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It is nigh-on impossible to come away from a shopping trip at Cheshire Oaks without at least one bargain. The huge range of shops also means you should always be able to find something that meets your needs.

Some types of shops are much more abundant than others, however, with the one CD/DVD being dwarfed by the seemingly endless number of clothes shops.

By personal pet hate about the outlet village, however, is the lack of cash machines. This isn’t a problem for the majority of shops but if you decide to eat in the food court, you need to be aware they don’t take cards, which can be pretty embarassing when at the head of a pretty long queue.

Situated right near Cheshire Oaks, opposite Sainsbury’s, this pub can provide an excellent end to a shopping day. The typical pub atmosphere downstairs is combined with a slightly more upmarket restaurant upstairs to great effect.

The food is excellent, with the Steak & Ale pie being particularly good, and the service is also very good. There is plent of parking and it is well worth stopping in before making that journey home.

Of the various Pizza Huts I have been to, this is probably one of the poorer branches. The quality of the food is pretty standard across the chain in my experience - you know what you are getting, and this is the case here as well.

The main issue that I have had with this branch, however, is the the quality and speed of service, particularly for the takeaway side of the restaurant.

You can usually expect the amount of time taken to get your food from the takeaway to be at least double the standard 15 minute wait that you are usually quoted when you order.

This would be forgivable if the staff were rushed off their feet but they seem to to spend an inordinate amount of time chatting in groups.

On top of this they have 'lost’ our order on more than one occasion and I have seen it happen to others whilst I have been waiting.

Frankie and Benny’s is ideal when you fancy something a bit more than take-out or pub food without losing any of the convenience.

It sits on a retail park outside of the city centre, so it is extremely easy to get to and is ideal for after a day’s shopping.

The focus is on American food and, as such, there is always something even for the fussiest of eaters. The staff are friendly and service is usually speedy although the bar area can get pretty hectic at busier periods.

They are also very much family-friendly, which is ideal if you are looking for somewhere to take little ones but it can get a little noisy for the adults without children.

HMV has been the staple of any shopping trip for a number of years, just to check out the latest offers. This is usually on the DVD side but they have been improving on their gaming business as well.

The only complaint I would have is that occasionally their store prices do not match their in-store prices and the difference can be quite shocking at times - particularly on DVD boxsets. This is only really an issue if you need to make a last minute purchase and can’t really afford to wait for delivery.

We visited the Game store during a recent Christmas shopping trip and although the staff were friendly and helpful, we found them to be a little too pushy and if we hadn’t have known what we wanted we could easily have been talked into buying something inappropriate for us.

We also found that although there were some bargains to be found, they were generally inferior to Gamestation across the street. There pre-owned section was also particularly weak and over-priced.

I have been getting my eyes tested here for a number of years now and the quality of service is never anything less than excellent.

They carry a more expensive range of frames and lenses when compared to more recognisable high street names but you really do get what you pay for in this instance.

The eye examinations are always extremely thorough and the after sales service (eg refitting glasses, repairs etc) is comprehensive.

Homebase is unfortunately closing down (I believe on 22/11) which is a shame as the service I have received has always been nothing less that excellent.

They price match B&Q and along with the staff going that little extra it makes a huge difference.

In the meantime, however, they are selling off most of their existing stock and it is possible to pick up some real bargains. For instance, I recently picked up 100 block paving bricks for £15!

In the process of doing some Christmas shopping we had the opportunity to look around various video game stores in and around Chester and we found the best to be Gamestation.

The staff are knowledgable and offer excellent advice without being too pushy. More importantly, the offers in store were by far the best on the high street and were comparable with ineternet offers.

Visited recently, without having read the review here, and we found it to be pretty good. Nothing amazing, for sure, but couldn’t really complain particularly given the 2 for 1 offer.

We had been here a couple of times prior to the refurb and weren’t that impressed but things seemed to improve on our latest visit. The food was perfectly fine, as were the portion sizes.

The service again was fine although it wasn’t that busy when we were there and judging by other opinions we may have just been lucky on this occasion.