The Liberty
| Location | London Borough of Havering, England |
|---|---|
| Opening date | 1968 |
| Owner | Cosgrave Property Group |
| No. of stores and services | 100 |
| No. of anchor tenants | 7 |
| Total retail floor area | 730,000 square metres (7,900,000 sq ft) |
| Parking | 806 |
| No. of floors | 1 |
| Website | www.theliberty.co.uk |
The Liberty, is a covered shopping centre located in the London Borough of Havering. It is the largest shopping centre in Romford, a metropolitan centre of Outer London. It was originally built in 1968 as the Liberty Shopping Centre and underwent a four-year redevelopment completed in 2004. The centre takes its name from the former Liberty of Havering and is owned by the Cosgrave Property Group. It is the largest indoor shopping centre in the borough and covers 730,000 square metres (7,900,000 sq ft) with 36,400 square metres (392,000 sq ft) of retail space, around 100 shops. The Liberty has an annual footfall of 23 million, equating to 425,000 people per week. It is linked to Mercury Shopping Centre (formerly Liberty 2) by an underpass.
History
The Liberty was first built in 1968.[1] In 1999 Hammerson acquired Standards Life's 50% interest and in 2000 acquired the freehold on the land. In September 2006, Irish property developers, The Cosgrave Property Group acquired the centre from Hammerson.
The Liberty has been used as a filming location; for instance, it was featured in the Reebok "Belly's gonna getcha!" television advertisement.[2]
2001-2004 redevelopment
The centre underwent an extensive redevelopment at the turn of the millennium. Previously, the main part of the centre was open-air, with several covered arcades running off from it linking it to other parts of the town centre. The changes undertaken in the 2000s included the covering of the main part of the centre with a glazed roof, and the development of a new car parking facility, plus new large stores for Next and H&M. Several existing stores were remodelled or relocated, or received other modernisations, as part of the redesign, including Boots, BHS and W H Smith.
Once the planning application had been granted for the transformation of the centre, work started in August 2001. In April 2003, the centre achieved practical completion.
Tenants
The Liberty is anchored by BHS, Boots, Debenhams, H&M, Marks & Spencer, Next, W H Smith and Primark. There was also formerly a Littlewoods store in the centre, but this closed following Primark's purchase of the Littlewoods store estate, as Primark already operated an existing store nearby.
Accessibility
The Liberty is near to Romford railway station and is on the route of a number of London Buses services.[3] There are 806 secure parking spaces.
References
- ↑ "HISTORY OF THE LIBERTY". The Liberty.
- ↑ "Excellent wacky Reebok TV ad: Belly Gonna Getcha".
- ↑ "Buses from Romford". Transport for London. 5 September 2009.
External links
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Coordinates: 51°34′39″N 0°10′58″E / 51.57750°N 0.18291°E