Orpington High Street

I never look forward to going to Orpington High Street. I find it frustrating as it does not have many of the popular shops like The Glades. However, it is easy to find your way around. But what I find unhygienic is there is only one place to go to the toilet. You might think ‘Well, I can manage’ but if you saw the state of them you would only go if you’re desperate. They look like they get cleaned about twice a month. Not even that. I would recommend Orpington High Street to people who just want an hour to shop or if they’re local but for me The Glades is so much more practical.

Peacocks is a really good shop to go to if you need to pick up some bargains. They do really good quality children’s clothes that are really fashionable and up to date for children to wear. They do some fancy shoes there that are great if you want to get something for a night out or just something practical for everyday. Also I love quirky and funky socks. They have a large variety of those types of socks there. Furthermore there ladies clothes are very trendy with a great range of sizes for all. They also sell great bags there.

I hate going to Orpington high street. The parking is a nightmare, there is a big car park but it always seems to take me ages to find a spot. If you park down one of the side roads there is parking metres but beware the parking wardens are like hawks. I was 6 minutes late getting back to my car. The parking warden was there looking at his watch as I approached he said that he would have to give me a ticket. I then stood around for 5 minutes waiting for him to take a photo of my number plate and issue the ticket. He was aggressive with me, so there was point arguing the toss. I will definitely not be going back again. There is a lack of good shops, too many people and lots of gangs of kids. No thank you!

Busy high street offering a good choice of normal ‘high street stores’ including WHSmiths, Woolworths, Superdrug, Peacocks, Robert Dyas, Marks and Spencers to name but a few. There are also a lot of charity shops! It can get a bit over run at college kicking out time and if like me you have small children in tow I’d avoid bus stops as it can all seem a bit intimidating with the sheer number of students! Only has one lot of public toilets in the high street which is a bit of a nightmare and no baby changing area, we had to use McDonalds! Lots of fast food outlets, should you get hungry you wont have to walk far to find one!

Orpington High Street was not quite as identikit as I had expected and I should imagine it would give Grimsby a run for its money, the number of fish ‘n’ chip shops I discovered located along it’s considerable length. There were a refreshing number of independent (if irrelevant) stores to boot, but unfortunately, as a whole function wins over style yet again. The Walnuts shopping/​leisure centre is probably the main focal point, and there is the benefit of the local library’s lake and grounds nearby.