The Best Things in Colchester, Essex*

If you're around, be sure to check these things out

You can tell us more about Colchester.

The Best Things

• Colchester is a fantastic place to live and visit. I am writing this because I have come accross some sad losers interpretation of Colchester and quite frankly I am shocked and a bit peeved to be honest. 1. There are decent shops in Colchester. 2. There are no more issues with drugs or fighting than any other place. 3. I am proud to live in a Garrison Town and have never seen any 'squaddies' behaving in any other way than having a drink with their mates in a pub after having a really tough time away from their families and having to prepare to go to war. And another thing, I think for someone like you (whoever you are that wrote the article about Colchester and got my back up so much that you've even got me doing something as stupid as this) Another thing, I think it's disgusting that you go on about discrimination and all this that and the other and you sit there and slag off 'squaddies' tarring them all with the same brush and say that all girls in Colchester are ugly!! Listen at yourself! Get off your high horse! One final thought...I'm glad you were only visiting Colchester because I'd hate for someone like you to live here. You'd well lower the tone.
• There are some pretty cool people here, and it has some good things to do as well to keep yourself entertained. i forgot to mention go bananas (if you're a midget) and rollerworld for places to go. theres also lots of little quiet places to sit if you wanna get away from people. but if you wanna be with people then theres no better place to be than castl epark on a friday lunchtime. i love castle park!
• The lovely countryside around Colchester, sitting in a nice quiet country pub with a good pint.
• hilly fields- the best summer place in the world.
• Ok Ok so I'm a dedicated mountainboarder so obvously Skeleton Coast is the best thing!!!!
• some of the gals dat went to the gilerd skool
• Mountainboarding now takes the cake in my life now. You can go over any terrain any time. Its like snowboarding on land man!! Skeleton Coast (Queen street) can sort you out with anything you need. They hire out boards and give lessons.

• Squaddies - Mwahahahahaha! Seriously, some maybe knob's but there ARE some genuinely nice fellas amongst them! They simply provide hours of entertainment.. and they're good to perv at in their combats/uniform!
• the nice poeple, the cool atmosphere and the park so you never get board
• castle park, culver all the shops the hillies
• Colchester Zoo!!! Two baby elephants, Kito and Jambo, are the current star attractions but there's also the new sea lion enclosure with an underwater tunnel plus tonnes of other attractions including all the usual lions, tigers etc. Colchester Castle is also worth a look - built in Norman times, it's on the site of an old Roman temple and houses various Roman artifacts plus displays about Colchester through the ages such as in the Civil War
• the park,the shops,rollerworld,the zoo
• Col.U
• i really like the grotty parts of colchester like the hythe before it got re-built etc... i think places like that give colchester a kind of historic character. originally i come from chelmsford and i have to say nice as it may SEEM, it's bland, middle of the road and boring, colchester is by far these!

