Croydon was once thought of as a cheap place to live in South London; a good place to start for those who need to commute into the city but couldn’t afford big city prices. Croydon has slowly improved and grown to encompass theatres, restaurants, bars and parks, alongside excellent schools, and the area now looks set to become even more desirable. In November last year, the residents of Croydon had some very good news from Croydon Council. A huge new shopping development, a Westfield/Hammerson development no less, had planning consent approved, bringing the promise of the very best of shopping experiences in London to central Croydon.
The project is expected to cost £1.4 billion and take four years to build, generating between 6,000 and 7,000 jobs in the local area and covering a massive 45,000 square feet of retail space. The project has been eagerly awaited by locals since it was first suggested in 2011 as a way to re-develop the town’s old Whitgift Centre. The Whitgift Centre will be remembered as hugely exciting when it first opened, but in recent years has looked a little tired and has lost out on shoppers choosing to go online or elsewhere to spend their money.
Despite a slow start, with work initially thought to begin in 2013, the build will now start in 2019. Locals have had a long time to look forward to the benefits this new shopping mecca will bring to the area, the anticipation of which will hopefully see them through the potential difficulties of living with a rather large building site in the meantime.
The Westfield project is expected to bring a retail boon to the area, giving a big boost to the local economy. With two Westfields already enjoying huge popularity in White City and Stratford City, Croydonites will no doubt love having the most desirable brands and eateries on their doorsteps. Those looking to move to Croydon can expect to see the borough uplifted and revived with the shiny new centre. The shops, restaurants and services planned for the new Westfield will make Croydon a destination for those living in and around Croydon, as well as the nearby boroughs of Bromley and Sutton, with plenty to do for all ages and walks of life.
The new shopping area will bring shoppers back to Croydon from nearby Bluewater and provide a hub of activity for the young people and families moving to the area and enjoying the wealth of new properties being built in the Borough, (100s of new homes are currently in construction in East Croydon in particular).The bars and restaurants will provide a social life which has been recently been lacking and which will make Croydon feel like home to its residents, rather than a place to live for easy journeys into London. As Croydonites can already testify to the vibrancy of their borough, they will now also have a lot to celebrate in the retail space too!
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