In September the Westfield Shopping Centre opened its doors. It is being marketed as the biggest urban shopping mall in Europe. The official title of this shopping centre is Stratford City. Many people wrongly believe that the centre was built as part of the Olympic construction, but the planning permission for the shopping centre was given 12 months prior to London being awarded the 2012 Olympics in 2006. The shareholders of Westfield must be rubbing their hands, especially as it is expected that many of the people visiting the Olympic Park in the Summer of 2012, will enter via this new shopping mall.
So, being so close to the Olympic Park, it has given us a new view of the Olympic Park. One of the anchor stores in the new shopping mall, John Lewis, has a London 2012 Olympic Shop. It has been designed with the idea of capturing some tourists, and I was surprised to join so many in the viewing area:
….and this is the view that we are all looking at:
Even though I know that the shopping mall is right next door to the Olympic Park, I was still rather surprised how close it was to the main arenas. Unfortunately, you cannot see the Basketball Arena and the Velodrome from this viewing point, but they are not too far away either.
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