? Yes, definitely!

My preferred method of transport around this fine city is on two wheels, and like many of my fellow…read morecyclists I want a bike shop I can trust. I got my most recent bicycle from here - (a cute retro style ladies number, complete with shopping basked, but boy can it nip along). Mountain, road, hybrid, kid's, trikes, folding/touring - and all the top brands including Ridgeback, Kona, Marin and Whyte. They have speedy deals of the month and the staff have massive brains full of expert, tried-and-tested biking knowledge (many of them are amateur downhill racers in their spare time too), just ask them! Any bike you buy comes with a quarterly service for just a little bit extra money. Now, on yer bike son!

The Corridor in Bath's city centre seems to be the place for trendy, obscure fashions. Which is why…read moreWeird Fish Clothing is a little out of place here. Filled with simple fashions for men, women and children - the only interesting thing about it is it's name. Inside, women will find unflattering branded t-shirts, unsexy fleeceds and unattractive footwear. The men's section is not quite as bad, but just as uninspiring. I wouldn't mind, but it is so pricey to shop here (around £50 for a fleece!) In fairness, this shop is more about practicality than fashion, but for these prices I'd rather have the best of both worlds.

A store that doesn't immediately spring to mind whenever you're asked to think of good surf shops…read moreto go to, but Weird Fish is actually a fairly decent place to get your baggy trousers, thin woollen jumpers and shin-length shorts for the beach. Like other stores in this guise, it's not the cheapest of places to get clothing, but I'd say this is a little easier on the wallet when compared to Quicksilver and Animal, etc. I guess, though, as Jenni says, it's just not all that inspiring in here, so you usually come away with something that you've spent a lot on and don't like all that much.

One of the better bijou clothing stores in Bath. You always find a collection of unique and…read moreinteresting clothes on the racks. However, be prepared to pay for that quality and uniqueness. Ground floor is for women, with a downstairs area for men. A nice place to buy yourself a clothing treat.

The other main store at Cribbs at the other end from John Lewis is a two-storey M&S with the food…read morehall, mens and xmas bumpf downstairs and the women's section upstairs. The selection is OK, but has dwindled in recent years from their more expensive or exclusive ranges back to their staple Per Una and cashmere jumpers choices. Their shoes remain, mystifyingly, some of the kinkiest in the Mall bar Kurt Geiger so even if thought of shopping in M&S makes you think of your grandmother's twin set and pearls then brave it and check out the shoes. Staff are always helpful in here, especially good as its such a big store, and will help you find things or fetch you different sizes of clothes whilst you stay in the changing room.

The M&S Deli serves reasonable food, largely because the cooking is automated. For instance, the…read moremanager explained to us that the pasta is cooked automatically by a special machine, so why we had undercooked pasta was inexplicable. Yet, it was undercooked. However, my penne and pesto was lovely and was just what I was looking for. We were told we would have to wait till 12 noon before ordering lunch (it was 11.55am), but it still arrived at about 12.25 anyway. This underlines the real reason we wouldn't return to M&S Deli: the food is reasonably tasty and reasonably priced, and the wine is good because it's straight off the M&S shelves, but the service is terrible! We were there for an hour, which was way longer than we expected. This was because of poor all-round service. While we were there, we heard at least three other complaints, with one couple actually leaving. I'm sure this isn't the sort of 'experience' M&S wants to encourage. Our waiter wasn't polite, wasn't attentive, was blasé and had dirty fingernails (yet still handled the raw Parmesan cheese). Get the staff sorted and the rest will follow.