Lakeside Shopping Centre

Lakeside Shopping Centre
Lakeside Shopping Centre logo
Map
LocationThurrock, Essex, England
Coordinates51°29′N 0°17′E / 51.483°N 0.283°E / 51.483; 0.283
Opening date25 October 1990 (1990-10-25)
OwnerGlobal Mutual
ArchitectChapman Taylor
No. of stores and services245
No. of anchor tenants2 (+2 closed)
Total retail floor area1,434,000 sq ft (133,200 m2)
No. of floors3
Parking11,857 spaces
Public transit accessChafford Hundred station
Websitewww.lakeside-shopping.com

Lakeside Shopping Centre (commonly referred to as Lakeside) is a large out-of-town shopping centre located in West Thurrock, Essex just beyond the eastern boundary of Greater London. It was constructed on the site of a former chalk quarry.[1] 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 of Kent, Marcus Bradford and Angus Ogilvy. New spaces in the red car park were added as recently as October 2019.

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.

The centre was rebranded as Intu Lakeside in 2013, following the renaming of parent Capital Shopping Centres as Intu.[2]

The centre was sold in 2020, after Intu went into administration. In November 2020, Lakeside was taken over by Savills and was renamed Lakeside Shopping Centre.

Lakeside has been described as being Thurrock's "de facto town centre".[3] Thurrock Council wants to make it a "regional town centre", with plans to build new shops, facilities and 3,000 homes. A road linking it to the nearby Lakeside Basin will also be built.[4][5] On the 7th of July 2024, a fire occurred there. [6]

  1. ^ "Centre History". lakeside.uk.com. 2007. Archived from the original on 2 May 2012. Retrieved 12 April 2012.
  2. ^ "The connected consumer – the future of shopping centres" (PDF) (Press release). Capital Shopping Centres Group. 17 January 2013. p. 11. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 February 2013. Retrieved 20 January 2013.
  3. ^ Gray, Brad (11 September 2019). "What it's like to live in the Essex places dubbed 'most deprived' in the UK". EssexLive. Archived from the original on 27 January 2022. Retrieved 7 April 2022.
  4. ^ "Lakeside and West Thurrock". Thurrock Council. Archived from the original on 23 May 2022. Retrieved 7 April 2022.
  5. ^ "Lakeside". Thurrock Council. Archived from the original on 7 April 2022. Retrieved 7 April 2022.
  6. ^ "Fire breaks out in car park at Lakeside Shopping Centre". www.bbc.com. Retrieved 8 July 2024.