I think there are some good things about Westfield despite it not having certain stores. Surely it can only be a welcome addition to West London especially as so many shops in the High Streets are closing down?At least it is all under one roof which is a bonus when you think about our climate. There are plenty of rest areas where one can relax, lots of places to eat - hopefully to suit every pocket.M&S, Waitrose, Debenhams, Next, House of Fraser and so on, quite a good range really. I do think they have rather too many boutiques though. As far as the shops in 'The Village' are concerned - well they really do need to attract visitors from places like Knightsbridge, Bond Street, and further afield to make it work.It is true that 2 restaurants have already closed down, in fact one only lasted 6 weeks I believe! This will always happen in any location though.It is unfortunate that when Westfield finally opened the credit crunch was upon us - really bad timing! It was unhelpful for the owners of Westfield to increase the rent just a few months after it opened and 'Next' have refused to pay the higher rate. Hopefully they can negociate a more reasonable rate to enable these stores to remain at Westfield - if not it might still end up as a 'White Elephant' surely that really would be bad news all round?I like Westfield because it is so local, Brent Cross takes ages to get to by public transport and it seems to have lost some of it's 'sparkle' but that's just my opinion. I know lots of people prefer Brent Cross though.Despite all the problems with parking and so on around Shepherd's Bush surely it is better to have Westfield Shopping Centre when compared with what was there before?
Jean F Fernandez ● 6390d