Our final Waterstones for today was at Bluewater Shopping Centre in Kent where we stopped for dinner before the concert we were heading to at St Mary’s Church in Higham. The Waterstones store is set over two floors and has a large coffee shop on site.
Upstairs (the main and largest part of the store)
Downstairs
Bluewater is the fourth largest shopping centre in the UK and opened in 1999. As out-of-town centres go, I think this one is quite pleasant (I’m not really a fan of shopping… unless it’s for books!) as it has a light and airy feel and some pretty awesome features. These include a carved frieze representing various City of London Guilds and an excerpt of the song Old Father Thames (Lyrics by Raymond Wallace and music by Betsy O’Hogan – no, it’s not a song I’m familiar with!) as well as various statues and the outline of the River Thames in tiles on the floor!
Excerpt from ‘Old Father Thames’
The full verse, from which the excerpt of the poem comes is:
The London Guilds
We happened to visit when England were playing one of their World Cup games (I’m not sure who England’s opposition were) so the shops were lovely and quiet and the Sky stand very busy!
Janet's Adventures in Waterstones 