Welcome to Local Listings, Crewe - encompassing everything related to this Cheshire town in one blog - including guides to shopping in Crewe, reviews of where to eat and a local business directory.

Simply use the Sitemap to your left to find what you are after and feel free to leave comments and vote in the polls to your right.

Sunday, 14 September 2014

Review of Giovannis Italian restaurant on Nantwich Road

Giovannis
23-25 Nantwich Rd, Crewe, Cheshire CW2 6AF
01270 500276
  
Giovannis is an Italian restaurant on Nantwich Road in Crewe. Local Listings went there to eat about a month ago - here is our review!

The first thing you notice when you enter Giovannis is the staff. Friendly, welcoming and accommodating to their customer's needs. Whilst we were there, we saw many examples of this, including merging tables in an already busy restaurant to accommodate a large group of people and, on another table, talking to the customers about a dish and then offering to change the sauce to meet their requirements.

The food is as good as the service and the price is very reasonable considering that all pizzas, pastas, soups, sauces and more are created from scratch in the restaurant.

Things to do and local events this Autumn in Cheshire

The school holidays may be over, but there are still lots of events and things to do in the Cheshire area this autumn. Local Listings have taken the pain out of sifting through countless websites looking for things that will keep the children and the family entertained. If you know of any further events, feel free to add a comment to this post with the details.

September

The Cheshire Food Festival - Arley Hall & Gardens, Northwich
20th & 21st (Sat & Sun)
This year's Cheshire Food Festival at Arley Hall, in Northwich, promises to be a great opportunity to get a taste of the best Cheshire food and drink - with over 100 top local producers attending the event offering you the chance to sample their products. In addition, there are lots craft and gift stalls, demos from top local chefs and lots of rides and activities for the children. For the daring, there will be Men v Food challenges.

For more info, including ticket prices, go to www.cheshirefoodfestival.com

CSCC Classic Sports Car Championships - Oulton Park
20th (Saturday)
This Saturday the CSCC will be hosting a raceday at Oulton Park, Ticket prices are £10 and under 12's get in for free. For more details, go to www.oultonpark.co.uk

Snakes Alive with Exoteach at World Museum
20th (Saturday)
Let the Exoteach team demystify the secrets of snakes in this live snake demonstration and activity session. It has free entry and the events runs between 11am - 4pm at the World Museum in Liverpool.

Southport Air Show
20th & 21st (Sat & Sun)
Venue: Southport seafront
http://www.airshows.org.uk/2014/airshows/uk-airshows-2014-southport-airshow-preview.html

Autumn Fair at Wilmslow
27th (Saturday)
A weekend of activities for all the family including the chance to celebrate autumn with local food and crafts. The event will be running between 11am and 4pm.
Venue: Quarry Bank Mill and Styal Estate, Wilmslow

Victorian Harvest @ Stretton Watermill
27th (Saturday)
This weekend celebrates the traditional harvest with activities such as butter making, apple pressing and straw dolly making. There will also be live performances of traditional music to add to the Victorian feel of the event. Activities are free, Postcode SY14 7JA (Stretton)

October

Brick or Treat
3rd (Friday) until 2nd November
October brings the usual mix of Halloween themed events and The Legoland Discovery Centre at the Trafford Centre will be running this event for the whole month! Postcode M17 8AS

Saturday, 5 April 2014

Store closures in Crewe town centre

The number of empty stores in Crewe town centre appears to be growing. The latest store to close is the branded bargains store, which was situated on a row of, mostly, already empty stores. These stores include the pound centre, the short-lived pound centre extra, the seasonal calendar club, Carbon and now the Branded Bargains store.

In December 2008, just 2.2%* of the 183 stores in Crewe town centre were empty - I would estimate the figure, now, to be close to 20%. This figure would be even higher without the recent influx of additional bookmakers, a new amusements and second-hand loan/buy-back stores. This shows a worrying trend for our town centre..

*source Crewe Chronicle

Friday, 4 April 2014

The White Rabbit returns to Llanberis Lake Railway

During the Easter Holidays, Llanberis Railway will be operating special trains for their hughely popular family Easter Egg hunt. Enjoy a relaxing train journey along the lake whilst hunting for Easter Eggs which will be hidden around the railways and stations. Each child will receive a reward for their efforts!

Trains run daily from April 18th until Tuesday 22nd April and will depart from the main station at Gilfach Ddu (next to the national slate museum) and will run at regular intervals between 10.30am until 16.00pm.

Yearly plan of events at Llanberis
Easter Egg hunt (April 18 - 22)
Steam Gala (July 5 - 6)
Teddy Bears' Picnic (Aug 25-28)
Halloween Hunt (Oct 26 - Nov 1)
Santa Trains (Dec 7, 13, 14, 20 & 21)

Tenchy's Fish and Chip Shop to replace Davison's in Crewe

A new fish and chip shop is opening tomorrow to replace Davison's, The new shop will be called Tenchy's Fish and Chip shop and to celebrate their first weekend in business, they are offering half price food, so you can watch the Grand National whilst tucking into your favourite dish.