• skate everything
• Fluid, the fact that colchester is the only place i ever need to go (apart from my home town) in the weekend!
• RICHER SOUNDS!!!!!!!! (there is a god!) on St.Botolph's St...always manically busy with their cheap DVD players, minidiscs and things. They know what they are talking about as well, and won't just try and sell you anything!
• Colchester is WICKED!! Ppl always slag off Greenstead, but im from there, n it aint wot evry1 says it is - full of drugs & violence. It's changed. The shops r gr8, there r sum propa fit blokes rnd ere n all, shame bout all the tramps and drunks! I wish those bloody squaddies cud leave n all, they'r givin us all a bad name!
• It's a cheap town. And a "greebo" one, ie. not so many rudeboys roaming the streets that you cant go out... lol.
• The Mercury Theatre, the Arts Centre, Signals Media Centre and Firstsite at the Minories combine to create one of the best arts environments in Britain. Add to that the Colchester festival, the Six Play Festival, the plays at the Lakeside Theatre and there are lots of good reasons to come to Colchester
• The comment about Colchester Zoo being a prison for animals is way outdated. It is now one of the most forward thinking and conservation minded zoos around. It has been totally trasnformed over the past few years and every time I visit there are new, spacious enclosures. You will seldom see elephants, rhinos, giraffes, ostriches and so many other animals in such open and thoughtful enclosures in a zoo. Agreed it used to be awful. No more. It is really improved and extremely popular. You can even go there and back on the open top double decker tourist bus that leaves from the front of Castle Park during the summer. Go to the Zoo!
• The best things in life are free.
• all the pubs and places which sell alcohol
• The lanes on a sunny day. The river. Japanese students. London not far.
• Roman History
• The Hythe regeneration programme (started 2000/01), which we are told will soon have bars, restuarants, a mixture of light industry, shops, social housing and oh-so-trendy quay side appartments currently selling in the region of £200,000 - EACH! By the way, for that price, you know the Hythe don't smell no more!
• the castle park especially when they have the free music festival in the summer lots of local talent playing music that you can dance to http://www.colchesterfreefestival.co.uk/ check this out..... overall the castle and the park are good most of the time ...and are great places to hangout chill out and sleep best to avoid it when it is closed though cos the dogs will want to come and play with you nice down by the river bit watch the rats at play the little boat pond is good you can fall in and not worry about drowning The charity shops------loads of them love them bargains galore....
• Well it's close to the coast, London and Stansted.
• weekends
• the park is HUGE and really nice in summer, filled with semi naked birds so no problem with that and loads of space to play footie or baseball or whatever takes ur fancy
• the park is HUGE and really nice in summer, filled with semi naked birds so no problem with that and loads of space to play footie or baseball or whatever takes ur fancy
• the park is HUGE and really nice in summer, filled with semi naked birds so no problem with that and loads of space to play footie or baseball or whatever takes ur fancy
• the park is HUGE and really nice in summer, filled with semi naked birds so no problem with that and loads of space to play footie or baseball or whatever takes ur fancy
• the park is HUGE and really nice in summer, filled with semi naked birds so no problem with that and loads of space to play footie or baseball or whatever takes ur fancy
• the park is HUGE and really nice in summer, filled with semi naked birds so no problem with that and loads of space to play footie or baseball or whatever takes ur fancy
• the park is HUGE and really nice in summer, filled with semi naked birds so no problem with that and loads of space to play footie or baseball or whatever takes ur fancy
• Castje Park int the summer, the waterfights, and highstreet at night.
• Col U look as if they're going to get a better ground, division 1 next year lads?
• mixture of people, plenty of places to go.And it isn't Basingstoke.
• Best things about Colchester? If you're into Roman stuff it's a veritable alladin's cave, but it's not exactly an inspiring town.
• Very good schools. Grammar schools that top the league tables, and comps. that follow hot behind.
• The pubs.
• The A12 South - Having spent all of my teenage and early 20's there it was nice to find an escape route.
• It's not Adelaide S.A. The walk across the pedestrian bridge through the Balkerne Gate past the Mercury and the Jumbo Water Tower and along High Street or Eld Lane. Two little boys two and four (now sixteen and eighteen) would say the Toy Department in W and G and the Brio trainset in particular.
• Bob Russell, he cares about stomping out animal cruelty/hunting, even if he should have got the high street renovation done quicker (and right first time), he still gets my vote. The history, it is Britain's oldest recorded town afterall.
• Going home to see my mum, and being able to leave. Having a chance to like the buildings etc. because I'm not stomping around angry at being made to live there anymore. The U's - doing well under new management boys! The castle and the park are the best bits by far. New Town is a nice area because my grandad lived there when I was a kid and it's all the older houses - makes you think what the place must have been like in the old days.
• RAPTURE at the UNI Underground in October. Every year this has always been the best night out in Colchester.
• Castle park. Train to London when its working
• Only a stones throw away from Clacton-on-Sea and, especially, Kirby Cross.
• The best thing about Colchester is definitely a portion of chips, from Hicks chip shop in the High Street after a night at the Hippodrome.
• A pint of foaming ale in the Odd One Out in Mersea Road by the open fire on a cold winters night.
• Laughing at the kids racing hot-hatches on a Friday nights while their girlfriends turn blue in the station car park.
• A bit of culture, tons of pubs in the town centre, lively nightlife compared to other towns of similar size (Chelmsford, Norwich and Ipswich to name a few), lovely old areas like parts of Newtown and Lexden and the council is quite eco friendly AND we still have a proper High Street
• Colchester Castle has the best museum I've seen in a long time - a complete history of the town.
• The countryside surrounding Colchester; Constable country and being an hour (Or less) away from London

Parts of this information have been supplied by: elviraxavier, George, Jack Thomas, Tina Dopson, hayzey, phil, Ants, Mr Anthony, Bob Newman, Stumpy, Leanne Stone, Joe Connor, amaal, Sally Thomas, DaveW, Vicky, King of the Hill, Cruella de Ville, Jane Kettle, Steph, agent marmalade, David Mansell, Tom, ecst., Natalie, stuart hamilton, BARRY GILL, Drew, will, dorian, stephen baines, Demetra, Karyn, Pit Lane Charlie, chris, imi, lu, stacey, brid, Basil Hayes., John Vencato (Vencarto), emilie, lewis, alan, David Finch, Lois Peachey, danny harris, Helvis, Jeremy Smith, matt d, Mark Evans, Mike, FatBob, Nick Munro, Alex, Christine, Mike and Sue Sands, delia brooks, Sam, Stuart Buckley, Tom Habul, Ben Young, Mike B, Dan Manley, Philip Hawkins, Mary, Hicks, jo, Adam Flinter, loopy, Damo, Tim, Adrian, Michael Taverner, shaney boy, keita, Traish Crafts, spacemonkey, Israel Pons, mark silkestra, DJ Livid, mark, james, joe taylor, Matt, Jim, Josh Baines, Stuart carruthers, Anne, Andrew Cleal, stella southernwood, Stoner Bryan, Dubban Mermot, Ernie, Amanda Burdett, Ciaran Sainty, dave, Jess, Brian, Simon Butler, frannyfortune, Ben Crouch, Kat, Nick, Brian Light, becca, Sponshagga, keggy, Sarah Neal, J Thewissen, fish, trudy stevens, vicki, Emskina, jude, dorian Kelly, rebecca, Space cadette, Damian Butler, emma, Chris Ransom, Paul Ardley, The Icon, Spicy, Polly, carroline, generic, leachy, Richard Montgomery {of tla school}, BIGGrobb, Sam Leppard, Jen, camulos, greeno, ralph morris, Hayley Wayman, Jane Kirkland, Chuck Cobb, LittleMissSlet, Kathryn, jon vencarto, Sarah Reynolds, britnit, Toni Mellett, spence, Paul Quinn, Jason, r wilkins, Geri, JON, lisa, Gillian, Jessica, Steve