Frenchgate — Attraction in Doncaster

The frenchgate at Doncaster is a brilliant shopping centre with everything there that you need! Although parking is not free, it is very reasonably priced and cost us £5 for 5 hours shopping. The car park is large and easy to manoeuvre around with clearly allocated larger spaces for parents of young children and for blue badge holders too. Sadly the huge Debenhams store has closed leaving quite a substantial area to fill, but there's still plenty of great shops here! There is a variety of designer clothes shops and a well stocked Schuh shoe shop. And 2 perfume shops too. For the fashion seekers. There is a GAME store with a great selection of gaming entertainment. For the kids there is a huge build a bear, Claire's accessories and a well stocked Smiggle store. As well as these stores there is a huge WHSmith with post office, a small Waterstones book shop, LUSH cosmetics, Clinton's, sports direct, and loads more. Many small businesses with shops that hold some wonderful treasures! Food wise there is lots of choice too.. The all you can eat Cosmo upstairs is huge and delicious but booking a table there is recommended as it gets very busy. KFC, Burger King, Subway, Greggs and more are all conveniently placed together in one area along with a Hungry Horse restraunt too. All of which serve some very nice foods with no bookings required. There is also a fantastic trampoline bounce park which is relatively new and located on the lower floor of the mall. This is incredibly fun for all ages and pretty reasonable in cost too. There are many toilets available as well as baby change and disabled toilets. Although the disabled toilets don't facilitate a harness or large "changing places" area as with most places unfortunately which I know from experience is something that more places like this really need to invest in as it is so desperately needed by so many people. The frenchgate is right in the centre of town too which means just step outside and there's lots more shops too! This shopping centre benefits from escalators, elevators and stairs making it accessible for wheelchairs and prams alike. Overall this place is definitely...

I live within walking distance of the shopping centre and rarely go in. If I need shopping then I would have to take the car. Parking is and always has been plenty but the cost isn’t good but that is a trend across Doncaster. The reason for my review today is twofold. Firstly the lack of diversity and shops in the Frenchgate and am hoping that with the takeover the new owners will hopefully inject some life into the centre as it’s drab and empty of customers. The once packed shopping centre a shadow of its former self. It’s a shame! with great transport links people should be flocking in not avoiding. Sadly to the second bit … went in on Saturday to pick something up. There were teens messing about - god forbid the authority organise a space for them to be - Im an advocate for bringing back youth centres. As a parent, a teacher and a grandmother then what do people expect. However, was saddened to hear from 3 of the shop assistants tales of violence against other shoppers and security graphic descriptions of a security guard being attacked whilst others looked on. True or not? embellished and exaggerated maybe… we do appear to have a problem in our city and it’s not helping trade. I didn’t witness anything serious a group of girls spinning each other. Noisy but harmless. Vaping indoors was a huge issue as within minutes I saw 5 boys in their late teens vaping. I think the new owners need to consider very carefully both how they advertise to get new and popular stores into the centre and deal with the security properly so people feel able to visit. Parking … there isn’t a tonne of money for most in the city why should people visit the Frenchgate when a 20 minute drive takes you straight into Meadowhall with free parking, a vibing food court and shops to...

It's all going downhill now. Went after about a year and the whole place is so dated now. They closed the only toilets there about 4.30 So if you are shopping there and need to go to the toilet what are you going to do? Ridiculous, most of the shops or big names have closed or moved somewhere else. The outside French gate is like you are walking in a third world country shopping centre. There is no attraction to it. Homeless people everywhere and you don't feel safe as people try to bother you asking for any spare change. Homeless people start getting ready for their spot in the afternoon so they can spend the night there. Why doesn't the council do anything about this and provide these poor people some kind of shelter somewhere else. This will create a better atmosphere so people can come to the city centre more often. Parking is another problem. You can't park anywhere near the French gate unless you go to the French gate car park and pay for the parking even if you need to pick something up from the store. At least they can offer free parking spaces for picking up the stuff from the French gate shops. Well so much need sorting. I can...