Kingsland Shopping Centre — Attraction in London

This shopping centre has never really done anything for the area - it houses a massive cacky Sainsbury's where you can't any more park for nothing and where indeed it was always so complicated to verify your shopping visit that I was put off going there. Additionally there's a very long ramp at the back of it with no direct access to the centre except for a lift buried deep within the car park and smelling of wee. There is a Matalan and a fried donut stall and a photo booth. There used to be one of those shops that sold every imaginable household item cheaply and which I loved, but it seems to be a vaguely unhelpful luggage and bag shop now. However last time I was in that shopping centre I did buy a new shopping trolley from one of the stalls in the middle, with which I can forge a path down Ridley Road while loading up with cheap vegetables. The rest of the shops in the centre seem like nasty clothes and cheap shoes, though on the corner next to the market is a stall that sells those bright stiff African cloth lengths for a fiver. I keep thinking I'll buy a couple and make cushions, but sewing or other three-dimensional crafts not my strong point. This is of course nothing at all to do with Kingsland Shopping Centre but you may or may not have found it...

If only I could leave no stars. This is categorically one of the most disgusting shopping centres in the country. As soon as you walk into the centre you get hounded by people selling Sky, Virgin and poor quality lending products that are highly exploitative of Less fortunate people. If that is not enough you then get accosted by charity muggers making you feel guilty about life before you even start your shopping. There is one disgusting toilet that costs £1 to use and to add insult to injury when I had to use it the door did not close and there was no running water. In addition, the toilet has been removed from the radar scheme - nice move. If you have to drive there you will be charged £6 per hour to use the complicated and awful car park. The people in this area are lovely and deserve so much better than this diabolical...

Could be fantastic but there seems to be a deliberate campaign by the centre's owners to run it down, it has been alleged so they can build more flats and an 'artisan' hipster shopping arcade, though I couldn't possibly comment. Several famous stores have shut up shop here in the past couple of years and been replaced with fly by night cheap clothing shops. There is also no seating in the centre, even though there is the space for it. However there is a permanent 'display' of sofas for sale, which are used by young scallies to congregate on late in the evening. The roof of shops and communal area leaks and there is a musty stale odour that reminds me of childhood Butlins and Pontins holiday camps that had seen better days. The only highlights, Matalan, Sainsbury's and a stall selling really nice...