Yellow!

Harbouring A Desire For Jewellery

Harbour Times

Shopping
in/near Weymouth, Dorset,
England South West

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Review added: 02/10/2006 11:02
By: dewberry (£0.00 earned from reviews) Earn £££'s

"While mooching around the Old Harbour area of Weymouth I spotted a striking yellow shop which immediately had me enthralled. The Harbour Times, as I discovered, is a jewellers much in the same vein as HSamuels although cheaper.

It's a very small shop from the outside, tucked in between two large buildings and if it wasn't for the canary inspired colour of the outside I think I would have missed it completely.

A select few pieces are displayed in the window but this area isn't crowded at all despite the display window being relatively small, Harbour Times have created a very pretty display of their favourite items and it's a lovely mixture of jewellery, silver trinkets and watches. This display really drew me into the shop because it was obvious that care had been taken to make the items look as attractive and tempting as possible.

The shop looks much larger inside which I think is down to the clever use of space and the fact that the outside size is deceiving. There were two other customers in Harbour Times when I visited and the shop wasn't crowded at all, leaving plenty of room to browse the beautiful items available.

I immediately spotted a gorgeous pair of gold drop earrings which I asked to look at more closely; they were taken from the display case and swiftly polished before being handed to me to examine. The lady who served me was extremely polite but also friendly, which is a refreshing change from the upper class snobs who usually work in this kind of shop. She told me everything I wanted to know about the earrings and even suggested I look at a matching pendant which would compliment them perfectly. I never felt under any pressure to buy anything and she seemed genuinely keen to make sure I purchased the right item for me.

Alternative earrings were produced from the display case so I could see the difference and she explained that she likes to show other styles to make sure the jewellery I buy isn't an impulse which I'll regret tomorrow. This is a nice touch as most high street jewellers aren't particularly bothered whether you're happy with your purchase and just take your money!

Jewellery makes up the majority of stuff sold in Harbour Times; with a large selection of watches and gift items. The watch I looked at was from the Christina Design range and was gorgeously designer and unusual, costing nearly £200 it was well out of my budget but fabulous none the less. For the less affluent among us, Casio and Fishbone watches are sold at much cheaper prices – there are some lovely men's watches in the Jeep range which I recommend you have a look at if there's a birthday coming up for the man in your life at very reasonable prices.

The gifts range from engraved silver trinket boxes, Christening and birth gifts and a lovely selection of metal wall plaques shaped like elephants and fish. I bought my daughters' an elephant each and was surprised at how heavy and intricately worked they were – they were very well received when we got home!

There's something to suit all pockets in Harbour Times. Some of the more extravagant necklaces sell for upwards of £200, while you can pick up a pretty charm bracelet for around £50. My earrings cost £40 which I think was good value as they are beautifully engraved and have good quality strong fixings. The jewellery is all bright and shiny, very pretty and obviously high quality. The pendants in particular are lovely; some of them have unusual engravings or odd shapes and this is great because if you buy something from here you'll most probably never see your friend or a woman in the pub wearing the same piece.

Harbour Times also sells original prints and paintings based on the neighbouring Old Harbour of Weymouth. These are displayed around the walls and you simply tell a member of staff if you see one you'd like to purchase. Prices for these range from £10 for a basic A4 aerial photograph of the area and this increases to up to £120 for an all singing-all dancing framed oil painting. They would make a lovely souvenir of your stay in Weymouth and I'll definitely be buying a painting for our bathroom wall next time I visit.

All in all I had a very pleasurable experience in Harbour Times; the service was fantastic, the jewellery interesting to look at and the shop was big enough that I could browse without constantly being bumped and elbowed. The shop is fully accessible to wheelchair users and pushchairs, although the glass display cases are so shiny that I wouldn't really recommend taking a sticky toddler in there as the fingerprints would stand out!

To find Harbour Times head into the Old Harbour and the yellow shop is situated on the main Trinity Road which runs alongside the water. It's a lovely location for a shop of this nature as when you leave you can complete your relaxing shop with a stroll along the harbour.

Harbour Times Ltd
8 Trinity Road
Weymouth
Dorset
DT4 8TJ
Tel: 01305 772184"

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