Lakeside Shopping Centre (commonly referred to as Lakeside) is a large out-of-town

shopping centre A shopping center in American English, shopping centre in English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English (see American and British English spelling differences#-re, -er, spelling differences), shopping complex, shopping arcade, ...

located in

West Thurrock West Thurrock is an area, former civil parish and traditional Church of England parish in Thurrock, Essex, England, located 18 miles (28.1 km) east south-east of Charing Cross, London. History West Thurrock was an ancient parish. In 1894 ...

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

just beyond the eastern boundary of

Greater London Greater London is an administrative area in England, coterminous with the London region, containing most of the continuous urban area of London. It contains 33 local government districts: the 32 London boroughs, which form a Ceremonial count ...

. It was constructed on the site of a former chalk quarry. 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 Princess Alexandra, The Honourable Lady Ogilvy (Alexandra Helen Elizabeth Olga Christabel; born 25 December 1936) is a member of the British royal family and the only daughter of Prince George, Duke of Kent, and Princess Marina of Greece and D ...

, Marcus Bradford and

Angus Ogilvy Sir Angus James Bruce Ogilvy (14 September 1928 – 26 December 2004) was a British businessman. He is best known as the husband of Princess Alexandra of Kent, a first cousin of Queen Elizabeth II. Ogilvy is also remembered for his role in a bu ...

. 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 Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

, with almost of retail space on a site of . The community of

Chafford Hundred Chafford Hundred, or simply Chafford, is a housing development and suburb in the town of Grays in the borough of Thurrock in Essex, England. Chafford Hundred is north-west of Grays Town Centre. Its railway station serves the area and Lakesi ...

has grown to the east of the centre since its opening. Its main rival is the

Bluewater Shopping Centre Bluewater Shopping Centre (commonly known simply as ''Bluewater'') is a large out-of-town shopping centre in Stone, Kent, Stone (postally Greenhithe, Kent, Greenhithe), Kent, England, just outside the M25 motorway ring, east south east of London ...

Greenhithe, Kent Greenhithe is a village in the Borough of Dartford in Kent, England, and the civil parish of Swanscombe and Greenhithe. It is located east of Dartford and west of Gravesend. Area In the past, Greenhithe's waterfront on the estuary of the Ri ...

, just across the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, s ...

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

Intu Intu Properties plc was a British real estate investment trust (REIT), largely focused on shopping centre management and development. Originally named Transatlantic Insurance Holdings plc and later Liberty International plc, it changed its name ...

. The centre was sold in 2020, after Intu went into

administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal: the process of dealing with or controlling things or people. ** Administrative assistant, traditionally known as a se ...

. In November 2020, Lakeside was taken over by

Savills Savills plc is a British real estate services company based in London. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. History The business was established by Alfred Savill (1829–1905) in 1855 in London ...

and was renamed ''Lakeside Shopping Centre''. Lakeside has been described as being Thurrock's " de facto

town centre A town centre is the commerce, commercial or geographical centre or core area of a town. Town centres are traditionally associated with shopping or retail. They are also the centre of communications with major public transport hubs such as train ...

Thurrock Council Thurrock Council is the local authority for the borough of Thurrock in the ceremonial county of Essex, England. Since 1998 the council has been a unitary authority, being a district council which also performs the functions of a county 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. On 7 July 2024, a fire occurred there.

Main shopping centre

The shopping centre is the eleventh largest in Britain with available as retail floorspace - the

MetroCentre Metrocentre (previously styled as MetroCentre) is a shopping centre and entertainment complex in the Dunston area of Gateshead. It is located on the former site of Dunston Power Station, near to the River Tyne. Metrocentre opened in stages, ...

Gateshead Gateshead () is a town in the Gateshead Metropolitan Borough of Tyne and Wear, England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank. The town's attractions include the twenty metre tall Angel of the North sculpture on the town's southern outskirts, ...

, after its expansion in 2004, is the largest. There are over 250 shops (including the

anchor store In North American, Australian and New Zealand retail, an "anchor tenant", sometimes called an "anchor store", "draw tenant", or "key tenant", is a considerably larger tenant in a shopping mall, often a department store or retail chain. They are ...

s of

Marks & Spencer Marks and Spencer plc (commonly abbreviated to M&S and colloquially known as Marks & Sparks or simply Marks) is a major British multinational retailer based in London, England, that specialises in selling clothing, beauty products, home produc ...

and

Primark Primark Limited (; trading as Penneys in Ireland) is an Irish multinational fashion retailer with headquarters in Dublin, Ireland, with outlets across Europe and in the United States. The original ''Penneys'' brand is not used outside of Irel ...

