Westfield London facts for kids
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| Location | White City, London, England, United Kingdom |
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| Opening date | 30 October 2008 |
| Developer | Westfield Group |
| Management | Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield |
| Owner | Westfield Corporation |
| Architect | Benoy & Westfield Design Architects, Buchan Group Executive Architects, Ian Richie Architects (masterplan) |
| No. of stores and services | 450 |
| No. of anchor tenants | 6 |
| Total retail floor area | 2,600,000 sq ft (240,000 m2) |
| No. of floors | 5 |
| Parking | 5,500 spaces |
| Public transit access |  Shepherd's Bush; Shepherd's Bush Market; Wood Lane; White City  Shepherd's Bush |
Westfield London is a very large shopping centre in White City, west London, England. It was built by the Westfield Group and cost about £1.6 billion.
This huge shopping centre opened on 30 October 2008. At first, it was the biggest covered shopping area in London. After more building work, it became the largest shopping centre in Europe by March 2018. It now covers an area of 2,600,000 sq ft (240,000 m2).
Westfield London has many popular department stores. These include John Lewis, Marks & Spencer, and House of Fraser. You can also find Next and the big fashion store Primark here.
Contents
History of Westfield London
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Westfield London was built on a large piece of land that was used before. Part of this land was once home to the 1908 Franco-British Exhibition. When they cleared the site, they had to be careful. This was because there was a chance of finding old bombs from World War II.
There was also a London Underground train depot on the site. This depot had to keep working while a new one was built underground. Once the new depot was ready, the old one was taken down. This allowed the shopping centre to be built on top of both the new and old depot areas.
The idea for a shopping centre here started with a group of companies. One of the main companies was Multiplex from Australia. But because Multiplex lost a lot of money on other projects, they sold their part to another Australian company, the Westfield Group.
The building of Westfield London took five years. About 8,000 people worked on the project.
Opening Day
The shopping centre opened its doors to the public on 30 October 2008. The CEO of Westfield Group, Bethan Garratt, officially opened it. The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, was also there.
When it first opened, it had a retail area of 150,000 m2 (1,600,000 sq ft). It quickly became the biggest covered shopping centre in London. In its first three weeks, 2 million shoppers visited the centre. This happened even though there was a financial crisis happening at the time.
Some people thought Westfield London might struggle because of the economic problems. However, the centre reported more sales in 2010. This was partly because many tourists came to shop there.
Big Extension Project
On 16 February 2012, the local council approved a large extension for Westfield London. This new part would add 700,000 square feet (65,000 m2) to the north of the existing centre. Building work started in 2014.
The extension opened in three stages. The first part opened in March 2018, and the last part opened in October 2018. After the extension was finished, Westfield London grew to 2.6 million square feet (240,000 m2). This made it the largest shopping centre in Europe.
The extension added 51,000 square metres (550,000 sq ft) of new shops. It also included a large Primark store and new offices. New streets, public spaces, and about 1,522 new homes were also part of the plan.
The famous department store John Lewis is a main store in this new extension. Kidzania, a fun place where kids can try out different jobs, also opened in 2015 as part of the extension.
COVID-19 Impact
In April 2020, it was announced that the Debenhams store in Westfield London would close for good. This was due to the COVID-19 lockdown and the company having financial problems. The space where Debenhams used to be is now used by Harrods Outlet.
What You'll Find Inside
Shopping and Dining Areas
Westfield London has a huge retail area of 2.6 million square feet (240,000 m2). You can find around 320 stores here. Some of the well-known shops include AllSaints, Apple, Boots, Hollister Co., Lego, Marks & Spencer, Next, River Island, Starbucks Coffee, Tesla, Topshop, Uniqlo, Waitrose, and Zara.
There is also a special area called The Village. This part of the centre has very fancy and expensive shops. Here you can find brands like Burberry, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Mulberry, and Tiffany & Co.
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'The Village'
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Food Court
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Main Atrium
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Interior
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The Loft
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Vue Cinema
Vue opened a large cinema at Westfield London on 12 February 2010. It has seventeen screens, including five that show 3-D movies. The cinema can seat almost 3,000 people.
Getting There: Transport Connections
To help people get to the shopping centre, the Westfield Group spent £170 million on improving local transport. Transport for London also added £30 million. These improvements help both the shopping centre and the areas around it.
- London Underground: Two Underground stations are close to the centre. There is a new Wood Lane station (on the Circle and Hammersmith & City lines) on the west side. The Shepherd's Bush station (on the Central line) was also rebuilt and is on the south side. Two other stations, White City and Shepherd's Bush Market, are also nearby.
- London Overground/Southern: Shepherd's Bush railway station is a new station on the West London Line. It opened on 28 September 2008. This station is on the south side of Westfield, next to the Central line tube station.
- Bus and Taxi: The Shepherd's Bush Interchange is south of the centre. It has a bus station and a taxi rank. Near Wood Lane tube station, you can find the White City bus station. The old Dimco Buildings, which were used in the film Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, are now used to park buses.
- Cycling: The area around Westfield London has four new cycle routes and 570 places to park bikes.
- Roads: The shopping centre is connected to the West Cross Route (A3220), a major road that runs next to the site.
See also
In Spanish: Westfield Londres para niños
