WESTFIELD London opened to the public in W12 at the end of October, and is the latest shopping and leisure destination to hit the capital city.
The Shepherd’s Bush centre boasts a retail floor area of 150,000 sq m, which makes it the third largest shopping centre in the UK behind MetroCentre and Bluewater, and overtook Centrale in Croydon as the largest shopping centre in London.
It is an architectural showcase for five anchor stores of Debenhams, Next, Marks and Spencer, House of Fraser and Waitrose, as well as offering more than 265 luxury, premium and high street retailers from more than 15 different countries. Shops include TAG Heuer, Mulberry, Tiffany & Co, Thomas Pink, Armani, Duchamp, Hugo Boss, Calvin Klein, Gieves & Hawkes, Tommy Hilfiger, All Saints, Apple, Bershka, Boots, Bose, the multiplex cinema Cinema de Lux, Coast, Dorothy Perkins, French Connection, Geox, Gerry Weber, Habitat, Hackett, Jaeger, Kurt Geiger, Mango, Mulberry, Nomination, Reiss, Topshop and Zara.
About 80 per cent are fashion focused, with 16 names making their UK debut and about 40 luxury brands, all housed within the high end boutique style retail environment of The Village.
Food is as important as fashion, with nearly 50 eating concepts that boast 73 awards between them and offer some 25 styles and nationalities of cooking. Six are new to the UK and of those five are first ever seen brands. A cluster of 17 restaurants run the length of Southern Terrace, the pedestrian street of dining, and open cooking adding atmosphere to The Balcony where fresh food is prepared fast and to order.
Westfield London is expected to be as much a meeting hub as a place to shop and eat. A unique in London central Atrium, will host a full calendar of arts and educational events beneath a spectacular glass roof. A 14 screen state-of-the-art cinema, gym and spa will open in 2009, and a new library will serve the local community.
Customer services will be met by a 70 strong concierge and valet team trained to five star hotel standards. These services are designed to make the experience compelling and comfortable include personal shopping, style advice, hands free shopping and valet parking.
New transport links make Westfield London well connected. Four underground stations provide on average a tube every five minutes, and an overland station will get visitors from Clapham Junction and Willesden Junction to Westfield London in under 10 minutes. Two bus stations provide, on average, a bus a minute and there are also cycle bays, secure pedestrian routes and 4,500 car parking spaces directly beneath Westfield London.
On Sundays in order to maximise available shopping times while keeping within the UK’s Sunday trading laws some of the stores will open from 9 am to 3 pm and the others 12 noon to 6 pm.
The UK festive season offering traditional Christmas markets sporting roast chestnuts, hot mulled wine, carol singing and bright cheerful lights attracts a certain ilk of traditional tourist, but come the January sales the pace quickens.
The January sales start on Boxing Day (December 26) and continue up to the end of the January. Huge discounts are offered on favourite designer names as Harrods, Harvey Nichols, Selfridges and many more slash their prices.