Debenhams Debenhams plc was a British department store chain that operated in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Denmark, as well as franchised locations across Europe and the Asia Pacific. The company was founded in 1778 as a single store in London and gr ...

and

House of Fraser House of Fraser (rebranding to Frasers) is a British department store chain with 23 locations across the United Kingdom and 2 in Ireland, part of Frasers Group. It was established in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1849 as Arthur and Fraser. By 1891, it ...

were also anchor stores until their closures in May 2021 and January 2024 respectively), 50 cafes and restaurants, and a lake named Alexandra Lake with a PADI certified diving school complex. Lakeside has on average 500,000 visitors per week. It is currently open on weekdays from 10:00 to 21:00, and on Saturday from 09:00 to 21:00, and Sunday from 11:00 to 17:00. Intu have constantly rebuffed the rumours that circulate online about the presence of 3 "golden parking spaces"; apparently if you manage to find and park on one of these you get a free day's shopping, and half price coffee at all the food outlets. The centre's

car park A parking lot or car park (British English), also known as a car lot, is a cleared area intended for parking vehicles. The term usually refers to an area dedicated only for parking, with a durable or semi-durable surface. In most jurisdic ...

s have capacity for 11,857 cars. Following Intu Properties plc entering administration in June 2020, a subsidiary of the company called Intu SGS received funding to take full control of the centre along with Braehead, Victoria Centre and Intu Watford. The transfer from Intu to Intu SGS is expected to take place by the end of 2020, and will involve Global Mutual becoming asset manager of the centres and

serving as property manager.

Transport connections

The centre has a direct link to

Chafford Hundred railway station Chafford Hundred railway station, also known as Chafford Hundred Lakeside station, is located on a single-track branch line of the London, Tilbury and Southend line, serving the area of Chafford Hundred as well as Lakeside Shopping Centre in Es ...

where

c2c Trenitalia c2c, trading as c2c, is a British train operating company that operates commuter services from its London terminus at to parts of East London and south Essex along the London, Tilbury and Southend line, as part of the Essex Thame ...

trains run to London Fenchurch Street via

Upminster Upminster is a suburb of east London, England, in the London Borough of Havering, northeast of Charing Cross. Historically a rural village, it formed an ancient parish in the Chafford hundred of the county of Essex. The economic history of ...

and

West Ham West Ham is a district in East London, England and is in the London Borough of Newham. It is an inner-city suburb located east of Charing Cross. The area was originally an ancient parish formed to serve parts of the older Manor of Ham, a ...

or east towards

Southend Central Southend Central railway station is on the London, Tilbury and Southend line and is one of two primary stations serving the city of Southend-on-Sea, Essex. The city's other main station is called which is the terminus of a branch line off the ...

via Grays and

Stanford-le-Hope Stanford-le-Hope is a town, former civil parish and Church of England parish in the unitary authority area of Thurrock, in the ceremonial county of Essex, England. Often known locally simply as Stanford, the town is located 24 miles (38.4&nbs ...

. The centre is connected to the

M25 motorway The M25 or London Orbital Motorway is a major ring road encircling most of Greater London. The motorway is one of the most important roads in the UK and one of the busiest. Margaret Thatcher opened the final section in 1986, making the M25 th ...

which is London's outermost ring road running south towards

Dartford Dartford is the principal town in the Borough of Dartford, Kent, England. It is located south-east of Central London and is situated adjacent to the London Borough of Bexley to its west. To its north, across the Thames Estuary, is Thurrock in ...

and

Gatwick Gatwick Airport , also known as London Gatwick Airport (), is the secondary international airport serving London, West Sussex and Surrey. It is located near Crawley in West Sussex, south of Central London. In 2024, Gatwick was the second-bu ...

and North towards Enfield,

Watford Watford () is a town and non-metropolitan district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of Central London, on the banks of the River Colne, Hertfordshire, River Colne. Initially a smal ...

and

Heathrow Heathrow Airport , also colloquially known as London Heathrow Airport and named ''London Airport'' until 1966, is the primary and largest international airport serving London, the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdo ...

. As well as the M25 the centre is connected to the

A13 road This is a list of roads designated A13. Roads entries are sorted in the countries alphabetical order. * ''A13 highway (Australia)'' may refer to: ** South Australian route A13, including Main South Road and Victor Harbor Road * A13 motorway (Aus ...

which connects central and east

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

Basildon Basildon ( ) is a town in Borough of Basildon, the borough of the same name, in the county of Essex, England. It had a recorded population of 115,955 at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census. In 1931, the town had a population of 1,159. ...

and

Southend-on-Sea Southend-on-Sea (), commonly referred to as Southend (), is a coastal city and unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in south-eastern Essex, England. It lies on the nor ...

