Westfield London - shopping centre

Westfield London Shopping Centre Westfield London saw its doors open on 30 October 2008. The Westfield Shopping Centre boasts more than 1.6m sq ft (150,000 sq m) of space, the size of 30 football pitches. London mayor Boris Johnson officially opened the centre and described it as a fantastic achievement which would persuade people to come to the shops, despite the credit crunch.

Mr Johnson added that many Londoners had made a "prudent decision to give Thursday morning a miss and come shopping". During the opening ceremony, X factor winner, singer Leona Lewis performed five songs including Forgive Me and Bleeding Love.

Leona told the crowd: "I'm so excited to be here because, I don't know about you guys, but I'm a bit of a shopaholic and I'm performing back in London, which I'm really excited about”

Westfield London is the UK's third largest shopping centre after Gateshead's MetroCentre and Bluewater in Kent. Westfield’s latest mega mall contains 265 stores and cost £1.7 billion to build. That there are 4,500 parking spaces, 96 escalators and that the development was built from enough concrete to fill 117 Olympic sized swimming pools.

The shops in the centre include UK's high street giants, including Marks & Spencer, Debenhams, Next, House of Fraser and Waitrose. Around 80% of the stores are fashion outlets, with the site featuring 40 luxury brands including Louis Vuitton, Mulberry and Prada.

Westfield developers say 99% of the retail space has already been let, with 80-90% of the building open for the launch.

The Westfield London Shopping Centre took 13 million man hours to build, has 96 escalators and is expected to have created about 7,000 jobs - with 1,000 going to local residents. The centre estimate 21 million people will visit each year.

The management of the Westfield recommends to use public transport when visiting the centre. White City and Shepherd's Bush are the two tube stations, with bus and over ground train linking the Westfield to customers.

The Westfield London is in Hammersmith and Fulham Council.

The Village – Westfield London

The Village is the designated area for designer brands. The Village is stylish, salon-style space, that will ultimately be home to 40 of the most desirable fashion labels in the world. The Village is seamlessly integrated within the main mall, but with a different character reflecting the premium brands it hosts.

The Village’s décor, attention to detail is master class, shimmering chandeliers, a champagne bar, and stunning double height glass shop fronts which appear to float above the floor.

The Village provides a distinctive, glamorous environment just perfect for indulgent, luxury shopping.

Some famous brands will not open until November 2008 this includes Burberry, Prada, Louis Vuitton. Ninety nine per cent of the retail outlets have already been occupied.