When cheap means cheap.

Advantages: Cheap, reasonably clean
Disadvantages: Facilities not as available as advertised, expensive food, staff are cold

...It's been a tough time at work for my sister and recently she has been feeling particularly down. I've also been needing to get away, so we decided to book ourselves a little weekend break just to have a change of scene. Both of us following the philosophy that to be a proper break we needed to stay somewhere comfortable and with things to do as winter is coming and we can't trust weather to be great, we decided to go for a hotel with leisure facilities. After much trawling for a decent deal on the Internet, we came across The Croydon Park Hotel. Basically the deal was £120 for two nights in a twin room, no breakfast. Normally I am keen to book breakfast but as my sister often skips it, we just couldn't justify the price. For the two of us for two nights breakfast on top would have added a whopping £40 onto our bill. I booked...

Ayesha- 15.10.2009 · Read review
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Review of Croydon Park Hotel, London

Why Tom Hanks loves Croydon

Advantages: centrally located, large concert hall, good performers
Disadvantages: Steep booking fee if not in person

...built in the early 1960's. They consist of a concert hall, the Ashcroft Theatre (named after Peggy Ashcroft herself), the Arnhem Gallery civic hall (as Croydon is twinned with Arnhem in the Netherlands) and a small art gallery. Many famous faces have performed here along the years, from the Beatles to Mott the Hoople and more recently the likes of Shakin Steven, Status Quo, Robert Cray and Coolio. Not to mention Darren Day in Panto a few years back. ~ Getting there ~ The Fairfield Halls is situated in the centre of Croydon on the A212, which is a busy dual carriageway. The car park underneath the Halls has ample parking although it can be pricey for a long period of time, and is accessed via the A232 Barclay Road. It's also within a ten minute walk of East Croydon train station and numerous buses serving south London stop right...

kevin121 18.12.2008 (27.12.2008) · Read review
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Review of The Fairfield Halls, Croydon

Croydon Hilton is not in Croydon...

Advantages: Breakfast was great when I got it
Disadvantages: Location and lack of top quality service,

...Just over a week ago I was visiting London. As usual, I tend to look for hotel deals a little out of the centre of town as it usually works out much cheaper even when you've factored in the public transport costs (I don't drive.) I am a member of the Hilton Honors scheme - it is free to join and well worth it if you use hotels often as they do have regular special offers and you can earn Hilton points and frequent flyer miles at the same time. See website: http://hhonors.hilton.com - so I thought I would take a look to see what deals there might be. I was pleasantly surprised to get an offer on the Croydon Hilton for £43.50 a night (Fri/Sat) including breakfast and dinner the first night. This worked out more than £20 cheaper than my usual choice of the Holiday Inn Express in Croydon. The Hilton Honors website is simple to...

Maestrolover 18.11.2007 · Read review
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Review of Hilton Croydon, London

Esporta Health Club, Croydon

Advantages: Opens early, closes late. Lots of facilities and services
Disadvantages: Too many noisy children, expensive

...Esporta Croydon, also known as The Surrey Health and Rackets club, is part of a huge UK chain, owned by venture capitalist Simon Halabi. It was primarily a rackets club and has been responsible for helping train some of the up and coming Tennis stars of tomorrow. Esporta is situated in a purpose built warehouse on a large industrial estate not far from Waddon mainline station and houses a spacious gymnasium, also known as the "Fitness Arena", a large family pool and an even larger olympic sized pool. There are numerous Tennis courts and several Squash courts. It is a club which encourages families, so may not suit those in search of halcyon days. Having parked in the spacious car park you will come through the double doors into the reception area, where you will be greeted by the welcoming reception staff, who will actually greet...

Velvetee 22.07.2007 · Read review
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Review of Esporta Club, Croydon, London

Virgin Active Croydon - It Didn't Work Out

Advantages: Clean, functional, has all key facilities and equipment.
Disadvantages: Cramped, basic and has a poor ambiance.

...regular exercise, and so upon taking up my current role at a college in South London, I soon sought out a gym that was close to where I was living at working. Virgin Active Fitness Club in the Grants complex, Croydon, fitted the bill in this respect and I?ve been a member there since November 2008. Why Did I Join a Gym? There are many reasons for joining a gym. These include vanity; concern about health; a desire to improve fitness for sporting or professional reasons; programmes for recovery from injury; and no doubt various other reasons that haven?t even crossed my mind. My gym-going is a combination of the above. Vanity probably takes top spot; I?ve got no desire to possess body-builder biceps or even a modest six-pack, but I am always trying to manage my weight. This has considerable health benefits, but my weight control...