. It is connected to the

Transport for London Transport for London (TfL) is a local government body responsible for most of the transport network in London, United Kingdom. TfL is the successor organization of the London Passenger Transport Board, which was established in 1933, and His ...

bus network by

370 __NOTOC__ Year 370 ( CCCLXX) was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Augustus and Valens (or, less frequently, year 1123 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 370 ...

Romford Romford is a large List of places in London, town in east London, east London, England, located northeast of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Havering, the town is one of the major Metropolitan centres of London, metropolitan centr ...

and

372 __NOTOC__ Year 372 (Roman numerals, CCCLXXII) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Domitius Modestus, Modestus and Arintheus (or, less frequently, year 1125 ''Ab ...

Hornchurch Hornchurch is a suburban town in East London in the London Borough of Havering. It is located east-northeast of Charing Cross. It comprises a number of shopping streets and a large residential area. It historically formed a large ancient par ...

with other operators such as

Ensignbus Ensign Bus Company Limited, trading as Ensignbus, is a bus and coach operator and bus dealer based in Purfleet, Essex. As of March 2023, it is a part of FirstGroup. History Ensignbus was formed in 1972 by Peter Newman, who remains involved ...

to the surrounding Thurrock area and

First Essex First Essex is a bus company operating services in the county of Essex. It is a subsidiary of FirstGroup. History First Essex arose from an amalgamation of Eastern National and Thamesway Buses. First Essex was originally part of the Ea ...

's route 100 to

. Route X80 operated by Ensignbus provides a link to

Bluewater Bluewater(s) or Blue Water(s) may refer to: Maritime * Blue water, the global deep oceans *Blue Water 24, an American sailboat design * Blue-water navy, a navy that can operate in deep waters of open oceans * , a Panamanian tanker in service 1952- ...

across the

Dartford Crossing The Dartford–Thurrock River Crossing, commonly known as the Dartford Crossing and until 1991 the Dartford Tunnel, is a major road crossing of the River Thames in England, carrying the A282 road between Dartford in Kent in the south and Thurr ...

New developments

To ensure the centre maintains its competition with the newer (and what is perceived by some as more 'upmarket')

Bluewater shopping centre Bluewater Shopping Centre (commonly known simply as ''Bluewater'') is a large out-of-town shopping centre in Stone, Kent, Stone (postally Greenhithe, Kent, Greenhithe), Kent, England, just outside the M25 motorway ring, east south east of London ...

, which lies just over the

Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after th ...

Greenhithe Greenhithe may refer to: *Greenhithe, Kent Greenhithe is a village in the Borough of Dartford in Kent, England, and the civil parish of Swanscombe and Greenhithe. It is located east of Dartford and west of Gravesend. Area In the past, Gree ...

, Lakeside had a £30 million refurbishment in 2004. This included new Italian porcelain flooring, new lighting, a new ceiling and new glass roofs which allow much more natural light into the shopping centre. There are now also new, faster lifts, and four more escalators, along with automatic entrance doors. The refurbishment has also encouraged refitting of many shops so that they complement the new surroundings. In September 2005,

Next NeXT, Inc. (later NeXT Computer, Inc. and NeXT Software, Inc.) was an American technology company headquartered in Redwood City, California that specialized in computer workstations for higher education and business markets, and later develope ...

opened an . extension to its store. The Lakeside Pavilion, a market area adjoining the main shopping centre via a covered bridge, was closed in 2006 for refurbishment, re-opening in June 2007 as 'The Boardwalk'. The Boardwalk provides an additional . of retail space for eleven new restaurants along with more retail and leisure space, as well as a 10-metre boardwalk, offering external seating overlooking Alexandra Lake. The Old Orleans bar and restaurant, a converted paddle steamer, was also refurbished and re-opened on the same day, with new features including a rooftop bar. Later a Miller & Carter restaurant, this partially sank on 23 December 2022.

Vue Vue or VUE may refer to: Places * Vue, Loire-Atlantique, a commune in France * The Vue, a skyscraper in Charlotte, North Carolina Arts, entertainment and media * Vue (band), a rock and roll band from San Francisco, California * Vue International, ...

cinema formed part of the old Lakeside Pavilion, with a seven screen cinema. This closed on 11 January 2007 to be refurbished, and was re-opened on 15 June 2007; the refurbishment resulted in nine state-of-the-art screens with

stadium seating Stadium seating or theater seating is a seating arrangement where most or all seats are placed higher than the seats immediately in front of them so that the occupants of further-back seats have less of their views blocked by those ahead of them. ...