Local Listings will be taking advantage of this offer and will report back findings here. If you have any comments regarding this new shop, feel free to comment below.

Tuesday, 1 April 2014

Is there life on Mars? Find out at Jodrell Bank Discovery Centre

At this time of year, you can see some of the best views of Mars in the night sky and if you head down to Jodrell Bank Discovery Centre this Easter, you can take part in a mission to Mars to find out about about this fascinating planet. Explore it's surface, find out how hot it is and see how different life would be from living on Earth.

You can become a martian for the day and take part in some hands-on experiments to discover more about the largest volcano on the solar system and investigate if life could really exist on this planet.

Monday, 31 March 2014

Easter Egg Hunt at Hawkstone Follies (12th - 27th April)

For the school holidays, Hawkstone Park in Shropshire will be holiday daily Easter Egg hunts in the caves at Hawkstone Follies. The follies are a picturesque "fantasyland" of cliffs, caves and woods just waiting to be explored.

Visit

www.hawkstoneparkfollies.co.uk

for more information.

Teddy Bear's Picnic at Llangollen Railway (10th & 11th May)

Cuddly Bears from miles around (from as far as Conwy) will be descending on Llangollen Railway for a very special teddy bear's picnic. Take your children and their little cuddly friends for a day of fun and activities.

Tickets: Adults £14 and children £7.
Family tickets are available.

Days out with Thomas at the East Lancashire Railway (3rd-5th May)

East Lancashire Railway will be hosting a Thomas the tank engine event for the May Day bank holiday this year. Your entry ticket grants you access to all of the day's attractions including the imagination station (featuring colour, drawing and Thomas film screenings. In addition, there will be magic and puppet shows, as well as taking a ride with Thomas.

Tickets: £17 adult
£10 child
£44 for a family ticket (2 adults, 3 children)

Little Fun Fest (5th - 6th April) at Red House Far, Dunham Massey

Next weekend see the Red House Farm play host to the Little Fun Fest on the 5th & 6th April. Hosted by CBeebies presenters, the big-top circus tent comes alive for the two days, with pirate & princess workshops, Harry Potter and Hagrid and fairground rides for the little ones.

Tickets are on sale & can only be bought via the below websites.

www.littlefunfest.co.uk
www.redhousefarm.co.uk

2014 Chester Food, Drink & Lifestyle Festival (19th-21st April)

Chester Racecourse opens it's gates to host this year's Food, Drink & Lifestyle Festival on 19th-21st April. This year promises to be a day out for the whole family, as the Academy of Culinary Arts will be on hand to provide a series of free children's cooking classes. These classes are likely to be busy, so booking your place online is advisable.

Ticket prices are £6 (booked in advance) with children under 12 entering for free.

Magic & Mystery Easter Family Day @ Haydock Park Racecourse (Saturday 19th April)

Easter Holidays are fast approaching, so you'll no doubt be looking for things to do and places to take the children over the holiday period.

On 19th April, Haydock Park Racecourse will be holding a family fun day with plenty to keep the children amused. - including a mystery mansion ride, inflatable crooked cottage, face-painting and craft workshops. An illusionist will also be on hand to help themdevelop their tricks in a magic workshop whilst the walk-about entertainers will show off their skills.

There will, of course, be a full card of horse racing to accompany the fun-day. Good luck!

Tickets are £11.70 (in the Newton Stand) and children 17 and under are free (when accompanied with a paying adult

Tuesday, 25 March 2014

TV's Psychic Sally comes to Crewe



International psychic and star of hit TV show Psychic Sally: On The Road, Sally Morgan returns with her phenomenal interactive stage show. Tickets are available for £23 via the box office on 01270 368242.

The show starts at 7.30pm

Venue
LYCEUM THEATRE, HEATH STREET, CREWE, CHESHIRE, CW1 2DA
27/03/2014

Cheshire East Council receives £1.25 million boost to repair potholes.

Potholes. We all complain about them, but you may be surprised to learn how much money our council spends on repairing them. For example, last week 1553 were fixed taking the YTD total up to 33,505. This comes at a time when the council has received an additional £1.25 million to tackle the issue, after the wettest winter since record began.

Report potholes here or phone 0300 123 5020.

New Home Bargains stores opens in Crewe

Today, saw the opening of a new Home Bargains store in Crewe. Opening day was busy, as expected, with long queues for the checkouts as the people of Crewe got to see the latest discount store open for business. 

Queueing times at the checkouts were 20 minutes in the morning, but quick thinking management were out to offer free sweets to the queuing public!

The new store is huge - reportedly the biggest in the country, which could mean closure for the other two branches, both of which are within a mile of the new store.

Which shops would you like to see open up in Crewe next? Have your say by posting comments to this post.

Wednesday, 1 January 2014

Happy New Year from Local Listings

Happy New Year to everyone from Local Listings, Crewe! Hope you all have a successful and happy 2014!