Lakeside eastern entrance |
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| Location | Thurrock, UK |
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| Opening date | 25 October 1990 |
| Developer | Capital |
| Owner | Capital |
| Architect | Chapman Taylor |
| No. of stores and services | 245 |
| No. of anchor tenants | 4 |
| Total retail floor area | 1,434,000 sq ft (133,200 m2) |
| Parking | 13,000 spaces |
| No. of floors | 3 |
| Website | www.lakeside.uk.com |
The Lakeside Shopping Centre is a large out-of-town shopping centre located in West Thurrock, in the borough of Thurrock, Essex just beyond the eastern boundary of Greater London. The first tenants moved into the complex in 1988 and it was completed in 1990, being opened on 25 October of that year by Princess Alexandra, Marcus Bradford and Angus Ogilvy.
The shopping centre, in addition to the retail parks, forms one of the largest shopping areas in a single location within Europe, with almost 2,600,000 square feet (240,000 m2) of retail space on a site of 200 acres (0.81 km2). The community of Chafford Hundred has grown to the east of the centre since its opening. Its main rival is the Bluewater Shopping Centre in Greenhithe, Kent just across the River Thames.
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The shopping centre is the seventh largest in Britain with 1,434,000 sq ft (133,200 m2) available as retail floorspace[1] - the MetroCentre in Gateshead, after its expansion in 2004, is the largest. There are over 250 shops, of which there are 4 anchor stores, 50 cafes and restaurants and a 26-acre (110,000 m2) lake named Alexandra Lake with a PADI certified diving school complex. Lakeside has on average 500,000 visitors per week.
It is currently open on weekdays from 10 am to 10 pm, Saturday from 9 am to 9 pm and Sunday from 11 am to 5 pm. The centre's car parks have capacity for 13,000 cars.
The centre has a direct link to Chafford Hundred railway station and is connected to the M25 motorway which is London's outermost ring road, as well as to the A13 road which connects central and east London to Basildon and Southend-on-Sea. It is connected to the London Bus network by London Buses routes 370 and 372 with other operators such as Ensignbus and First also providing regular bus services to the centre. Route X80 operated by Ensignbus provides a link to Bluewater across the Dartford Crossing.
To ensure the centre maintains its competition with the newer (and what is perceived by some as more 'upmarket') Bluewater shopping centre, which lies just over the Thames in Greenhithe, Lakeside has recently undergone major refurbishment at a cost of £30 million. This included new Italian porcelain flooring, new lighting, a new ceiling and new glass roofs which allow much more natural light into the shopping centre. There are now also new, faster lifts, and 4 more escalators along with automatic entrance doors. The refurbishment has also encouraged refitting of many shops so that they complement the new surroundings. In September 2005, Next opened an 18,600 sq ft (1,730 m2). extension to their store.
The Lakeside Pavilion, a market area adjoined to the main shopping centre via a covered bridge was closed in 2006, refurbished, and re-opened in June 2007 as 'The Boardwalk'.
The Boardwalk provides an additional 59,000 sq ft (5,500 m2). of retail space for 11 new restaurants along with more retail and leisure space, as well as a 10 metre boardwalk, offering external seating which overlooks Alexandra Lake. The Old Orleans bar and restaurant boat was also refurbished and re-opened on the same day, with new features including a rooftop bar.
Vue cinema formed part of the old Lakeside Pavilion, with a 7 screen cinema. This closed on 11 January 2007 to be refurbished, and was re-opened on Friday 15 June 2007; the refurbishment resulted in 9 state of the art screens with stadium seating. 'Gold Class' a premium screen that housed luxury seating, has since been abandoned in favour of VIP seating sections in every screen. The 'Evolution Screen', with a combination of giant bean bag chairs amongst VIP seating, was the first of its kind in the UK.[2]
Apple opened[3] its tenth UK store at Lakeside Shopping Centre.[4]
Marks & Spencer, one of the centre's 4 anchor stores, applied for planning permission in July 2008 to allow construction of a 23,970 sq ft (2,230 m2) third storey extension to their store, in addition to an extensive refurbishment of the store layout and customer facilities. The application was approved at the end of October 2008 although no construction has taken place as of July 2011.[5][6]
Supergroup, owners of the Cult and Superdry brands opened its largest-ever store at the centre in July 2010, in the unit previously occupied by Woolworths.[7] Ed's Easy Diner also opened their fifth restaurant in the centre's food court in July 2010.[8]
Taco Bell re-entered the UK market in June 2010 with the opening of its first store at Lakeside.[9]
US fashion giant Forever 21 has announced it will open a new 35,000 sq ft (3,300 m2) flagship store at Lakeside by Christmas 2013, in a 3 floor unit comprising the soon to be vacant Topshop/Topman store and 2 new additional roofbox levels.[10]
There are also two retail parks nearby called the Lakeside Retail Park and The Junction. Lakeside Retail Park has a number of stores such as:
The Junction has shops such as:
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In August 2009, it was announced that US retail giant Best Buy would be opening one of its first UK stores at The Junction. The company had signed a 10 year lease for a 50,000-square-foot (4,600 m2) megastore located on the site of the former Courts store. The new store opened 30 April 2010.
In a move to counter the opening of Best Buy, Currys signed up to take on 100,000-square-foot (9,300 m2) of retail space in Lakeside Retail Park, on the site vacated by Danish Store ILVA. Currys opened the new megastore in spring 2010.
In 1998, Lakesiders was a BBC docusoap narrated by Pauline Quirke following the activities of management, shopkeepers and staff of the shopping centre. The fractious working relationship between Essex FM's breakfast show DJ Martin Day and his boss Paul Chantler also featured. The theme music was by Simon May. A new series, Return to Lakesiders, was filmed by the BBC in 2007 and was broadcast on BBC Two 18–22 August 2008.