The Corby Cube

This evening I had tickets to see a show at the Corby Cube which is the first time I have been to Corby's new Theatre.

First impressions, I'm sad to say, were not very good as there is no car parking at the Corby Cube.  Their website has some cleverly worded directions for parking which basically say you can park in the car park next door.

The only problem with this is that it's the swimming pools car park.  And you'll never guess who parks in it?  Yes, that's right, the users of the swimming pool so there was no room for myself and many, many other cars that were aimlessly driving around in circles wondering where they could park.

The best known fact about the Corby Cube is that is has been a cock-up from start to finish.  It was supposed to cost around £21million instead it cost nearer £49million - more than double the initial cost!  The bungling councilors didn't stop there though, they build the Corby Cube to a dangerous design that was revealed in a leaked report to the BBC.

I don't know what they spent the overspend on, it certainly wasn't on a car park.

I finally found a place to park in the car park where all the shops are.  After a short walk I arrived at the cub where I was greeted with a gigantic pavement area that serves no point what-so-ever other than to annoy people who couldn't park in the swimming pools car park as this could have quite easily been used as a car park.

There wasn't a clear entrance to the theater as all you can see is the Library and after walking all the way around the Corby Cube we realised that that was the only entrance so ventured in.  We soon could see some smartly dressed people who looked like they worked in the Theater part of the Cube so we walked towards them and as we did so they greeted us with a smile and a warm welcome and after a quick look at our tickets they helpfully pointed us in the right direction.

After walking down several flights of stairs we ended up in the bar area where we decided to have a drink whilst we waited for the show to begin.  Now I don't know what is in the local water supply but whatever it is, it makes the Diet Pepsi taste like flat dish water so if you want a non-alcoholic fizzy drink then I'd steer clear of anything on tap as it's disgusting - luckily they sell bottle soft-drinks too and that's what we had during the interval of the show.

We were very grateful for the interval as watching a show at the Corby Cube is a painful experience as the seats are the thinnest, most flimsy and uncomfortable seats I have ever had the misfortune to sit in.  Again, I can't for the life of me see where the £49million was spent, not only was it not on the non-existent car park, but they certainly didn't spend very much on the cheap and nasty seats that wobbled all over the place when anyone in the building walked around.

All-in-all I have to say that I sadly would not recommend the Corby Cube to anyone.  Even the McKinlay Theater (which has now been demolished) on the former Tresham Institute site on St Marys Road in Kettering was better than the Corby Cube and Ken Dodd once described that as nothing more than a disused aircraft hanger!

If you're looking for a night out in Corby, then either drive, catch a bus or hail a taxi and go to the Castle in Wellingborough as it has ample car park spacing and the seats are very, very comfortable.

I've given The Corby Cube 1 star out of 5 simply because I don't have an image with no stars in it as up until now I didn't think I would need one.  :(

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Wicksteed Park Recieves Grant To Restore Lake

Congratulations to the award winning Wicksteed Park on being awarded a £1m grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund to restore the fantastic lake that it has.

It was created between 1919 and 1921 and has got to be the biggest and best attraction that Northamptonshire has to offer!  People from all over the UK come to this fantastic Park that is about to get even better thanks to the Heritage Lottery Fund's grant.

It was a childhood favourite of mine and I still visit the park to this day - in fact I was there only 2 weeks ago!

One thing a lot of people don't realise it that Wicksteed Park is actually a charity.  No 'fat cats' here, as much money as possible (after wages etc) go straight back in to the upkeep of the park which offers a large Free play area, some great short walks and if you purchase some tickets you can even get a ride on the train that goes around the lake that is going to be restored!

A great day out for all the family.  More details here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-northamptonshire-18739909

http://www.wicksteedpark.co.uk/

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New Fruit and Veg Shop In Kettering

Amongst a handful of new shops that are getting ready to open in Kettering, Northamptonshire we have a new Fruit and Veg store which is being run/opened by Palmers (as in Palmers the Butchers).

If their Butchers shop is anything to go by then we're in for a treat with their Fruit and Vegetable shop which is adjacent to their current shop in Kettering:

Palmers Butchers

It opens on the 8th of June and along with Fruit and Vegetables it will be selling Milk, Pasta, Frozen Fish/Prawns and Cold Drinks.

Northamptonshire Ghosts - DVD Review

Richard Felix has been on a Ghost Tour of the UK and in 2005 he found himself in Northamptonshire.  If you're a fan of Most Haunted and are expecting this DVD to be like that then I'm afraid you're going to be disappointed.

Unlike the TV show, this DVD will not show you any ghost hunting - what it does show you however are some of the most haunted parts of Northamptonshire, from Fotheringhay Castle (where Mary Queen of Scots was beheaded) to The Hind Hotel (where Oliver Cromwell stayed for a few days before he went to battle).

So if you're looking for some haunted places to visit in Northamptonshire then this DVD will be right up your street!

If you're not looking for haunted places to visit or you're not interested in the paranormal at all then this DVD will also be up your street for the simple reason that the places that are haunted are great places to visit as they have a bit of interesting history behind them so the DVD can act as a tour guide!

I'm having difficulty in rating this DVD as I'd like to give it 3 stars but I think I'm going to have to give it just 2 stars for two reasons; firstly because the recording quality isn't particularly brilliant, it's only in 4:3 ration and at time the camera angle is wonky. Secondly I was hoping it would show a lot more places to visit than it did.

