Retail and Leisure
These are exciting times for retail in
Thurrock as Lakeside - the UK’s first major out of town shopping
centre - is about to enter a new era in its history. Retail is an
ever more popular leisure activity and regional centres are well
placed to offer a full leisure experience. With London and
Bluewater in Kent close by, and access to a significant and
expanding young population, Lakeside is well placed at the centre
of a growing retail heartland.
Lakeside Shopping Centre and the Lakeside Basin are one of
Europe’s largest shopping areas with an aggregate retail floor area
of over 240,000 square metres, over 300 shops, 30 cafés and
restaurants, 2 cinemas and a diving and watersports centre. Close
to London and other population centres and adjoining the
picturesque 20-acre Alexandra Lake, it has significant natural
advantages and huge development potential.
Key Lakeside tenants include Marks & Spencer, Debenhams,
House of Fraser, BHS, Primark, Next, H&M, Zara and New Look,
Best Buy, Matalan, Currys, Next Clearance, Toys R Us, SCS, Borders,
Ikea, B&Q Warehouse and Tesco Extra.
Strong population growth in the region provides a clear
opportunity for expansion. Demand at Lakeside is expected to more
than double to £2.43 billion by 2011, while expected sales of
consumer goods from planned new space should rise from £586 million
in 2011 to £712 million in 2021.
Major retail and leisure development is now planned at Lakeside.
This will involve reconfiguring the Basin to make it more
integrated, better landscaped and easier to navigate - and will
create a Lakeside for the 21st century. Plans will create around
6,500 new jobs and 50,000 square metres of new retail, leisure and
restaurant space.
A bigger, better Lakeside will be complemented by the approved
plans to remodel the nearby centres of Grays and Purfleet and by
new residential developments in the vicinity. The coming Olympics
and major capital investments like the London Gateway port planned
in East Thurrock will also buoy demand.