London Banter - View Single Post

[email protected] · November 15th 17, 10:42 AM posted to uk.transport.london

In article ,
() wrote:

Bad news for Croydon. The Whitgift Centre has for years been
blighted by Westfield's plans. Getting on for half of the shops are
closed, with more every time I go there. There's nothing much wrong
with the place which couldn't be fixed by some minor refurbishment,
fixing some leaks in the roof, some of which have been there for
years, for example, and a bit of paint.

We already have two Westfield centres in London, they mainly sell
things like expensive designer clothes, which are not something which
most people buy very often, if ever. They don't seem to attract
shops selling everyday things. There's a not very good Sainsbury's
in the Whitgift Centre, but rather than improving that it will almost
certainly be absent from the new Westfield.

A large hole was made in the centre of Bradfield years ago for
Westfield to build a new centre there, put the plans were then put on
hold, leaving a large empty space. The Broadway Centre was
eventually built, opening a couple of years ago, but the Westfield
name doesn't seem to be anywhere on it.

The rag trade seem to be the bread and butter tenants of modern shopping
centres, providing the best rental income to sustain them. Look at
Cambridge's Grand Arcade. Nothing to do with Westfield but heavily loaded
with shops full of things which you'd think people wouldn't buy very often.
In these days of internet shopping that's how retail survives, I was told
when I was the councillor in charge of the development.

--
Colin Rosenstiel