MikeOCarroll 04.10.2009 · Read review
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Review of Virgin Active Fitness Club, Croydon

My favourite park!

Advantages: Lots of space and things to see and do
Disadvantages: None

...I have lived near Wythenshawe park all my life and it?s somewhere I have been many, many times. It is an ideal place for many things and for me it is great for walking the dogs in. I shall give a little bit of information of Wythenshawe park and my personal opinion on it. The location: Wythenshawe park is fairly big and located in Baguley. The park has the long and very busy, main road named Altrincham road on one side of it and the M56 motorway running past it on one side. The park is easily reached from various points and is not that far from Manchester airport either or other surrounding areas such as Altrincham, woodhouse park or even Manchester city centre itself. How big is the park? The park is fairly big and has plenty of space for people just wanting to relax in the sun, walk their dogs, have a game...

frankiecesca 29.08.2009 · Read review
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Review of Wythenshawe Park

Holmes Place Croydon - a place to call home

Advantages: Great location and easy acess to trams, buses and rail
Disadvantages: I am soon to change jobs and the town in which i will be working doesnt have a Holmes Place! a huge shame!

...Having been a total virgin to all gyms, health clubs and fitness centres up until just over two years ago, I now find myself reluctant to leave, like a child clinging to its mothers skirt! When i started work in Croydon, i joined Holmes Place as a founder member when it first opened as part of a Corporate Membership. Very reluctant to pay what i thought then to be a phenomenal amount of money (£54 per month), for facilities that I calculated I would use, on average, 3 weeks out of 12 months(namely post-xmas), but with high hopes that the expense would induce me to visit the gym at least a couple of times a month! Needless to say that upon joining I now feel that it is home from home and spend on average 3-4 days/evenings a week down at Holmes Place. (That is a considerable amount of time for someone that lives a good 30 mins train...

Healthhog 29.11.2004 · Read review
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Review of Holmes Place, Croydon

Park and Ride

Advantages: excellent variety of things to do, good graphics
Disadvantages: small screen size makes it difficult to play

...I loved the Theme Park game on my PC, so when I saw that it was available for the DS, I jumped at the opportunity of purchasing it. For those unfamiliar with the format of the 'Theme' games, they are basically simulation games where you have to make as much money as you can!] In theme park world, this involves starting a theme park from scratch and building it as you like - designing the format. You also have to hire scientists and spend money on research and, every now and again (depending on your investment levels) they will come up with a new idea for a ride/shop/restaurant for your park. You have to correctly judge what your crowd will like/dislike and how much they will be willing to pay to gain entry to your park. There are other aspects that you need to manage - workers will strike over pay, stock levels for the restaurants...

katherineh123 30.09.2009 · Read review
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Review of Theme Park (Nintendo DS)

Connaught Park

Advantages: Free entrance, childrens play area, tennis courts
Disadvantages: Some of the fences could do with repairing

...I have lived in Dover my whole life and Connaught Park is the only park in Dover. Since moving in with my girlfriend and her two dogs, two years ago, I have found myself to be quite a regular visitor to Connaught Park as its a lovely place to walk the dog or to just chill on a summers day. History Connaught Park was the first park to ever be built in Dover and dates back to Victorian times. Connaught Park was first opened on 1st May 1883, although it was actually formally opened on the 14th of July 1884 by the Duke and Duchess of Connaught. A tree was planted near to the pond along with a plaque which commemorated the event. This tree and plaque still stand here today. When the park was first opened it covered 25 acres and had two entrances. Not long after it was first opened, it was decided that the park was going to be extended...

Jamie73 15.02.2008 · Read review
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Review of Connaught Park, Dover

Aqua Park

Advantages: Lots of activities
Disadvantages: You'll hate it if you don't like water!

...On a recent visit to Didim, a resort close to Bodrum in Turkey, eldest son, who had been there for a couple of months, insisted that we HAD to go to the water park. Not being a great fan, I agreed reluctantly, imagining all kinds of horrors...huge queues to get on any of the slides, cramped areas, and dirty pools. However, who am I to refuse? himself, being a fan of them wanted to go along as well, so the two of them eventually dragged me away from the pool, and off we went. Getting there... This was really simple, in that there is a courtesy coach which takes you from the centre of the town, passes Apollo and after 15 minutes, deposits you at the park. One thing to remember, though, whilst they are keen to get you to the park, at the end of the day, the coaches are VERY infrequent and have to be paid for, if you can...

danielalong 19.09.2006 · Read review
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Review of Didim Aqua Park