House Of Fraser

Was overcharged on a pair of shoes. Box and tag said £58, was charged £68. I didn’t realise until I got home but was refused refund for the difference.

I made a special trip to the store last week specifically to buy bras, as I had seen several on the store website that I was interested in. While I am usually happy to potter and take my time to choose purchases, this was such a poorly labelled and laid-​out department I couldn’t find anything I’d come for and by the time a staff member noticed I might need some help I was so frustrated that I was probably quite rude to herhowever, she seemed to think she was doing me a favour by showing any interest in me at all. I left and went back to D*******s which served my needs admirably. I also find it objectionable, if not totally unacceptable at the best of times, if shop staff are talking loudly about their personal lives, but when it can be heard 30 feet awaywell, HoF lost several more sales that day. Like the previous reviewer, I won’t be in a hurry to return to what’s become known as ‘House of Failure’ in our house. If it were not for the Origins and Paperchase sections I wouldn’t go in there at all.

I recently returned a couple of online ladieswear purchases to Bristol House of Fraser. The total refund came to several hundred pounds the Store Manageress who was called to the till to authorise the transaction was frosty to say the least and spent some time studying the receipts and examining the returned items before bothering to acknowledge me, even though I had waited for her for some time.
A leafllet explaining that I could return my purchases to any HoF store was inside my parcel if this is the case then stores should willingly accept such returns.
Despite having made many purchases at HoF Bristol, I find staff usually uninterested at best save for the Jaeger concession where staff are usually more friendly and ready to help. Maybe the customer service attitude rubs off from the top down?
The last time I shopped at HoF Bristol I spent two hundred pounds on a dress when I got home I found a security tag had been left on the dress again, when I returned to the store it took a gaggle of three assistants and two managers to deal with the refund only one (and not the most senior) managed to apologise for the mistake.
As I walked out of the store on my last visit I decided HoF Bristol won’t be getting any more custom out of me there are plenty of other stores to choose from, many of which carry smaller price tags and whose staff can at least muster basic manners and a smile.

House of Fraser is a shopping behemoth, all shiny shiny and modern, presiding over Cabot Circus like a king in his castle.
This is one enormous department store, filled with all manner of clothing, cosmetics and homeware items. There’s a great selection of brands in the clothing department and it often strikes me as more on the pulse than other department stores.
Equally the cosmetics section is ideal if you want advice and samples to come with your purchase. In-​store artists will make you up if they think they have a chance of a sale.
There’s a pleasant, airy café perfect for grabbing a break and while the prices are steep they’re not as ludicrous as they could be. It’s clean, it’s new, it’s fresh and it’s modern, House of Fraser is as a good a department store as they come.

I’m a big fan of this department store. Because it’s so new, it feels so much fresher and cleaner than the old branch at the end of the Horsefair (now a huge Primark). It’s also not too opulent and you are not assaulted by top brand names that you can’t afford. They also have a great eyebrow threading counter, which although pretty expensive, does do loyalty cards and they are really excellent at shaping those old forehead slugs. I’ve always found the staff really helpful, particularly in the Office shoe section on the womenswear floor. And it’s all laid out really nicely so pretty things are always catching your eye.

There was much excitement when the tired old House of Fraser in Bristol City Centre moved into the new multi-​million pound Cabot Circus development as one of the flagship stores (along with the more upmarket Harvey Nicks). And boy did it boost the appeal. The new House of Fraser is shiny and spotless and feels like something you’d find in Knightsbridge in London rather than in the biggest city in the West Country. You walk in to a bright and airy floor of make up counters. The more reasonably priced Benefit and Clinique counters sitting in front of the posh Dior type sales outlets. Then head up the escalators to the menswear department, then the womenswear. It is here you will find Mango and Oasis and some of the higher end fashion retailers and you can leave the store on this floor ending up with breathtaking views of Cabot Circus on the highest balcony. When I say breathtaking, I obviously don’t mean it in the way Mount Everest commands breathtaking views but in a postmodern kind of way!

If Cabots Circus were a gig, House of Fraser would be the headline act. Standing tall in the super swanky new warren of shops and cafes, this major department store is packed full of swish items to dress to impress, wow your guests or treat a loved one. Like all department stores, it’s sometimes dificult to know where to start looking, scout around, especially in sale times, and you could find something great. Slightly pricey at times, and extremely pricey at others, it might be better to venture into the jungle that is the Blue Cross sale at Debenhams at the right time of year. But House of Fraser will definitely provide you with a touch of class.

Bristol isn’t short on department stores, but top of my favourites list is House of Fraser. Since it changed location it’s undergone a swanky makeover making it as bright and shiny as Cabot Circus itself. It may be that I don’t cope well with change but I find the layout of the new store a little confusing, often meaning I walk past the same rail of clothes several times before finding a polite shop assistant to point me in the right direction.
In-​keeping with the ethos of Cabot Circus, this House of Fraser stocks high-​end lines such as Vivienne Westwood and Lulu Guinness in amongst Miss Sixty and French Connection which can push it into a «looking not buying» category of department stores.
I tend to come for the small but extensive Paperchase and Benefit stands, and a bit of a window shop in the ladies department. Not great for every day wear, but worth a look if you’re looking for a «special occasion» outfit.

When it moved from the Horsefair to shiny new Cabot Circus, House of Fraser had a bit of a makeover. No longer the frumpy department store most people walked past to get to Debenhams, now this has an emphasis on the higher quality (and higher priced) brands.
Over four floors, with cosmetics, accessories and Paperchase on the lower floor, mens on the middle, women’s fashion on the third floor and home décor on the top floor, it is a sprawling space with indiscernible boundaries between the brand displays. It doesn’t have a great flow for browsing round, but its not bad.
I come here mainly for Mango and Ted Baker brands (although there is a Ted Baker shop in Cabot Circus their women’s range is better here).

This House of Fraser is pretty much like the old one in the central Broadmead location, only fancier shinier and newer. It is set over 4 levels. Downstairs is an array of cosmetic displays from various different upmarket brands and billions of handbags (yawn!!), above that is the mens’ fashion level, above that is the ladies fashion (good selection of brands like Diesel/​Miss Sixty/​Superdryand above that I think (if I remember correctly) is the home/​kids stuff, though don’t quote me on it!
As has always been the case with me and House of Fraser (clothing wise)…I like some of the stuff and buy it because it’s good quality and will last, some of the stuff just isn’t worth the money because I won’t wear it enough times. If you have more money, you may like it more than I do!