| Location | Hatfield, Hertfordshire, England |
|---|---|
| Owner | Land Securities |
| No. of stores and services | > 80 |
| Parking | 1,700 spaces |
| No. of floors | 2 |
| Website | www.thegalleria.co.uk |
The Galleria is Land Securities’ designer outlet centre at Hatfield, Hertfordshire. Located 6 miles north of the M25 motorway, it is regarded as one of the best outlet centres in the South East of England and has the largest catchment population of any factory outlet centre in the UK - with 7.3 million potential shoppers within a 60-minute drive due to the centre's location just north of London, situated literally directly on top of the A1(M) motorway.
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The 29,800 sq m (320,000 sq ft) Galleria is located over the A1(M) motorway, which passes underneath via the Hatfield Tunnel. The centre first opened in 1991 and was converted to an outlet-led centre in 1996. Land Securities acquired the centre from Galleria Jersey Ltd in 2005 and took full control of the asset management of the centre in September 2006. The outlet is open from 10am until 8pm on weekdays, 10am to 6pm on Saturday and 11am to 5pm on Sunday. It comprises 85 shops and restaurants, a nine-screen Odeon cinema and 1,745 car spaces. The outlet benefits from open A1 planning consent and is situated in a highly prominent position between Junctions 3 & 4 of the A1.
The centre can be reached from Junctions 3 or 4 of the A1(M), which provides connections to the M25, or by the A414 from Hertford or St Albans. By public transport, the centre can be accessed from Hatfield railway station or St Albans City railway station. Both stations have bus links to the centre.
Buses also run from many places, such as Hemel Hempstead and Watford to the west, Stevenage and Welwyn Garden City to the north, Hertford to the east and Barnet and Potters Bar in the south. These are provided by the two main operators in the area Uno and Arriva Shires & Essex. National Express coaches also run to the Galleria, stopping directly outside the main entrance as a temporary measure due to changes to design at the place where the coaches previously stopped in the University of Hertfordshire College Lane campus.
There are more than 80 designer outlets already trading at the galleria including brands such as French Connection, Jaeger, Austin Reed, Ghost, Marks & Spencer, Mexx, Pringle, Gant and TK Maxx. In addition, other leading brands include HMV, The Body Shop, Thorntons, Waterstone’s and Whittard of Chelsea. Twentyretail and Head Retail are joint letting agents for the retail.
the galleria also features 9 restaurants and cafés. The most recent additions are: Chiquito with 334 sq m (3,700 sq ft), and Nando's with a 325 sq m (3,500 sq ft). In addition, the galleria incorporates a 9-screen Odeon cinema - the first digital Odeon cinema in the UK.
Land Securities is making a significant investment in site enhancements, retail and restaurant mix as well as brand destination. The centre has recently undergone a complete rebrand to create a contemporary designer outlet shopping and leisure destination [1]. In June 2008, Welwyn Hatfield Council granted planning consent for 7,801 sq ft (725 sq m) of additional restaurant and café space [2]. Land Securities has created a new enclosed mall with 3 new branded restaurant units together with 2 fast food diners in previously void space under the cinema.[3] The restaurants have been Burger King and McDonald's. Frankie & Benny's and Chiquito have taken two of the three restaurant units, while the third has been taken by buffet restaurant Ilaichi. Recently, the McDonald's has been refurbished from the old, dated design.