. 'Gold Class', a premium screen that housed luxury seating, has since been abandoned in favour of VIP seating sections in every screen. The 'Evolution Screen', with a combination of giant

bean bag chairs The Sacco chair (also known as a beanbag chair, or simply a beanbag), is a large pear-shaped bag or sack () made of leather or fabric and filled with expanded polystyrene foam pellets () or a similar material. It is an example of anatomic design, ...

amongst VIP seating, was the first of its kind in the UK.

Apple An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...

opened its tenth UK store at Lakeside Shopping Centre.

, one of the centre's four anchor stores, applied for planning permission in July 2008 to allow construction of a third storey extension to their store, in addition to an extensive refurbishment of the store layout and customer facilities. The application was approved at the end of October 2008 although no construction has taken place as of July 2011.

Superdry Superdry plc (stylised as SUPERDRY®︎冒険魂) is a British clothing company, and owner of the Superdry label. Superdry products traditionally combine vintage Americana (culture), American styling with Japanese-inspired graphics. Founded ...

brands opened its largest-ever store at the centre in July 2010, in the unit previously occupied by Woolworths.

Ed's Easy Diner Ed's Easy Diner is a casual restaurant chain based in the United Kingdom selling 1950s American diner style items. History The first Ed's Easy Diner was opened by Barry Margolis in London's Soho in 1987. This outlet permanently closed in Januar ...

also opened their fifth restaurant in the centre's food court in July 2010.

Taco Bell Taco Bell Corp. is an American multinational chain of fast food restaurants founded in 1962 by Glen Bell (1923–2010) in Downey, California. Taco Bell is a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, Inc. The restaurants serve a variety of Mexican-inspired ...

re-entered the UK market in June 2010 with the opening of its first stores at intu Lakeside. On 8 December 2012, US fashion giant

Forever 21 F21 OpCo LLC, trade name, doing business as Forever 21, was a multinational fast-fashion retailer. It was originally founded as Fashion 21 in Highland Park, Los Angeles, Highland Park, Los Angeles in 1984.Forever 21History & Facts, n.d. Retrieved ...

opened a flagship store at intu Lakeside, in a three-floor unit. In July 2016 this store closed down, with H&M moving in to the store in December 2016. Intu Lakeside was granted permission in 2012 to extend to include 30-40 new stores, a new footbridge across the Alexandra Lake to the Lakeside Retail Park, a new leisure area, a new 80 bed

Travelodge Travelodge or Travelodge by Wyndham (formerly branded ''TraveLodge'') refers to several hotel chains around the world. Current operations include the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Spain, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia and several co ...

hotel overlooking the river and a brand new transport hub where the current railway station bridge is to allow easier interchange. The new 225,000 sq ft leisure area was completed in early 2019 and will include a

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (nicknamed Nick) is an American pay television channel and the flagship property of the Nickelodeon Group, a sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on April 1, 1979, as the first ca ...

-branded entertainment centre. In spring 2022 it was announced that Marks and Spencer would relocate from their longstanding position in the centre of the mall to take over the premises vacated a year earlier by the closure of Debenhams. On 20 October 2023 it was announced that the House of Fraser store would be closing on 30 December 2023. Next will be relocating to this unit in Spring 2025.

Docusoap

In 1998, ''Lakesiders'' was a

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

docusoap Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1990s ...

narrated by

Pauline Quirke Pauline Perpetua Sheen (née Quirke; born 8 July 1959) is a retired English actress. She began her career with roles on various television series, before fronting her own comedy sketch show, ''Pauline's Quirkes'', in 1976. She later starred as ...

following the activities of management including centre manager Richard Belt, shopkeepers and staff of the shopping centre. The fractious working relationship between Essex FM's breakfast show DJ Martin Day and his boss Paul Chantler also featured. The theme music was by

Simon May Simon May (born 15 August 1944) is a British composer. He has composed many British television theme tunes, including ''EastEnders'' and ''Howards' Way'', and the music for the 1988 film '' The Dawning''. Biography Born in Devizes and a pup ...

. A new series, ''Return to Lakesiders'', was filmed by the BBC in 2007 and was broadcast on

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matte ...

18–22 August 2008.

References

External links

{{Shopping centres in the East of England Buildings and structures in Thurrock Retail parks in the United Kingdom Shopping centres in Essex Shopping malls established in 1990 1990 establishments in England