Westfield Stratford City is a shopping centre in Stratford, east London, which opened on 13 September 2011. With a total retail floor area of 1,910,000 square feet (177,000 m2), it is the largest urban shopping centre in the UK by land area and the 4th-largest shopping centre in the UK by retail space, behind Westfield west London, the MetroCentre, and the Trafford Centre.
Originally fully owned by the Westfield Group, in November 2010 ABP Pension Fund and CPP Investment Board each purchased a 25% shareholding, with Westfield retaining 50%.[11] Westfield's holding is now owned by Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield following Unibail-Rodamco's acquisition of Westfield Corporation in 2018.
Westfield Stratford City is adjacent to the London Olympic Park, International Quarter London, East Village, Stratford Regional and Stratford International stations. The shopping centre is part of a large multi-purpose development project called Stratford City. It is promoted as contributing significantly to the local economy, with the creation of up to 10,000 permanent jobs including 2,001 going to local people. However, there are counter-reports of significant harm to other local businesses due to the preponderance of chain stores. The site was formerly occupied by Stratford Works and Locomotive Depot.
The shopping centre is anchored by a 240,000 sq ft (22,000 m2) John Lewis department store, a 32,000 sq ft (3,000 m2) Waitrose supermarket, a 136,000 sq ft (12,600 m2) Marks & Spencer department store, a 24-hour casino (Aspers) and a 20 screen all-digital Vue cinema. The shopping centre also has a 267-room Premier Inn hotel, a Holiday Inn with 350 rooms and Staybridge Suites. The shopping centre has approximately 280 stores and 70 restaurants.
To the south of the site lies Stratford station which is served by London Underground's Central and Jubilee lines, Greater Anglia, TfL Rail, London Overground, Docklands Light Railway, and a number of c2c services. The Elizabeth line was scheduled to serve the station from 2018, but has since been postponed. To the north lies Stratford International station, which is served by Southeastern High Speed and Docklands Light Railway services.
Stratford bus station and Stratford City bus station are served by numerous London Buses routes and National Express and Terravision long-distance services.
According to Westfield, while the site supports a 5,000 space car park, 80% of the shoppers arrive at the centre on public transport.
In September 2011 Nicole Scherzinger marked the opening of Westfield Stratford City with a performance.[21]
In January 2012, The X Factor singer Olly Murs filmed a music video for his single "Oh My Goodness" at Westfield Stratford City.
Source - Wikipedia