So 2 stars it has to be I'm afraid, don't let that put you off, if you want some ideas of places to visit in Northamptonshire then this will show you some of them.

Discover England - Northamptonshire DVD Review

If you're looking for a trip down memory lane or have just moved to the area then the Discover England - Northamptonshire DVD could be just what you're looking for!

The DVD itself is a little bit dated having been filmed a few years back now and the sound quality isn't as good as it could/should be.

The DVD mainly focuses on Northampton but having said that, quite a few other places are mentioned, just not in quite as much detail.

There is plenty of heritage and history to explore and enjoy in Northamptonshire and although this DVD wont show you them all, it's certainly a good starting block.

Why Do We Put Up With Poor Customer Service In The UK? - Part 2

McDonalds Kettering Poor Customer Service

Once, maybe twice a month I treat myself to a McDonalds meal as they're fairly cheap, quite tasty and I particularly enjoy their milkshakes!

Last weekend I was doing a bit of shopping at Tesco in Kettering and as it was lunch time I decided to pop in to McDonalds to grab a BigMac meal with a Milkshake!

On arriving home I unpacked my meal and as I took the fries out I immediately noticed that it was half empty.  I assumed that half the fries had fallen out in to the bag, but when I had a look I found the bag to be empty.

As you can from the above photo, it's not like there are just a few fries missing but in fact most of them!

I was too hungry to be bothered to drive all the way back up to McDonalds so I decided I would make a complaint online and took a photo with my iPhone as evidence to backup my complaint.

Appeal Accepted - Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) Cancelled

As per my previous blog post, on Saturday (despite paying for my parking using my mobile phone) I found a Penalty Charge Notice stuck on the window of my car.

It was the first (and last) time I had parked in the St Andrew's Parade car park in Kettering.

I'm please to say that the matter has now been resolved as I have received an email saying the Penalty Charge Notice has been cancelled and they apologised for any inconvenience and stress caused.  Although the charge has been dropped and the matter is closed, I wont be returning to this car park and I certainly wont be paying using my mobile phone as I can no longer trust this payment method.

St Andrews Parade Car Park - Kettering

DO NOT PARK HERE

If you ignore my warning then BEWARE - do not use your mobile phone to purchase a parking ticket as not only will you pay an extra 45p for doing so but (if like me) you will end up with a bill for £70.

This is a relatively new car park and up until now I've always driven past it.  Yesterday I decided to park my car in it as it was pretty much empty and to be honest I can now see why...

I didn't have any change on me at the time so I was pleased to see you could sign up to Dash Parking and pay using your mobile phone.

I downloaded the free iPhone App, registered and then paid for my ticket.

Halfway through shopping I decided to drop off the couple of carrier bags I had to my car before I continued what I was doing and to my horror when I returned to my car I had a £70 parking ticket stuck on my window.

I immediately called the number on the back of the ticket to explain their mistake but I was told they only collect payments at the weekend and I would have to call back on Monday!

I have an invoice in my email and a screen-shot of the text I received confirming that I have paid for my parking yet they still gave me a ticket - it seems they may have the technology to allow you to pay by phone but they don't seem to have the technology to check it.

NOT happy, NOT impressed and will NEVER park here again or use Dash Parking ever again as £70 to park is far too expensive.

:(

**UPDATE**

I've had a response from the company involved, you can read all about it by clicking this link:

St Andrew's Parade Update

Why Do We Put Up With Poor Customer Service In The UK?

In 2010 when Best Buy opened its first UK Store I thought great!  We'll now have an electrical store that has as its best selling point, excellent customer support and technical knowledge.

Sadly at the end of 2011 they announced that they were closing all their UK stores and would no longer be trading in the UK.

It seems that we don't want good customer service and we are happy to carry on with the poor customer service we tend to receive in the UK.


At the moment we're having a new kitchen installed so we've been out buying a couple of electrical appliances.

Times are tough at the moment in the Retail Sector so we decided to support a locally run shop that has a reputation for good customer service.

Within 2 days of our brand new Fridge Freezer having been delivered the Frost-Free freezer section from Frosting up so we called Supervision and was told to call Hoover.  We rang Hoover who said it would cost us £100 plus parts to fix the problem.

ITS TWO DAYS OLD AND THEY WANT TO CHARGE US TO FIX IT!!


We went back to Supervision who MOANED at us because they would have to sort this out with Hoover which is a painful process for them.

We had to threaten legal action before they would finally do something about - they didnt want to repair it and gave us our money back instead - they didnt even appologise and offer to sell us something else, clearly they are doing so well at the moment they can turn away customers and their money.

I would stronly recomment that you DO NOT BUY from SUPERVISION as despite their website claiming "Excellent Customer support" their customer service is appauling.

We need to buy an under-the-counter Freezer as well so not only have they lost out on one sale, but two.

We ended up buying a Fridge Freezer from Currys and the small Freezer from Comet.

Both of these have a fantastic Customer Services department at their Head Offices that are just one phone call away and whenever we've had problems with them in the past (and there have only been 1 or 2 over the years) they have always sorted them out straight away and we have purchased several items from them again because of this.

We will NEVER be shopping at Supervision again and strongly recommend that you don't either, unless of course you like poor customer service.