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. It opened on
25 October 1990.
The shopping centre, in addition to the retail parks, forms one of the largest shopping areas in a single location within
Europe, with almost of retail space on a site of . 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.
Main shopping centre
The shopping centre is the seventh largest in Britain with available as retail floorspace - the
MetroCentre in
Gateshead, after its expansion in 2004, is the largest. There are 228 shops, of which there are 3 department stores, 33 cafes and restaurants and a 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.
Transport connections
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
Arriva,
Ensignbus and
First Essex also providing bus services to the centre. Route X80 operated by
Ensignbus provides a link to
Chafford Hundred Station and
Bluewater across the
Dartford Crossing.
First London have recently introduced Route 265 which provides a vital link to
Brentwood.
In 2007 London Transport announced that Zone 6 rates would be applied to routes 370 and 372 for all stops up to and including Lakeside (the zone had previously ended at Wennington, with an additional fare required to complete journeys to Lakeside).
There is also and hourly Monday to Saturday service provided by
Arriva Southend called service 5 'Basildon Direct' to
Southend via
Basildon, although it is much more quicker to take the train from Lakeside to Southend as the bus journey takes 2 hours.
New developments
thumb|'The Boardwalk' under construction in early September 2006, showing the new bridge to the main shopping centre and the old 'Lakeside Pavilion' building.
Construction on the new decking for 'The Boardwalk'.
'The Boardwalk' nearing completion in early June 2007.
'The Boardwalk' on opening day - 14 June 2007.
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. A non-smoking policy across the whole shopping centre was also introduced in January 2004. The refurbishment has also encouraged refitting of many shops so that they complement the new surroundings. In September 2005,
Next opened an . extension to their store.
The Lakeside Pavilion was an area adjoined to the main shopping centre via a covered bridge - this area had a 'market' feel to it, with various stalls selling novelty gifts, paintings and collector items adjacent to a small food court. By the beginning of 2006 this had been closed and partly removed for the construction of a new entertainment area named ‘The Boardwalk’.
Re-opened on Thursday 14 June 2007, The Boardwalk provides an additional . of retail space for 10 new restaurants along with more retail and leisure space, as well as a 10 metre boardwalk, offering external seating which overlooks Alexandra Lake. The newly refurbished
Old Orleans bar and restaurant was open 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, including a premium "Gold Class" screen housing luxury reclinable armchair-style seating, and a special screen that would show major sporting, music and gaming events as well as key films. This 'Evolution Screen', with a combination of giant
bean bag chairs and
sofas, is the first of its kind in the UK.
Apple opened its tenth UK store at Lakeside Shopping Centre.
Marks & Spencer, one of the centre's 4 anchor stores, applied for planning permission in July 2008 to allow construction of a 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 it is unknown when construction will begin.
Retail parks
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:
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 has signed a 10 year lease for a 50,000 square foot megastore which will be located on the site of the former Courts store. On 15 August, blue hoardings started to go up around the store left on site by Courts, with the
Best Buy logo clearly shown. The new store is planned to open in March 2010.
In a move to counter the opening of
Best Buy,
Currys have signed up to take on 100,000 square foot of retail space in Lakeside Retail Park, on the site vacated by Danish Store
ILVA. Currys will open a new megastore and hope to shake off the tag of 'The Death Store' on a site considered to be jinxed, after
Marks & Spencer abandoned plans to open its Lifestore, and the demise of
ILVA after a much lauded UK launch.
Docusoap
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.
